Toy soldiers are made from all types of material, but the most common mass-produced varieties are metal and plastic. There are many different kinds of toy soldiers, including tin soldiers or flats, hollow cast metal figures, composition figures, and plastic army men. Metal toy soldiers were traditionally sold in sets; plastic figures were sold in toy shops individually in Britain and Europe and in large boxed sets in the U.S. Modern, collectable figures are often sold individually.

Further information: Miniature_figure_(gaming) § Scales, and List of scale model sizes

Ratio Inches per foot Size Examples

1:35 0.342" [8.68 mm] 1.811" [46 mm] Popular military modelling scale for vehicles and light aircraft (Tamiya). Also used for the accompanying human display models like crew and passengers.

1:32 0.375" [9.525 mm] 1.98" [50.3 mm] Model railroad "I scale". Also used for display models. Britain's LTD toy farm sets (animals, structures, and most vehicles) and "Stablemate size" model horses were in this scale.

1:30 0.4" [10.16 mm] 2.125" [54 mm]

2.165" [55 mm] Traditional "Normal scale" lead or die-cast metal toy soldiers (Britain's LTD).

1:28 0.423" [10.87 mm] 2.36" [60mm] Spanish 60mm size (actually closer to 1/26 or 1/27 scale) (Alymer Toy Soldiers).

1:24 0.50" [12.7 mm] 3" [76.2mm] American "Dimestore" 3-inch size (Barclay or Manoil) or German 75mm size (actually closer to 1/21 scale). 1/2-scale dollhouses are built in this scale.

1:16 0.75" [19.05 mm] 4" [101.6 mm] Used for Ertl's toy farm sets (animals, structures, and most vehicles) and most plastic toy animal figures.

Scale for toy soldiers is expressed as the soldier's approximate height from head to foot in millimeters. Because many figures do not stand up straight, height is usually an approximation. Standard toy soldier scale, originally adopted by W. Britain, is 54 mm (2.25 inches) or 1:32 scale. Among different manufacturers, standard scale may range from 50 mm or 1:35 scale, to 60 mm or 1:28 scale. For gamers and miniatures enthusiasts, 25 mm and even smaller scales are available. On the larger end of the scale are American Dimestore figures, and many of the toy soldiers produced in Germany, which are approximately 75 mm (3 inches) or 1:24 scale.

History[edit]

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Military figures have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs, and have appeared in many cultures and eras. Tin soldiers were produced in Germany as early as the 1730s, by molding the metal between two pieces of slate. Toy soldiers became widespread during the 18th century, inspired by the military exploits of Frederick the Great. Miniature soldiers were also used in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries by military strategists to plan battle tactics by using the figures to show the locations of real soldiers. In 1893, the British toy company William Britain revolutionized the production of toy soldiers by devising the method of hollow casting, making soldiers that were cheaper and lighter than their German counterparts.[1]

Vintage plastic Trojan War figure by Herald.

In addition to Britains, there have been many other manufacturers of toy soldiers over the years. For example, John Hill & Company produced hollow cast lead figures in the same style and scale. Companies such as Elastolin and Lineol were well known for their composite figures made of glue and sawdust that included both military and civilian subjects. After 1950, rising production costs and the development of plastic meant that many shop keepers liked the lighter, cheaper, and far less prone to break in transit polythene figure. This led to greater numbers of plastic toy soldiers.[2] The first American plastic soldiers were made by Beton as early as 1937. The first plastic toy soldiers produced in Great Britain were made in 1946 by Airfix before they became known for their famous model kits range.

World War I-era toy soldiers.

One large historical producer in plastic was Louis Marx and Company, which produced both realistic soldiers of great detail and also historical collections of plastic men and women, including the "Presidents of the United States" collection, "Warriors of the World", "Generals of World War II", "Jesus and the Apostles", and figures from the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Marx also produced boxed playsets that featured many famous battles with armies of two sides, character figures, and terrain features. Britains produced plastic figures under the brand names of Herald and Deetail. Also in England, the scale model company, Airfix produced a variety of high quality plastic sets, which were frequently painted by hobbyists. Many Airfix figures were imitated by other companies and reproduced as inexpensive, bagged plastic army men. Timpo Toys, Britains main competitor in terms of sales and quality in the 1960s and 70s developed the 'Over - Moulding' system. Different coloured plastics were injected into the mould at various stages, creating a fully coloured figure without the need of paint.

