Thousands of African Americans enlisted to fight for the Union in the days following the Emancipation Proclamation. By the end of the war, around 186,000 African American soldiers had answered the call to fight. One of the first all-black units, the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, led an attack on Fort Wagner in Charleston Harbor in 1863, engaging in brutal hand-to-hand combat despite the difficult conditions, and while they failed to take the fort, their heroism improved perceptions of African American soldiers and encouraged more to enlist.

1. Joining
the
fight

2. For themselves
• In the days following the
Emancipation
Proclamation, thousands of
African-Americans enlisted
in the armed forces to fight
for the Union.

3. For themselves
•By the end of the war
about 186,000 answered
the call to go and fight.

4. For themselves
• Frederick Douglass, the
runaway slave and abolitionist
speaker had long advocated
for arming African-Americans,
and, with the military need for
them, President Lincoln finally
agreed.

5. For themselves
• One of the first all African-
American units to be
formed was the 54 th
Massachusetts Regiment
under the leadership of
Robert Gould Shaw.

6. For themselves
• While the early days of their
enlistment often saw African-
Americans as little more than
marchers, they finally had an
opportunity to fight on July
18, 1863, two weeks after the
Union victories at Gettysburg
and Vicksburg.

7. For themselves
•They were sent to attack
Fort Wagner, a
Confederate fort that
protected the entrance to
Charleston Harbor.

8. For themselves
•The only way to get to the
fort was by a sixty-yard
wide stretch of beach that
provided a wide-open
field of fire for the
Confederates inside.

9. For themselves
•Shaw led his troops up the
sides of the fort and
continued with brutal
hand-to-hand combat in
their attempt to take the
fort.

10. For themselves
• While ultimately the 54
th
Massachusetts Regiment failed to
take the fort (a fort that would
remain in Confederate hands
throughout the war), they did
improve the perception of
African-American soldiers and
their heroism encouraged other
African-Americans to fight.