Most people are familiar with the 54th Massachusetts as a result of the movie Glory starring Matthew Broderick. Two of Stephen Douglas’ sons served in the regiment. It was the second Black regiment recruited in the north after the 1st Kansas. Commanded by Robert Gould Shaw they participated in the Battle of Grimball’s Landing, the Second Battle of Fort Wagner on Morris Island in South Carolina and the Battle of Olustee in Florida. On storming Fort Wagner, the regiment suffered over 40% casualties.
But as I traveled through Pennsylvania, I learned something new. Even though it was called the 54th Massachusetts only 13% of the troops were from the state of Massachusetts. Its members were from 24 different states and several foreign countries including Haiti and Canada. Over 20% of the 54th came from the state of Pennsylvania. Why did so many Blacks from northern and all four border states travel to Massachusetts to enlist? The answer may be that this was the first Army regiment in the northeast to open enrollment to Blacks and in their desire to fight they were unwilling to wait for enrollment to open in their own states. Below are pictures from cemeteries I have visited in traveling through Pennsylvania containing graves from the 54th. The information about the individual soldiers came from a National Gallery of Art database which I can no longer locate online.
In Zion Hill Cemetery on 553 N Fifth Street in Columbia, PA there were 6 members of the 54th buried here.
William Edgerly
Age at enlistment: 20
Enlistment date: 19 Mar 1863
Residence at enlistment: Lancaster County, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer (alt.: farmer)
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: D
Fate at Ft. Wagner: killed 18 Jul 1863 at Ft. Wagner
Warner Ryan
Age at enlistment: 19
Enlistment date: 19 Mar 1863
Residence at enlistment: Frederick County, MD
Profession at enlistment: farmer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: D
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
George T. Prosser
Age at enlistment: 21
Enlistment date: 19 Mar 1863
Residence at enlistment: Columbia, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: D
Fate at Ft. Wagner: captured 18 Jul 1863 at Ft. Wagner
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
James Davis
Age at enlistment: 18
Enlistment date: 19 Mar 1863
Residence at enlistment: Columbia, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer (alt.: porter)
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: D
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
John J. Turner
Age at enlistment: 20
Enlistment date: 19 Mar 1863
Residence at enlistment: Columbia, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: D
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 29 May 1865 (disability); wounded Jul 1863
John Anderson
Age at enlistment: 19
Enlistment date: 19 Mar 1863
Residence at enlistment: Lancaster, PA
Profession at enlistment: shoemaker (alt.: farmer)
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: D
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
Locust Grove Cemetery, 121 N Queen Street, Shippensburg, PA
John Shirk
Age at enlistment: 20
Enlistment date: 6 May 1863
Residence at enlistment: Shippensburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: farmer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: K
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
John’s brother James was in the all Black 55th Massachusetts.
Lincoln Cemetery– Carlisle PA at Pitt and Penn Streets (40.20601, -77.19105). Of all the Civil War sites I have visited this to me ranks as one of the most disturbing. This was an African-American burial ground that in 1970 the Carlisle Borough chose to develop into a park. They removed all the headstones and landscaped a park with the graves of over 600 African Americans below the soil. Fifty-two of them were Civil War veterans. The story is outlined at the link.
Five of them served in the 54th Massachusetts.
George Fisher
Age at enlistment: 25
Enlistment date: 25 Mar 1863
Residence at enlistment: Cumberland County, PA
Profession at enlistment: farmer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: D
Fate at Ft. Wagner: wounded 18 Jul 1863 at Ft. Wagner
Mustered-out date: 30 Jun 1864 (disability)
Charles Howard
Age at enlistment: 26
Enlistment date: 29 Apr 1863
Residence at enlistment: Carlisle, PA
Profession at enlistment: waiter
Rank in: private
Rank out: corporal
Company: I
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
Robert Howard
Age at enlistment: 18
Enlistment date: 15 Apr 1863
Residence at enlistment: Carlisle, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: H
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
Henry King
Age at enlistment: 27
Enlistment date: 15 Apr 1863
Residence at enlistment: Carlisle, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: H
Fate at Ft. Wagner: died before Ft. Wagner
Mustered-out date: killed 16 Jul 1863, James Island, SC
James O. Williams
Age at enlistment: 35
Enlistment date: 15 Apr 1863
Residence at enlistment: Carlisle, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: H
Fate at Ft. Wagner: not present; wounded and captured 16 Jul 1863 at James Island, SC
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
Zion Union Cemetery in Mercersburg, PA (39.82010, -77.90510). Eighty-eight African Americans from Mercersburg volunteered to defend the Union during the Civil War. At least 36 of those veterans lie in the Mercersburg Zion Union Cemetery. An active Underground Railroad functioned throughout the area, which was just above the Mason-Dixon Line and was a haven for freedmen and escaped slaves. Forty-four Blacks from the Mercersburg area enlisted in either the 54th or 55th Massachusetts Infantry. The soldiers from the 54th Massachusetts interred here constitutes one of the largest known groups from that unit buried in a private cemetery.