During the 1990s, the production of metal toy-grade painted figures and connoisseur-grade painted toy soldiers increased to serve the demands of the collectors' market. The style of many of these figures shifted from the traditional gloss-coat enamel paint to the matte-finished acrylic paint, which allows for greater detail and historical accuracy. The change was largely inspired by the introduction of very high quality painted figures from St. Petersburg, Russia.[citation needed]

Collecting[edit]

There is a substantial hobby devoted to collecting both old and new toy soldiers, with an abundance of small manufacturers, dealers, and toy soldier shows. There are even specialty magazines devoted to the hobby, such as "Toy Soldier Collector", "Plastic Warrior" and "Toy Soldier and Model Figure". Collectors often specialize in a particular type of soldier or historical period, though some people enjoy collecting many different kinds of figures. The most popular historical periods for collecting are Napoleonic, Victorian, American Civil War, World War I, and World War II. Many collectors modify and paint plastic figures, and some even cast and paint their own metal figures.

Actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr had a collection of 3000 toy soldiers when he sold it in 1977. Fantasy novelist George R. R. Martin has a substantial collection of toy knights and castles.[3] The most extensive collection of toy soldiers was probably that of Malcolm Forbes, who began collecting toy soldiers in the late 1960s and amassed a collection of over 90,000 figures by the time of his death in 1990. Anne Seddon Kinsolving Brown of Providence, Rhode Island, USA, began collecting miniature toy soldiers on her honeymoon to Europe in 1930, eventually amassing a collection of over 6,000 figures; these are on display at the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection at Brown University Library in Providence.

Painted and unpainted Civil War-era plastic figures by Accurate.

Some of the more noteworthy, annual toy soldier and historical figure shows include the Plastic Warrior Show, which is the oldest established show in the U.K. Beginning in 1985 and still being held annually in Richmond, South London. Another well known show is the London Toy Soldier Show held in central London (now owned and operated by the magazine Toy Soldier Collector), the Miniature Figure Collectors of America (MFCA) show in Valley Forge, the Chicago Toy Soldier Show (OTSN) in Illinois, the East Coast Toy Soldier Show in New Jersey, the West Coaster Toy Soldier Show in California, the Sammlerbörse (Collector's Market) in Friedberg, Germany and the biennial Zinnfigurenbörse (Tin Figure Market) in Kulmbach, Germany.

In recent years, collectors of vintage toy soldiers made of polythene PE and polypropylene PP thermoplastics as well as PC/ABS plastic blends have reported brittling and disintegration of collectible miniatures or components thereof.[4]

Varieties[edit]

Different types and styles of toy soldiers have been produced over the years, depending on the cost and availability of materials, as well as manufacturing technologies. Here is a list of some of the most commonly collected varieties of toy soldiers.[5]

Aluminum – slush cast aluminium, made chiefly in France during the early and middle 20th Century

Army men – unpainted, soft plastic toy soldiers sold inexpensively in bags or with terrain pieces and vehicles in boxed playsets

Composition – made from a mixture of sawdust and glue, manufactured in Austria and Germany

Connoisseur – high quality, collectible figures featuring highly detailed paint jobs

Dimestore – hollow or slush cast iron, sold through five and dime stores from the 1920s to 1960 in the United States

Flat – thin, two dimensional tin soldiers cast in slate molds

Hollow cast – cast in metal, usually a lead alloy, which cools and sets as it touches the mold; the excess molten metal is poured out leaving a hollow figure

Paper – printed on sheets of paper or cardboard, frequently mounted on blocks of wood

Plastic – hard and soft plastic, generally painted figures

Solid – cast in solid metal, usually lead, common in Germany during the 19th and early 20th Century

Wood - From the 19th century Germany produced large amounts of wooden fortresses and toy soldiers[6]sometimes working on a scissors mechanism .

Prominent vintage toy soldier makers include Airfix, Barclay, Britains, Herald, Elastolin, Johillco, Lineol, Marx, Manoil, Reamsa and Timpo.

