arch 30, he wrote: "The mustering
officer who was here to-day is a Virginian, and has always thought it
was a great joke to try to make soldiers of 'niggers,' but he tells me
now that he has never mustered in so fine a set of men, though about
twenty thousand had passed through his hands since September." On May
28, Colonel Shaw left Boston, and his march through the city was a
triumph. The appearance of his regiment made a profound impression, and
was one of the events of the war which those who saw it never forgot.

The regiment was ordered to South Carolina, and when they were off Cape
Hatteras, Colonel Shaw wrote:

The more I think of the passage of the 54th through Boston, the more
wonderful it seems to me just remember our own doubts and fears, and
other people's sneering and pitying remarks when we began last winter,
and then look at the perfect triumph of last Thursday. We have gone
quietly along, forming the first regiment, and at last left Boston
amidst greater enthusiasm than has been seen since the first three
months' troops left for the war. Truly, I ought to be thankful for
all my happiness and my success in life so far; and if the raising of
colored troops prove such a benefit to the country and to the blacks as
many people think it will, I shall thank God a thousand times that I was
led to take my share in it.

He had, indeed, taken his share in striking one of the most fatal blows
to the barbarism of slavery which had yet been struck. The formation of
the black regiments did more for the emancipation of the negro and the
recognition of his rights, than almost anything else. It was impossible,
after that, to say that men who fought and gave their lives for the
Union and for their own freedom were not entitled to be free. The
acceptance of the command of a black regiment by such men as Shaw and
his fellow-officers was the great act which made all this possible.

After reaching South Carolina, Colonel Shaw was with his regiment at
Port Royal and on the islands of that coast for rather more than a
month, and on July 18 he was offered the post of honor in an assault
upon Fort Wagner, which was ordered for that night. He had proved that
the negroes could be made into a good regiment, and now the second great
opportunity had come, to prove their fighting quality. He wanted to
demonstrate that his men could fight side by side with white soldiers,
and show to somebody beside their officers what stuff they w