Museum Project

1. African American SoldiersTaylor and Kylee

2. African American Soldiers
• African American men could not serve in the U.S. Army up until the 54th Massachusetts
regiment was issued.

3. The Massachusetts 54th Regiment

4. Payment
• The U.S. Army paid African American soldiers
10$ , 3$ less then white soldiers.
• To protest against this the entire unit of soldiers
and officers refused to accept their wages until
blacks were paid the same.
African American Soldiers

5. The Massachusetts 54th Regiment
• February 1863, Governor John A. Andrew
issued the civil wars first call of black soldiers.
• Many of the black men came from New York,
Indiana, and Ohio ; some even came from
Canada.

6. The Massachusetts 54th Regiment
Volunteers
• Many men volunteered as young as 16
years old.
• The most famous enlisted were Charles and Lewis
Douglass, sons of the abolitionist Frederick
Douglass.
Lewis Charles

7. • Robert Gould Shaw, a young white officer was chosen to lead the 54th
Massachusetts.
• Roberts parents were wealthy and prominent abolitionist activists.
• He had dropped out of Harvard to join the union army.
Leader