Gaming[edit]

H. G. Wells playing a wargame with toy soldiers, 1913

The playing of wargames with toy figures was pioneered by H. G. Wells in his 1913 book, Little Wars.[7] Wells, a pacifist, was the first to publish detailed rules for playing war games with toy soldiers. He suggested that this could provide a cathartic experience, possibly preventing future real wars. Although this was not to be, Little Wars was a predecessor to the modern hobby of miniatures wargaming. According to Wells, the idea of the game developed from a visit by his friend Jerome K. Jerome. After dinner, Jerome began shooting down toy soldiers with a toy cannon and Wells joined in to compete.[7]

A similar book titled Shambattle: How to Play with Toy Soldiers was published by Harry Dowdall and Joseph Gleason in 1929.

Although people continue to play wargames with miniature figures, most contemporary wargamers use a smaller scale than that favored by collectors, typically under 25 mm.

54th Massachusetts Regiment

Andersonville National Historic Site, Boston African American National Historic Site, Fort Frederica National Monument, Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, more »

Lithograph of the Attack on Fort Wagner by Kurz and Alison, Library of Congress

"Storming Fort Wagner," Kurz and Allison, Library of Congress

Photograph of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw

Photograph of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw

Library of Congress

Following the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, President Abraham Lincoln called for the raising of Black regiments. Massachusetts Governor John Andrew quickly answered Lincoln's call and began forming the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, one of the first Black regiments to serve in the U.S. Civil War. Black men from across the city, state, country, and even other nations, traveled to Boston to join this historic regiment. Through their heroic, yet tragic, assault on Battery Wagner, South Carolina in July 1863, the 54th helped inspire the enlistment of more than 180,000 Black soldiers…a boost in morale and manpower that Lincoln recognized as essential to the victory of the United States and the destruction of slavery throughout the country.

Recruiting the 54th Massachusetts

Governor John A. Andrew of Massachusetts, an abolitionist, eagerly organized the creation of the regiment once securing the permission to do so. Recruiting offices opened throughout the United States and even in Canada as Massachusetts did not have a sufficiently large free Black population to fill the regiment. Local leaders such as Lewis Hayden as well as national spokesmen including Frederick Douglass helped recruit soldiers for the regiment. Recruitment met with such success that enough men enlisted to form not only the 54th Regiment but also a second Black infantry regiment, the 55th Massachusetts.

Governor Andrew chose Robert Gould Shaw of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment to lead the 54th. The son of prominent abolitionists, Shaw had already seen combat and been wounded at the Battle of Antietam. Shaw and other officers trained the men of the 54th at Camp Meigs in Readville, just outside of Boston, until late May 1863. On May 28, 1863, the 54th departed for the war front, marching through Boston, and loaded onto the transport DeMolay for their voyage south. Thousands turned out to watch their farewell parade. According to the Boston Evening Transcript, "no single regiment has attracted larger crowds into the streets than the 54th."1 With the band playing "John Brown's Body," the 54th marched down State Street to the waterfront "passing over ground moistened by the blood of Crispus Attucks, and over which Anthony Burns and Thomas Sims had been carried back to bondage."2

The 54th Arrives in South Carolina

In early June of 1863, the 54th Massachusetts arrived in Beaufort, South Carolina. Captured in the Fall of 1861, the Sea Islands around Beaufort had become not only a military hub for the Department of the South, but the site of an growing experiement at post-slavery, known as the Port Royal Experiment. The regiment paraded through the streets of Beaufort, where onlookers included soldiers in the 1st and 2nd South Carolina Volunteers, two all-Black regiments organized in the Sea Islands the previous year. Officers freely mingled with teachers, including Charlotte Forten at the Penn School, who noted in her journal that the officers of the 54th attended the July 4, 1863 celebration at Brick Baptist Church.

A few weeks after their arrival, the regiment moved to St. Simons Island, Georgia, where they encamped "at a spot called Fredericka."3 From here, the regiment participated in the raid on Darien, Georgia, before moving back to Beaufort, where they encamped on St. Helena Island. By early July, they were beginning preparations to participate in an offensive to capture Charleston.

