Leaders and activists—both national and local—worked to recruit soldiers to the 54th Massachusetts. Many recruits came from New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Others came as freedom seekers from the South, enlisting to end the institution of slavery they escaped. By doing so, they risked reenslavement or even execution if they were captured in battle. All of these recruits had to travel to Boston, and began their training just outside Boston at Camp Meigs in today’s Hyde Park neighborhood.
