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The brave men of the 54th Volunteer Regiment were defeated at Fort Wagner in South Carolina 150 years ago. Out of 600, 272 men fell, along with Colonel Robert G. Shaw. Sergeant William Harvey Carney was awarded the Medal of Honor for grabbing the U.S. flag and carrying it to the enemy ramparts and back, and singing “Boys, the old flag never touched the ground!” It was one of the most tragic battles for the regiment but significant in the overall Civil War and the win of the Union Army.

The monument in Boston is part of the Black Heritage Trail.

The 54th Massachusetts regiment was memorialized in the 1989 Academy Award-winning film “Glory” with Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman.

Little Known Black History Fact: 54th Infantry Bronze Statue  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com

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