WILLIAM HARVEY CARNEY
When the colour guard of the 54th Regiment was killed, this sergeant, although wounded, seized the national flag and marched it forward during the storming of Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina, 18 July, 1863
On 22 September, 1862, already almost two years into the US Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation stating that, as of 1 January, 1863, all slaves within any State would be “thenceforward, and forever free”. This proclamation freed 3.5 million men and women of African-american descent and included in the proclamation was the sentence that “the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom”. This meant that African-americans could serve in the armed forces of the Union.
The first unit which took advantage of the new-won ability of African-american men to serve in Union armies was the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment, which mustered less than two weeks after the Emancipation Proclamation came into effect, on 13 January. This unit was formed without the authority (and against the wishes) of the Secretary of War Edwin M Stanton. The second unit to form was sanctioned, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, which began recruiting on 26 January. Stanton had instructed the Governor of Massachusetts, John A Andrew, to begin raising the regiment; it would be commanded and led by white officers. The commander would be Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, only son of a prominent Boston abolitionist family, who was personally selected by Governor Andrew.
Immense efforts were undertaken to ensure that enough men would come forward to serve, but it soon became clear that many more men than were required were intending to sign up. A medical exam was therefore instituted and the men of the 54th were described as “strong, robust and healthy”, more so than any other unit in the Union army. Among the men who were recruited and who passed the physical was William Harvey Carney of New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Carney was born a slave in Norfolk, Virginia, in late February 1840. According to several biographies, he escaped to freedom via the Underground Railway and joined his father in Massachusetts, who had escaped some time earlier. It is possible the two then purchased the freedom of the rest of their family. It is also possible that the young William had his freedom purchased by his father. In February 1863, just before his 23rd birthday, Carney joined the 54th.
In answer to the growing realisation that the Emancipation Proclamation would mean units of African-american troops coming against the Confederacy, its president, Jefferson Davis, issued a proclamation of his own on 23 December, 1862. This stated that all Africanamerican soldiers and the officers commanding them should be considered criminals assisting in servile insurrection and were thereby condemned to death. This proclamation did nothing to slow the numbers of men coming forward to serve in the new units, however.
The 54th trained at Camp Meigs in Readville, near Boston. It mustered into service on 13 May, 1863, leaving Boston on 28 May. It would not have to wait long before it saw its first action. The 54th marched to Beaufort, South Carolina, where they were joined by another African-american unit, the 2nd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The 2nd had already mounted successful raids in early June. The first battle for the 54th came on 16 July, 1863, at Grimball’s Landing on James Island as part of the Operations Against the Defenses of Charlestown. The action at Grimball’s Landing was intended to draw troops away from Fort Wagner, which Brigadier General Quincy A Gilmore had failed to take on the 11th. Fort Wagner was the real objective of the campaign. At Grimball’s landing, the 54th prevented an encircling movement by Confederate forces and allowed the withdrawal of the 10th Connecticut Infantry Regiment, who the Confederates sought to encircle and cut off.
The 54th was blooded, suffering 43 casualties. The regiment was selected to lead
“WHEN THE COLOR SERGEANT WAS SHOT DOWN, THIS SOLDIER GRASPED THE FLAG, LED THE WAY TO THE PARAPET, AND PLANTED THE COLORS THEREON. WHEN THE TROOPS FELL BACK HE BROUGHT OFF THE FLAG, UNDER A FIERCE FIRE IN WHICH HE WAS TWICE SEVERELY WOUNDED” Medal of Honor citation
“BOYS, I ONLY DID MY DUTY; THE OLD FLAG NEVER TOUCHED THE GROUND!” William H Carney, July 18, 1863
the charge against Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina on 18 July, 1863, at the Second Battle of Fort Wagner. Some accounts have Colonel Shaw request to lead the charge with the 54th. The first unsuccessful assault on the fort (the first battle) had taken place a week earlier. Fort Wagner protected the strategically important Morris Island, which protected the southern approaches to Charleston Harbor.
The fort was located on a narrow island, which allowed assault by only one regiment at a time. Approach to the fort consisted of a strip of beach only 55 metres wide; on the east was the sea with marsh on the west. As this strip opened out, it faced the more than 200 metrewide parapet of the fort, which consisted of a moat with sharpened stakes and abatis. The fort was strongly protected with artillery pieces consisting of mortars, howitzers, carronades, other pieces and a strong infantry garrison of 1,800 men. Gilmore had underestimated the strength of the garrison, which could bring many men and their guns against the thin fronts of his assaulting regiments. Gilmore had his own land and sea artillery (the latter supplied by six Monitor gunships); with these he began an eight-hour bombardment of the fort. It was ineffective, inflicting only 28 casualties.
At dusk the 54th advanced to lead the assault on the fort, led by Colonel Shaw and cheered by the remaining nine regiments of Gilmore’s command. Some 5,000 men in total would come on in three brigades, all led by the 54th. The 54th would lead the attack towards the west end of the fort while it was intended that the remainder of the first brigade would attack the seaward salient. The assault was launched at 7.45pm, 45 minutes before sunset.