Mural of 54th Massachusetts Regiment assaulting Battery Wagner

"The 54th Massachusetts regiment, under the leadership of Colonel Shaw in the attack on Fort Wagner, Morris Island, South Carolina, in 1863," mural at the Recorder of Deeds building, Washington DC

Library of Congress

The Fight for Wagner

Initially tasked with manual labor details and the ransacking of Darien, Georgia, of which Shaw did not approve, the 54th did not see real action until a skirmish with Confederate troops on James Island on July 16, 1863. This fight provided the 54th with combat experience and earned them the praise of their fellow soldiers from the Tenth Connecticut whom they helped save from Confederate attack and capture. One journalist wrote, "probably a thousand homes from Windham to Fairfield (CT) have in letters been told the story how the dark-skinned heroes fought the good fight and covered with their own brave hearts the retreat of brothers, sons, and fathers of Connecticut."4

Though weary and weakened from battle and march, Shaw and the 54th readily accepted the opportunity to lead the assault on Battery Wagner, the strategic stronghold guarding Charleston Harbor, on July 18. Knowing this battle would prove vital to shaping public opinion about the use of Black soldiers, Shaw told his men "'how the eyes of thousands would look upon the night’s work."5 Though they fought gallantly, Shaw and many of the 54th lost their lives in the ensuing battle. "The splendid 54th is cut to pieces," wrote Lewis Douglass, son of the famous abolitionist and a soldier in the 54th. "The grape and canister shell and Minnie swept us down like chaff," he continued, "but still our men went on and on."6 Harriet Tubman, witnessing the battle from a distance, remembered:

And then we saw the lightening, and that was the guns; and then we heard the thunder, and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling, and that was the drops of blood falling,; and when we came to get in the crops, it was the dead that we reaped.7

The 54th suffered roughly 42% casualties in this horrific battle against a strongly defended enemy, with more than 270 soldiers killed, wounded, captured, and/or missing and presumed dead of the 650 men of the 54th that participated in the battle.8

Significance of the Battle

Though clearly a miliary defeat, the 54th Regiment's heroic assault on Battery Wagner proved both a powerful political and symbolic victory. Through their actions, the 54th helped convince a skeptical public and military that Black men could and would fight bravely. Frederick Douglass wrote, after the 54th "had distinguished itself with so much credit in the hour of trial, the desire to send more such troops to the front became pretty general." In the weeks after the assault on Wagner, General Ulysses S. Grant wrote to President Lincoln, "I have given the subject of arming the negro my hearty support." He said that the use of Black soldiers would be the "heavyest blow yet given the Confederacy" and that by "arming the negro we have added a powerful ally...They will make good soldiers and taking them from the enemy weakens him in the same proportion [that] they strengthen us."9 The heroic efforts of the 54th Regiment inspired the nation to begin mass recruitment and mobilization of Black soldiers. The 54th paved the way for more than 180,000 Black men joining the United States forces, which ultimately helped turn the tide of the war.

Photograph of William Carney with Medal of Honor

Photograph of William Carney with Medal of Honor

Library of Congress

Sergeant William H. Carney

Sergeant William H. Carney, born enslaved in Virginia, settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts after escaping bondage via the Underground Railroad. Though severely injured in the assault on Wagner, he saved the national colors after the color bearer fell. "I suddenly saw the old flag fall," recounted Carney, "I threw my gun away and grasped the staff of the fallen colors, and ran for the head of the column...the fire of the rebels was something terrible and men fell around me on every hand..." Wounded in several places, Carney crawled his way to safety and proclaimed to fellow soldiers of the 54th: "The old flag never touched the ground."10 In 1900, Carney received the Medal of Honor for his valor 37 years earlier, becoming the first African American to earn the honor.11

James Henry Gooding

Born enslaved in North Carolina, Corporal James Henry Gooding was emancipated as a young child and moved to New York City. Here he gained an education at the New York Colored Orphans Asylum. As an adult, Gooding moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts where he worked on whaling ships in the late 1850s. During the Civil War, Gooding wrote a series of letters to the editors of the New Bedford Mercurcy about the regiment's operations in the South. His letters are some of the best first-hand accounts of life in the 54th Massachusetts from the perspective of an enlisted soldier, and much of what we know about daily life in the regiment comes from his letters.12

The 54th Massachusetts After Battery Wagner

In the aftermath of Fort Wagner, the wounded of the regiment were sent back to Beaufort, where they were treated in two of the antebellum mansions the US Army had converted into hospitals. Approximately 25 soldiers of the 54th had been taken prisoner at Fort Wagner, and their legal status in the hands of the Confederacy became the impetus for the breakdown of the prisoner exchange system.

