组建一个非裔美国军团

After the Emancipation Proclamation took effect on 1 January 1863, Governor John A. Andrew of 麻萨诸塞州 quickly secured authorization from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to recruit "persons of African descent, organized into special corps" to fight for the Union cause. While former enslaved people were enlisted locally in Union-occupied areas of Louisiana and 南卡罗来纳, 在堪萨斯州, there remained strong resistance to recruiting African Americans. The War Department refused to commission Black officers, or to provide equal pay for Black soldiers.

Anxious to raise a Black regiment before the federal government could reconsider the matter, 安德鲁总督写信给弗朗西斯. 肖, asking him to forward an enclosed letter to his son, in which Andrew offered the younger 肖 command of the new unit that would become the 54th 麻萨诸塞州 Volunteer Infantry; view the online presentation of the letter from Governor Andrew to 罗伯特·古尔德·肖.

罗伯特·古尔德·肖

In selecting Captain 肖 for command of the "special corps" of African Americans, 安德鲁总督选择了, 正如他所说的那样, 一位“语气和荣誉最高的绅士”," a tested combat veteran who also had strong family connections to abolitionist leaders in 麻萨诸塞州. 以他祖父的名字命名, 波士顿最富有的商人之一, 罗伯特·古尔德·肖 was born in Boston on 10 October 1837, 在特权的环境中长大. In 1841, 他的父亲, 弗朗西斯·乔治·肖, retired from business to devote himself to literary study, 慈善事业, 和反对奴隶制度的, 罗伯特的母亲也是如此, 莎拉·布莱克·斯特吉斯·肖. The 肖 family moved from Boston to West Roxbury, 麻萨诸塞州, where they lived near the site--and under the influence--of the utopian community at Brook Farm. Later they lived in New York and then moved to Europe where Robert studied in Switzerland and Germany before he returned to 麻萨诸塞州 to attend Harvard College. He left college without graduating in 1859 to enter business in New York City where he met Annie Kneeland Haggerty, 他将于1863年5月与她结婚, 就在他死前两个月.

内战开始的时候, 肖 served briefly in the socially elite 7th New York Infantry Regiment ("the Darling Seventh"), before receiving a commission in the 2nd 麻萨诸塞州 Infantry, 同样是海湾州立大学的精英团. 肖 saw eighteen months of hard service in Virginia and Maryland with the 2nd 麻萨诸塞州 Infantry, including the Battles of Cedar Mountain and Antietam, and had been promoted to the rank of captain before his name was put forward for command of the new African American regiment.

写信给弗朗西斯·肖, 而不是直接交给罗伯特·古尔德·肖, Governor Andrew hoped to encourage the father to influence the son's decision. 事实上, the elder 肖 hand carried the message to his son's camp in Virginia where he delivered it on 3 February 1863. This was a wise move because 罗伯特·古尔德·肖 initially was very reluctant to leave his surviving comrades in the 2nd 麻萨诸塞州, and less enthusiastic than his parents about the "special corps" that Andrew proposed to raise. Governor Andrew hoped to avoid public embarrassment and damage to the effort to recruit Black soldiers if 肖 refused the command: "I don't want the office to go begging,他写信给萧伯纳的父亲, "and if this offer is refused I would prefer its being kept reasonably private." At first the younger 肖 did refuse the appointment, 但两天后，他的态度软化了, 至少部分是为了取悦他的父母, 一个会导致他自己死亡的行为, but immortal fame for his regiment for their gallant attack on Fort Wagner, 南卡罗来纳, 1863年7月18日.

第54团重生

2008年11月21日, 在马萨诸塞州议会大厦举行的仪式上, the 54th 麻萨诸塞州 Volunteer Infantry was reactivated as the 54th 麻萨诸塞州 Volunteer Regiment to serve as the ceremonial unit of the 麻萨诸塞州 National Guard. The new 54th renders military honors at funerals and state functions. The unit marched in Washington in the presidential inaugural parade on 20 January 2009--an event filled with historic symbolism--joined there, 就像它在重新启用仪式上一样, A公司, 54th 麻萨诸塞州 Volunteer Infantry (The 54th 麻萨诸塞州 Glory Brigade, 公司.), African American reenactors based in Mattapan, 麻萨诸塞州. Both the members of the 54th 麻萨诸塞州 Volunteer Regiment and the reenactors of Company A honor the memory of the original 54th, 安德鲁总督写到, “我不知道什么时候, 在人类历史上, to any given thousand men in arms there has been committed a work at once so proud, 如此珍贵, 充满了希望和荣耀."