The following is from a letter written by a sergeant of the Fifty-fourth to Captain Luis F. Emilio.

"Regarding the assault on Fort Wagner, I recollect distinctly that when our column had charged the fort, passed the half-filled moat, and mounted to the parapet, many of the men clambered over and some entered by the large embrasure in which one of the big gun was mounted, the firing substantially ceased there by the beach, and the rebel musketry firing steadilt grew hotter on our left. An officer of our regiment called out, 'Spike that gun.' Whether this was done I do not know, for we fired our rifles and fought as hard as we could to return the fire on our right.

"But the rebel fire grew hotter on our right, and a field-piece every few seconds seemed to sweep along our rapidly thinning ranks. Men all around me would fall and roll down the scarp into the ditch. Just at the very hottest moment of the struggle a battalion or regiment charged up to teh moat and halted, and did not attempt to cross it and join us, but from their position commenced to fire upon us. I was one of the men who shouted from where I stood, 'Don't fire on us! We are the Fifty-fourth!' I have heard it was a Maine regiment. This is god's living truth! Immediately after I heard an order, 'Retreat!' Some twelve or fifteen of us slid down from our position on the parapet of the fort.

"The men-of-war seemed to have turned the guns on the fort, and the fire of the Confederates on the right seemed to increase in power. The line of retreat seemed lit with internal fire; the hissing bullets and bursting shells seemed angry demon" (qtd. in Williams 196-198)

Back to the 54th

Back to the outline