54th Massachusetts Infantry Assaults Fort Wagner

The 54th Massachusetts Infantry, one of the first Black regiments recruited in the North, led the assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and nearly half the regiment's men were killed or wounded. Sergeant William Carney, though severely wounded, carried the regimental flag and never let it touch the ground — later receiving the Medal of Honor. The battle's valor silenced much Northern skepticism about Black soldiers.