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Example research essay topic: York Franklin Watts Fifty Fourth - 1,224 words

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... er of an all Negro regiment was to be taken prisoner, and be put to death or otherwise punished (Cox, 11 - 12). Being the leader of those regiments required much courage and discipline. When Captain Robert Gould Shaw, who was the leader of the Massachusetts fifty-fourth Volunteers, was buried, he was stripped of all his belongings and clothes, then buried with the other men in his regiment who died with him on the battlefield of Fort Wagner. The Confederate soldiers buried him with as much disgust and disrespect possible for an officer. Shaw went from an officer of much respect and privilege to a man given the most dishonorable and controversial burial ever given a soldier who defended his country.

The story of the fifty-fourth Massachusetts, is one of contest and victory. The fifty-fourth Volunteers were the first group of freedmen to be organized for combat. They attacked Fort Wagner and won the admiration of the entire Union Army. The struggle to be accepted and perceived as capable human beings, as well as the triumph of serving their country with pride, is a synopsis of the trials and temptations the Volunteers went through. The Captain of the Massachusetts Volunteers, Robert Shaw, had many doubts about commanding a regiment of freedmen. Later accepting the notion, Shaw realized the call to duty that was imposed upon him.

A man serving under him was quoted as saying, [Captain Shaw] was sure of promotion where he stood. In this new Negro-soldier venture, loneliness was certain, ridicule inevitable, failure possible, and although he had stood among the bullets at Cedar Mountain and Antietam, he had till then been walking socially on the sunny side of life. (Cox, 40) Shaw knew that if he accepted the call of duty, he would be rejected and scorned not only by fellow soldiers in the North and South, but also by every man, woman, and child in the nation. Shaw knew that he was entering unforeseen territory, and with a regiment of over one thousand men, Shaw knew that it was all or nothing. Although the North could not have asked for a better asset, the treatment of the freedmen left a great deal to be desired. The black soldier received 7 / 50 the pay that white soldiers received.

Not only was the pay considerably less, but the work that the black man was forced to do, was more than the white soldiers load could amount to. The freedmen who served in the military not only did more of their share of hard labor but they were also given the white soldiers share of fatigue duty. To emphasize the difference skin color made in this war, the black soldiers were also given less food rations and rarely had full clothing. In addition to getting the short end of the stick and being shafted by their own government (who they were fighting for) the freedmen would stay awake all night tending the fire just to keep themselves alive in the bitter cold. Although the former slaves came to be known as some of the greatest soldiers in the war, they had very humble beginnings. The commander of the fifty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers summed up in details of how former slaves were transformed into soldiers.

They stripped the freedmen and unceremoniously burned their old clothes, bathed them, and finally suited them in army blues, and Lo! He was completely metamorphosed, not only in appearance and dress, but also in character and relations also. The change was eloquent, Yesterday as a filthy, repulsive nigger, today a neatly attired man; yesterday a slave, today a freedman; yesterday a civilian, today a soldier. (Black 14, 22) What drove the slaves to fight so wholeheartedly for a country that would not even make sure they had proper food and clothing was the sheer fact that they believed that same country they were fighting for would set them free. The service of the freedmen was known as some of the most honorable service during the Civil War.

The election of 1864 came and with the support of the Union Army, Lincoln was reelected. The war would go on and the slaves would remain free. With Lincoln still holding his office and the war winding down, all the Union Army had to do was to continue to suffocate and starve the Confederates until they surrendered. The Confederate Army was only a fraction of the size that it was when the war began. The North knew that it was only a matter of time before the South had no army left.

Many of the Confederate soldiers left in droves. Whether they abandoned the military, were killed / wounded in battle, paid not to serve in the Army, it was nonetheless dying. The end of the war was so near that the Yankees could taste victory. The freedmen soldiers made many contributions that no history book could ever capture. Everything that they stood for, everything they fought for, fueled their craving for victory even more. The soldiers left the battlefields with more than just the experience of war The experience of battling the inequality was won in the eyes of the military.

The experience of those who fought in the fifty-fourth Massachusetts, those who lived to tell about it, did and their story was made into an Oscar nominated movie. The experience of not only being liberated, but fighting for the rights of slaves who were still enslaved, and succeeding, was emancipation for them. The experience of fighting tirelessly and struggling to survive on -what seemed to be- barely enough for a civilian to survive on. When the last shot was fired, and the soldiers had left the battlefields, the entire country not only realized what they had done to keep themselves together, but also what price had been paid for the freedom of its slaves. A country based on freedom needed a Civil War to assure that the residents had that freedom to stand upon. Because of our Civil War, slavery was abolished and we, as Americans, are guaranteed the right to be free. &# 61623; Berlin, Ira and Leslie S.

Rowland, eds. Families and Freedom. New York: New &# 61623; Black, Wallace B. Slaves to Soldiers. New York: Franklin Watts, 1998. &# 61623; Cotton, John.

Reflections on the Civil War. New York: Doubleday and &# 61623; Cox, Clinton. Undying Glory: The Story of the Massachusetts 45 th Regiment. New York: Scholastic, 1991. &# 61623; For, Eric and Olivia Mahoney. Americas Reconstruction. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1995. &# 61623; Franklin, John Hope, and Alfred A.

Moss, Jr. From Slavery to Freedom. New &# 61623; Hansen, Joyce. Between Two Fires. New York: Franklin Watts, 1993. &# 61623; Hargrove, Hand B.

Black Union Soldiers in the Civil War. Jefferson: &# 61623; Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. Army Life in a Black Regiment. Boston: &# 61623; McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom. New York: Oxford University &# 61623; Miller, Steven F. , et al.

Free at Last. New York: New Press, 1992. &# 61623; Reef, Catherine. Civil War Soldiers. New York: Twenty-First Century Books, &# 61623; Savage, Kirk. Standing Soldiers, Kneeling Slaves. Princeton: Princeton &# 61623; Thomas, Emory M.

The American War and Peace. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall &# 61623; Wilson, Joseph T. The Black Phalanx. New York: Da Capo Press, 1994. Bibliography:


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