Storming Fort Wagner

Object Details

Artist

Kurz & Allison Lithography Company, c. 1880 - 1899

Sitter

Robert Gould Shaw, 10 Oct 1837 - 18 Jul 1863

Exhibition Label

Storming Fort Wagner

As the first black regiment to be organized in a Northern state, the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Colored Regiment included recruits from twenty-five states as well as Canada. In late May 1863, under the leadership of its white commander, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the Fifty-Fourth was ordered to the South Carolina coast to prepare to take the city of Charleston. Fort Wagner, the heavily fortified Confederate bastion that guarded Charleston’s main shipping channel, was the regiment’s target. The Fifty-Fourth began its attack at dusk on July 18, 1863.

Despite withering Confederate fire that decimated their ranks and killed Colonel Shaw, the men of the Fifty-Fourth bravely mounted two assaults before the fort’s defenders drove them back. Although a defeat for Union forces, the admirable performance of the Fifty-Fourth laid to rest any lingering doubts about African American soldiers’ fitness for battle.

Credit Line

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

1890

Object number

S/NPG.2014.33

Restrictions & Rights

CC0

Type

Print

Medium

Chromolithograph on paper

Dimensions

Image: 47.6 × 65.4 cm (18 3/4 × 25 3/4")

Mount: 62.4 × 80 cm (24 9/16 × 31 1/2")

See more items in

National Portrait Gallery Collection

Location

Currently not on view

National Portrait Gallery

Topic

Exterior\Waterscape\Seascape

Vehicle\Ship

Weapon\Gun

Weapon\Sword

Exterior\Landscape\Battleground

Weapon\Cannon

Symbols & Motifs\Flag\National flag\American

Robert Gould Shaw: Male

Robert Gould Shaw: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\Colonel

Robert Gould Shaw: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\Civil War\Union Army

Portrait

Record ID

npg_S_NPG.2014.33

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm4281c7be0-97f2-49fe-a064-7e28948e5c5e