The 54th continued to serve on the southeast coast for the remainder of the war. Although most of its service took place in the Charleston area, the regiment also saw service in a significant campaign in Florida in 1864 where they heroically guarded the retreat following the defeat at the Battle of Olustee. They also fought at Honey Hill and Boykin's Mill, South Carolina in the waning months of the war. The 54th regiment returned to Massachusetts in late August, 1865, and received a hero's welcome as they made their return parade through Boston on September 2.13

Photograph of Augustus St. Gauden's Shaw Memorial

Photograph of Augustus St. Gauden's Shaw Memorial

Library of Congress

Remembering the 54th Massachusetts

Augustus Saint-Gauden's high-relief bronze monument on Boston Common in downtown Boston commemorates the service and sacrifice of Colonel Shaw and the soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts. Dedicated in 1897, the Robert Gould Shaw/54th Massachusetts Memorial is now part of Boston African American National Historic Site.

Commissioned by a group of private citizens, Saint-Gaudens first envisioned a lone equestrian statue of Colonel Shaw. Shaw's family encouraged Saint-Gaudens to take a different approach, and the resulting work commemorated not only the regiment's famed colonel but also the Black soldiers he commanded, a revolutionary concept for the time period.

To learn more about the history of the Robert Gould Shaw/54th Massachusetts Memorial and its use over time, please visit The Ongoing March: Commemoration and Activism at the Robert Gould Shaw/54th Regiment Memorial.

Footnotes

1. "Reception and Departure of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment," Boston Evening Transcript, May 28, 1863, 2.

2. Luis F. Emilio, A Brave Black Regiment: History of The Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1863-1865 (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1995), 34.

3. The New South (Beaufort, SC). June 20, 1863, 2.

4. Emilio, A Brave Black Regiment, 66.

5. Douglas R. Egerton, Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments That Redeemed America ( New York: Basic Books, 2016), 128.

6. Letter from Lewis Douglass to Frederick Douglass and Anna Murray Douglass, July 20, 1863. Transcribed in Freedom’s Journey: African American Voices of the Civil War, ed. Donald Yacovone (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2004), 108-9.

7. Egerton, Thunder at the Gates, 133.

8. Egerton, Thunder at the Gates, 139.

9. Egerton, Thunder at the Gates, 145-147.

10. "Bravest Colored Soldier," Boston Herald, January 10, 1898, 6.

11. New Bedford Evening Standard, May 4, 1864, 2: "A medal of honor has been awarded to Sergt. William H. Carney, of this city, company C, 54th Mass. Regiment, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the Morris Island campaign." According to Carney's descendant, Carl Cruz, "the first medal he was given was the Gilmore Medal of Meritorious Award which was basically given right on site...He was also awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The tragic end of the story was that he got it late and did not have a formal ceremony. He received the medal in 1900. It was awarded to him in 1863. He did not receive it because there was an oversight in the papers. There was a gentleman by the name of Christian Fleetwood who also fought in the 54th and was putting together the 1900 Exhibition in Paris that was going to show Blacks. He asked Carney for his medal and some other documents. They later found out that he did not get the medal. So Mr. Fleetwood petitioned the War Department along with Luis Fenollosa Emilio, who wrote A Brave Black Regiment: A History of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1863-1865. So along with sending in those documents, the medal was sent to him with the acknowledgment." (It Wasn't In Her Lifetime But It Was Handed Down: Four Black Oral Histories of Massachusetts). According to the The Colored American June 2, 1900, "In connection with the Negro exhibit at the Paris Exposition, Mr. Thomas J. Calloway conceived the idea of making a collection of photographs of colored men who had received medals of honor from the Congress of the United States...It was during this search that the gentleman in charge found to his great surprise that no medal from Congress had been issued to Sergt. Carney, and after corresponding with the gallant sergeant, took up the case personally, searched for and found the necessary evidence to establish the claim, put it in proper form, and submitted to the Secretary of War for action. It is needless to say that the action was favorable, and now at all subsequent encampments, re-unions and other official functions, the bronze star with its broad striped ribbon will be conspicuous on the broad chest of the brave hero Sergt. William H. Carney." Military records show that Carney finally received the Medal of Honor in 1900, "Medal of Honor awarded May 9, 1900, for most distinguished gallantry in action at Fort Wagner, South Carolina, July 18, 1863"

The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, organized in the Northern states during the Civil War.[1] Authorized by the Emancipation Proclamation, the regiment consisted of African-American enlisted men commanded by white officers.[2]

