Item contributed by Massachusetts Historical Society
The 54th Massachusetts Regiment launched a siege of both Charleston and Fort Sumter from September 7, 1863, to January 28, 1864. After serving in Florida and the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina for several long months, the regiment finally entered Charleston, which Luis Emilio claimed was “long the Mecca of our hopes,” on February 23, 1865. Several companies within the regiment continued to be stationed there in the succeeding months.
This photograph is included in Captain Luis Emilio’s collection of photographs related to the regiment, now at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
1. Luis F. Emilio, A Brave Black Regiment: History of The Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1863-1865 (Boston: The Boston Book Company, 1864), 280.
About item:
Photograph, circa 1863-1864, 8 cm x 7.5 cm.
From the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment photographs.
Photo. 72.107.
