There are many stories about how Massachusetts 54th regiment made it through the American Civil War. I have now realized that they were a very special group of men after I have read the book "A Brave Black Regiment". Many witnesses tell us about their incredible strength, will and courage.

Despite the fact that the 54th regiment had been recruited as equals and free men, they still did not get the same treatment as the other white soldiers did. They were equipped with inferior clothes, weapons and food. They also were used most as ordinary workers when it came to digging trenches and things like that. The life they lived was not much better than the life they had left behind them as slaves. In general the African-Americans were badly treated by the army, a man by the name of Stephen A. Swails were among the first, if not the first, that were appointed to lieutenant, he was wounded twice in the field of battle. But it still took almost a year before he got the official appointment from the Union Department of War.

Another great injustice was that they did not get payment that they had been promised. It took 18 months before they got the pay that they so righteously had deserved. The government had first tried to give the soldiers only 10 dollars of the original 13 dollars that they had been promised from the beginning. The soldiers of the 54th refused unanimously to receive this salary. They wanted the pay that they had been promised! Furthermore they only got 50 dollars of the bonus of 100 dollars they were entitled to after having done a full tour. All this was corrected later after the end of the war. The government paid 170,000 dollars in wages due.