The unit began recruiting in February 1863 and trained at Camp Meigs on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts.[3] Prominent abolitionists were active in recruitment efforts, including Frederick Douglass, whose two sons were among the first to enlist.[4] Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew, who had long pressured the U.S. Department of War to begin recruiting African-Americans, placed a high priority on the formation of the 54th Massachusetts.[5] Andrew appointed Robert Gould Shaw, the son of Boston abolitionists, to command the regiment as Colonel. The free black community in Boston was also instrumental in recruiting efforts, utilizing networks reaching beyond Massachusetts and even into the Southern states to attract soldiers and fill out the ranks.[6] After it departed from Massachusetts on May 28, 1863, the 54th Massachusetts was shipped to Beaufort, South Carolina and became part of the X Corps commanded by Major General David Hunter.[7]

During its service with the X Corps, the 54th Massachusetts took part in operations against Charleston, South Carolina, including the Battle of Grimball's Landing on July 16, 1863, and the more famous Second Battle of Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863. During the latter engagement, the 54th Massachusetts, with other Union regiments, executed a frontal assault against Fort Wagner and suffered casualties of 20 killed, 125 wounded, and 102 missing (primarily presumed dead)—roughly 40 percent of the unit's numbers at that time.[8] Col. Robert G. Shaw was killed on the parapet of Fort Wagner.[9] In 1864, as part of the Union Army's Department of Florida, the 54th Massachusetts took part in the Battle of Olustee.[7]

The service of the 54th Massachusetts, particularly their charge at Fort Wagner, soon became one of the most famous episodes of the war, interpreted through artwork, poetry, and song.[10] More recently, the 54th Massachusetts gained prominence in popular culture through the 1989 film Glory.[11]

Organization and early service

Massachusetts Gov. John A. Andrew ordered the formation of the 54th Massachusetts after receiving authorization from Secretary of War Stanton

General recruitment of African Americans for service in the Union Army was authorized by the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton accordingly instructed the Governor of Massachusetts, John A. Andrew, to begin raising regiments including "persons of African descent" on January 26, 1863.[12] Andrew selected Robert Gould Shaw to be the regiment's colonel and Norwood Penrose "Pen" Hallowell to be its lieutenant colonel.[13] Like many officers of regiments of African-American troops, both Robert Gould Shaw and Hallowell, captains at the time, were promoted several grades.[13] The rest of the officers were evaluated by Shaw and Hallowell: these officers included Luis Emilio,[14] and Garth Wilkinson "Wilkie" James, brother of Henry James and William James. Many of these officers were of abolitionist families, and Governor Andrew himself chose several. Lt. Col. Norwood Hallowell was joined by his younger brother Edward Needles Hallowell, who commanded the 54th as a full colonel for the rest of the war after Shaw's death. Twenty-four of the 29 officers were veterans, but only six had been previously commissioned.[15]

The soldiers were recruited by black abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and Major Martin Robison Delany, M.D., and white abolitionists, including Shaw's parents. Lieutenant J. Appleton,[16] the first white man commissioned in the regiment, posted a notice in the Boston Journal.[2] Wendell Phillips and Edward L. Pierce spoke at a Joy Street Church recruiting rally, encouraging free blacks to enlist.[17] About 100 people were actively involved in recruitment, including those from Joy Street Church and a group of individuals appointed by Governor Andrew to enlist black men for the 54th.[18] Among those appointed was George E. Stephens, African-American military correspondent to the Weekly Anglo-African who recruited over 200 men in Philadelphia and would go on to serve as a First Sergeant in the 54th.[19]

The 54th trained at Camp Meigs in Readville near Boston. While there, they received considerable moral support from abolitionists in Massachusetts, including Ralph Waldo Emerson.[20] Material support included warm clothing items, battle flags, and $500 contributed for the equipping and training of a regimental band. As it became evident that many more recruits were coming forward than were needed, the medical exam for the 54th was described as "rigid and thorough" by the Massachusetts Surgeon-General. This resulted in what he described as "a more robust, strong and healthy set of men were never mustered into the service of the United States."[21] Despite this, as was common in the Civil War, a few men died of disease before the 54th departed from Camp Meigs.[22]

By most accounts, the 54th left Boston with very high morale.[23] This was despite the fact that Jefferson Davis's proclamation of December 23, 1862, effectively put both African-American enlisted men and white officers under a death sentence if captured on the grounds that they were inciting servile insurrection.[24]