The 54th advanced to within 137 metres of the fort before the Confederates opened fire with a devastating hail of musket and cannonfire. This concentrated fire tore through the ranks, killing and wounding many. The colour guard was killed to a man and Carney, of C Company and already wounded, took up the national flag of the regiment and continued to advance towards the parapet. One version recounts that as he saw the flag falling, Carney threw away his own gun and took up the flag instead. The tide was coming in and, adding to their perils, the moat was now filled with three feet of water. Some enemy stood on the parapet and fired down into the water-filled moat at the men of the 54th. Carney advanced with the colour and reached the parapet of the fort, kneeling on it and planting the flag in one account, and the regiment followed him. There, having not fired a single shot in their advance, the men of the 54th engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the 51st North Carolina Infantry. Musket butts and bayonets were brought into play on the parapet top.
The Union troops were hugely outnumbered, however, and soon forced back. Many of the officers of the 54th were wounded; Colonel Shaw had reached the parapet of the fort but had been shot and killed there, pierced by seven wounds according to Confederate reports. Until that moment he had encouraged the regiment on with cries of “Forward, Fifty-fourth!” Lieutenant Colonel Hallowell was severely wounded in the groin; Captain Willard and the next eight in seniority, three lieutenants and the adjutant had also been wounded. Another of the wounded was Lewis Henry Douglas, son of Frederick Douglass, the famous orator who led the calls for recruitment in Massachusetts only a few months before. In all, the 54th suffered almost 30% casualties: 30 were killed in action, 24 died of wounds, 15 were captured and 52 were reported missing. It is possible that they were victims of Davis’ proclamation and not accorded the treatment due to enemy combatants. Only 315 men survived. Other accounts state that 272 men of the 54th were killed, wounded or missing out of 600 – almost 50% casualties.
As the men of the 54th retired, Carney realised that he too would need to retreat. He made his way back towards the Union lines, covered by a single rifleman from the 100th New York Infantry Regiment. During his withdrawal, Carney was wounded twice more, making his way back crawling on one knee. One of those bullets could not be extracted and remained until his dying day. Throughout his advance and retreat he held the colour aloft. Once he was back in Union lines, he refused to relinquish the national flag except to an officer of his own regiment – the man he gave it to was 19-year-old Captain Luis F Emilio (who would later write the history of the regiment). As he moved through Union lines, he was cheered by the men and he uttered his famous statement: “Boys, I only did my duty; the old flag never touched the ground.” According to Emilio, the State colour had been ripped from its pole and lay in the water of the moat (later found by the enemy), only the staff was taken back to the regiment.
By 10pm the Union assault had failed with heavy losses, losing 1,500 men; 800 were buried the following day. The fort remained in Confederate hands and they had only suffered 174 casualties. The actions of the 54th at
Fort Wagner proved to both sides, however, the value and courage of African-american troops. Stories of Carney’s bravery were key to that reputation. Numbers of African-american enlistments grew as more and more men sought to serve; 180,000 African-american soldiers served in the footsteps of Carney and the 54th. At Fort Wagner, a continuous 60day bombardment was begun which unearthed the recently dead and buried, making the conditions pestilent. The fort was abandoned on 7 September.
Carney would not be presented with his Medal of Honor for 37 years, receiving it only in May, 1900, presented to him by President Mckinley, a fellow Civil War veteran and the last veteran to serve as President. In the intervening period another 20 men of Africanamerican descent had been awarded the
Medal of Honor, the earliest being Robert Blake, receiving his medal in April 1864 for actions on the gunboat the USS Marblehead on Christmas Day 1863. Carney’s action, however, predated Blake’s by five months and Carney’s action was the first by an Africanamerican soldier to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Some accounts of Carney’s career claim he was promoted to sergeant after his action, others claim he was a sergeant at the time of the battle and depictions show him as such. He posed for a photo in 1864 with the flag he had carried, and, in it, he wears a sergeant’s stripes (he also carries a cane showing he was still recovering from his wounds). Carney helped Emilio research his History of the Fiftyfourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer
Infantry, 1863–1865, published in 1891. In the preface, Emilio thanks Carney, among others, for their recollections which went into it. There, as he carried the flag forward, Carney is called sergeant, which might decide the matter. Carney’s serious wounds meant he was
honourably discharged from the army in late June 1864. Thereafter he became a mailman in New Bedford, Massachusetts, for 32 years. He died after an elevator accident in 1908.
Carney’s bravery and medal were celebrated but not consistently; C Company (mainly recruited around New Bedford) instituted a Carney Guards (a Shaw Guards was also instituted). Depictions of the battle made before 1900, which memorialise Colonel
Shaw, do not pay the same respect to
Carney’s action. After the medal was awarded, Carney’s statement was memorialised in a song Boys the Old Flag Never Touched the
Ground, published in 1901 and dedicated to Carney. In its lyrics, the song told the entire story of Carney’s bravery.
Several novels and works of non-fiction have also told the story such as One Gallant Rush
(1965) by Peter Burchard (and based on the letters of Robert Gould Shaw). The story of the 54th and the Second Battle of Fort Wagner was the subject of the 1989 Academy Award winning film, Glory, starring Mathew Broderick as Colonel Shaw. Despite the subject, the film does not include Carney and his actions are given to a fictitious Private Trip, played by Denzel Washington (and for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor). In the film, it is Trip who lifts the flag and carries it forward. The film also has colour sergeants in the fort, although in the actual battle they had been killed early in the assault and it was from them Carney took up the flag. Carney’s story deserved (and deserves) better.