On the House Divided site there appear to be 18 soldiers from the 54th buried there. I was able to find the ones listed in bold plus three not on their list. Soldiers from the 54th they list are- George Brummzig, Co. I, 54th Mass; Jacob Christy, Co. I, 54th Mass; Wesley Krunkleton, Co. K, 54th Mass; William Barnes, Co. I, 54th Mass; Thomas E. Burgess, Co. I, 54th Mass; William H. Burgess, Co. K, 54th Mass; Richard Butler, Co. I, 54th Mass; George Carson, Co. I, 54th Mass; Joseph Christy, Co. I, 54th Mass; William Christy, Co. I, 54th Mass; Thomas Cuff, Co. I, 54th Mass; Charles H. Darks, Co. K, 54th Mass; Edward Darks,Co. I, 54th Mass; William Keith, Co. K, 54th Mass; Charles Rideout, Co. I, 54th Mass; James Rideout, Co. I, 54th Mass; Jefferson Teal, Co. I, 54th Mass; Hezekia Watson, Co. D, 54th Mass. The three others I located from the 54th were Samuel Christy, George Demus and Arthur Carson.
George Demus
Age at enlistment: 18
Enlistment date: 5 May 1863
Residence at enlistment: Mercersburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: farmer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: K
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
Jacob Christy
Age at enlistment: 19
Enlistment date: 22 Apr 1863
Residence at enlistment: Mercersburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: I
Fate at Ft. Wagner: wounded 18 Jul 1863 at Ft. Wagner
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
Jefferson Teale (Teal)
Age at enlistment: 31
Enlistment date: 29 Apr 1863
Residence at enlistment: Mercersburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: farmer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: I
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
Thomas Cuff
Age at enlistment: 21
Enlistment date: 22 Apr 1863
Residence at enlistment: Mercersburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: quarryman
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: I
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
Wesley Krunkleton
Age at enlistment: 24
Enlistment date: 6 May 1863
Residence at enlistment: Mercersburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: farmer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: K
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived; wounded 16 Jul 1863 at James Island, SC
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
Samuel Christy
Age at enlistment: 23
Enlistment date: 22 Apr 1863
Residence at enlistment: Mercersburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: I
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
James Rideout
Age at enlistment: 17
Enlistment date: 22 Apr 1863
Residence at enlistment: Mercersburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: I
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
Arthur Carson
Age at enlistment: 25
Enlistment date: 6 May 1863
Residence at enlistment: Mercersburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: K
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
Hezekia Watson
Age at enlistment: 18
Enlistment date: 22 Apr 1863
Residence at enlistment: Mercersburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: quarryman
Rank in: private
Rank out: corporal
Company: I
Fate at Ft. Wagner: wounded 18 Jul 1863 at Ft. Wagner
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
William Barnes- listed in the 54th MA database
Age at enlistment: 20
Enlistment date: 22 Apr 1863
Residence at enlistment: Mercersburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: I
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
Lebanon Cemetery Chambersburg 39.93489, -77.68136
John Plowden
Age at enlistment: 22
Enlistment date: 29 Apr 1863
Residence at enlistment: Chambersburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer
Rank in: corporal
Rank out: corporal
Company: D
Fate at Ft. Wagner: wounded 18 Jul 1863 at Ft. Wagner
Mustered-out date: 29 May 1865 (disability)
James Krunkleton
Age at enlistment: 19
Enlistment date: 6 May 1863
Residence at enlistment: Mercersburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: farmer
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: K
Fate at Ft. Wagner: wounded 18 Jul 1863 at Ft. Wagner
Mustered-out date: 29 Jun 1865 (disability)
William Little
Age at enlistment: 18
Enlistment date: 25 Mar 1863
Residence at enlistment: Chambersburg, PA
Profession at enlistment: laborer (alt.: butcher)
Rank in: private
Rank out: private
Company: D
Fate at Ft. Wagner: survived
Mustered-out date: 20 Aug 1865
Sources
African American Veterans of Franklin County, PA
Locust Grove Cemetery Shippensburg, PA
Zion Union Cemetery Mercersburg, PA