After muster into federal service on May 13, 1863,[25] the 54th left Boston with fanfare on May 28, and arrived to more celebrations in Beaufort, South Carolina. They were greeted by local blacks and by Northern abolitionists, some of whom had deployed from Boston a year earlier as missionaries to the Port Royal Experiment.[26] In Beaufort, they joined with the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers, a unit of South Carolina freedmen led by James Montgomery.[27] After the 2nd Volunteers' successful Raid at Combahee Ferry, Montgomery led both units in a raid on the town of Darien, Georgia.[28] The population had fled, and Montgomery ordered the soldiers to loot and burn the empty town.[29] Shaw objected to this activity and complained over Montgomery's head that burning and looting were not suitable activities for his model regiment.[30]

Battle of Grimball's Landing

The regiment's first engagement took place during the Battle of Grimball's Landing on James Island, just outside of Charleston, South Carolina, on July 16, 1863. The Union attack on James Island was intended to draw Confederate troops away from Fort Wagner in anticipation of an upcoming Union assault on the fort. During the Battle of Grimball's Landing, the 54th Massachusetts stopped a Confederate advance, taking 45 casualties in the process.[31]

In an account of the engagement, which was later published, First Sergeant Robert John Simmons of the 54th Massachusetts (a British Army veteran from Bermuda) described a "desperate battle" in which about 250 pickets of the regiment were attacked by about 900 Confederates. He estimated that a reserve of 3,000 men supported the Confederates in their front. The 54th Massachusetts stopped the Confederate advance then, as he described, "had to fire and retreat toward our own encampment."[32][better source needed]

After the engagement, their division commander, Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry, complimented "steadiness and soldierly conduct" of 54th Massachusetts by courier to Col. Shaw and in his official report of the action. This recognition raised the morale of the regiment.[33]

Battle of Fort Wagner

William Harvey Carney circa 1864

The regiment gained widespread acclaim on July 18, 1863, when it spearheaded an assault on Fort Wagner, a key position overlooking the water approach to Charleston Harbor.[34] The 54th Massachusetts had only recently returned from James Island after a difficult withdrawal during which they spent two days without food. They returned to the main Union force late on the afternoon of July 18 and the tired and hungry men were immediately placed in the vanguard of the assault force of 4,000 men. The assault was launched at 7:45 pm along a narrow spit of land. The distance to the Confederate line was some 1,600 yards (1,500 m), and the spit and treacherous marshland's narrow confines disorganized the attackers. The approach required them to pass beyond some of the Confederate fortifications before turning to make their assault. The men crossed a water-filled ditch and took the fort's outer wall. Because of the strength of the defending force, the position could only be held for an hour before the two Union brigades were withdrawn at around 9:00 pm.[35]

The 54th Massachusetts numbered 600 men at the time of the assault. Of these, 270 were killed, wounded, or captured during the engagement. Col. Shaw was killed, along with 29 of his men; 24 more later died of wounds, 15 were captured, 52 were missing in action and never accounted for, and 149 were wounded.[36] These casualties represented the highest in the history of the regiment during a single engagement.[34] Two company commanders were killed during the attack.[37]

Although Union forces were not able to take and hold the fort, the 54th was widely acclaimed for its valor during the battle, and the event helped encourage the further enlistment and mobilization of African-American troops, a critical development that President Abraham Lincoln once noted as helping to secure the final victory. Decades later, Sergeant William Harvey Carney[38] was awarded the Medal of Honor for grabbing the U.S. flag as the flag bearer fell, carrying the flag to the enemy ramparts and back, and saying "Boys, the old flag never touched the ground!" which would be turned into a song in his honor in 1900. While other African Americans had since been granted the award by the time it was presented to Carney, Carney's is the earliest action for which the Medal of Honor was awarded to an African American.[39]

Battle of Olustee

Under the command of now-Colonel Edward Hallowell, the 54th fought a rear-guard action covering the Union retreat at the Battle of Olustee. The unit was suddenly ordered to counter-march back to Ten Mile station during the retreat. The locomotive of a train carrying wounded Union soldiers had broken down, and the wounded were in danger of capture. When the 54th arrived, the men attached ropes to the engine and cars and manually pulled the train approximately three miles (4.8 km) to Camp Finegan, where horses were secured to help pull the train. After that, the train was pulled by both men and horses to Jacksonville for a total distance of ten miles (16 km). It took forty-two hours to pull the train that distance.[13]

As part of an all-black brigade under Col. Alfred S. Hartwell, they unsuccessfully attacked entrenched Confederate militia at the November 1864 Battle of Honey Hill. In mid-April 1865, they fought at the Battle of Boykin's Mill, a small affair in South Carolina that proved to be one of the last engagements of the war.[40]

Pay controversy

The enlisted men of the 54th were recruited on the promise of pay and allowances equal to their white counterparts. This was supposed to amount to subsistence and $13 a month.[41] Instead, they were informed upon arriving in South Carolina that the Department of the South would pay them only $7 per month ($10 with $3 withheld for clothing, while white soldiers did not pay for clothing at all.)[42] Colonel Shaw and many others immediately began protesting the measure.[43] Joseph Barquet, another member of the regiment, also protested the quality of the food which the soldiers were given, which led to him being court-martialed.[44] Although Massachusetts offered to make up the difference in pay, on principle, a regiment-wide boycott of the pay tables on paydays became the norm.[45]

After Shaw's death at Fort Wagner, Colonel Edward Needles Hallowell took up the fight to get full pay for the troops.[46] Lt. Col. Hooper took command of the regiment starting June 18, 1864. After nearly a month, Colonel Hallowell returned on July 16.[47]

Refusing their reduced pay became a point of honor for the men of the 54th. In fact, at the Battle of Olustee, when ordered forward to protect the retreat of the Union forces, the men moved forward shouting, "Massachusetts and Seven Dollars a Month!"[13]

The Congressional bill, enacted on June 16, 1864, authorized equal and full pay to those enlisted troops who had been free men as of April 19, 1861. Of course, not all the troops qualified. Colonel Hallowell, a Quaker, rationalized that because he did not believe in slavery, he could have all the troops swear that they were free men on April 19, 1861. Before being given their back pay, the entire regiment was administered what became known as "the Quaker oath".[46] Colonel Hallowell skillfully crafted the oath to say: "You do solemnly swear that you owed no man unrequited labor on or before the 19th day of April 1861. So help you God".[48]

On September 28, 1864, the U.S. Congress took action to pay the men of the 54th. Most of the men had served 18 months.[47]

Legacy

Grand Army of the Republic uniform hat badge from Post No. 146, "RG Shaw Post", established by surviving members of the 54th Massachusetts in 1871

Augustus Saint-Gaudens' 1884 memorial to Col. Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts

A monument to Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts regiment, constructed 1884–1898 by Augustus Saint-Gaudens on the Boston Common, is part of the Boston Black Heritage Trail.[49] A plaster of this monument was also displayed in the entryway to the U.S. paintings galleries at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900.[50]

Governor John A. Andrew said of the regiment, "I know not where, in all of human history, to any given thousand men in arms there has been committed a work at once so proud, so precious, so full of hope and glory."[12]

A famous composition by Charles Ives, "Col. Shaw and his Colored Regiment", the opening movement of Three Places in New England, is based both on the monument and the regiment.[49]

Colonel Shaw and his men also feature prominently in Robert Lowell's Civil War centennial poem "For the Union Dead." It was originally titled "Colonel Shaw and the Massachusetts' 54th" and published in Life Studies (1959). In the poem, Lowell uses the Robert Gould Shaw memorial as a symbolic device to comment on broader societal change, including racism and segregation, as well as his more personal struggle to cope with a rapidly changing Boston.[51]

A Union officer had asked the Confederates at Battery Wagner for the return of Shaw's body but was informed by the Confederate commander, Brigadier General Johnson Hagood, "We buried him with his niggers."[52] Shaw's father wrote in response that he was proud that Robert, a fierce fighter for equality, had been buried in that manner.[53] "We hold that a soldier's most appropriate burial-place is on the field where he has fallen."[54] As a recognition and honor, at the end of the Civil War, the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, and the 33rd Colored Regiment were mustered out at the Battery Wagner site of the mass burial of the 54th Massachusetts.[40]

More recently, the story of the unit was depicted in the 1989 Academy Award-winning film Glory, starring Matthew Broderick as Shaw, Denzel Washington as Private Trip, Morgan Freeman, Cary Elwes, Jihmi Kennedy and Andre Braugher[55] The film re-established the now-popular image of the combat role African Americans played in the Civil War, and the unit, often represented in historical battle reenactments, now has the nickname the "Glory" regiment.[49]