Transcripts For CSPAN3 American Artifacts 20140707

Us, lees miserables. Every weekend, marking the anniversary of the civil war about the people and event chas shaped the area, saturday at 10 00 and 6 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. Anniver civil war about next on american artifacts, we visited the National Gallery of art to visit the shaw memorial. The sculpture honors colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th massachusetts volunteer infantry, one of the civil wars first African American units. The work commemorates the july 18, 1863 storming of fort wagner in which 1 3 of the men were killed or wounded. The exhibit tell it with pride shines the spotlight on the members of the 54th and a group of abolitionist. Good morning. I am the senior curator here at the National Gallery of art. I am the cocurator of this exhibition. Augustus Saint Gaudens began to work on this memorial in 1883. Initially, he was going to make it a monument just dedicated to shaw himself. If you look at some of the examples we have in the case behind you you will see that one of his first ideas for the monument was to depict colonel Robert Gould Shaw on a horse. That kind of depiction is often referred to as the man on the mount. However, colonel shaws family objected to that. They thought such a depiction was too grand a way to show their young son. He was, after all, only 25 years old when he was killed at the battle of fort wagner. They thought that depiction was better reserved for generals and not a colonel. Shaws family thought it would be more appropriate to show him with his troops. So saintgaudens went back to the drawing board literally and came up with this conception with the idea of putting shaw surrounded by his troops. It was a revolutionary idea for the time. But even more revolutionary was the way that saintgaudens depicted the figures. He spent an immense amount of time trying to get all the details in the monument correct. The details of their equipment, the rifles, their napsacks, bedrolls, their hat, their uniforms. He are photographs of shaw in order to render his face accurately. If you look at the depictions of the africanamericans, you can see that he is very much individualized them. Some are older, some are younger, some have beards. Some thinner. This might suggest to you that he had also perhaps try to find surviving members of the 54th regiment or perhaps even photographs of members of the 54th. But that was not the case. The men who pose for thisd monument were not members of the 54th. He just hired africanamerican men who he found on the streets of new york to come into his studio and pose. So that gave us the idea to form an exhibition which would try and bring the members of the 54th to life. We sought to find photographs of the actual men of the 54th to bring them out of the shadows as it were. Our original hope was that we might find hundreds of photographs of the soldiers of the 54th. And indeed there were close to 1500 men who were members of the 54th massachusetts regiment during the two years that it. Existed alas, we were only able to find and borrow 18 photographs of men of the 54th. But that forced us to think about expanding the exhibition in other very exciting and meaningful ways, to look at 1863 in a broader way and think about what sparked the formation of the 54th massachusetts regiment, to look at the other men and women who formed it and who helped support it while it was in action. That is what we have shown in the other room. So why dont we go in there . When the civil war broke out in april, 1861, many African Americans volunteered to join the union army but they were not legally authorized to do so. It was only when president Abraham Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation in january, 1863, that they could join the union army. It was at that moment that governor andrew of massachusetts leapt into action to form the 54th massachusetts regiment. He had been thinking about forming a regiment for quite some time. Massachusetts and general and boston was a hotbed of abolitionist sentiment. And he had very much wanted to pull together a true a troop or regiment of africanamerican soldiers. So he looked to many of the most prominent abolitionists in the massachusetts area and boston specifically to form what was called a black committee which consisted of not only noted africanamerican abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, but also white abolitionists, such as Wendell Phillips or George Luther stern. They formed the black committee and started to rally support around the idea of forming a regiment of africanamericans. They got together a group of recruiters, and a long this wall here, we have pictures of many of the men and women who spread out across the north seeking africanamericans to join the regiment. At the time, during the civil war, each state would put forth a regiment of soldiers. So you would have the 110th new york regiment. Or the 20th massachusetts regiment. That means that all of the soldiers from that regiment came from massachusetts or new york. As the time at the time, there were not enough eligible africanamericans of eligible military age to support a regiment. So the recruiters fanned out across the north seeking enlistments to join the regiment. They got enlistments from all 15 northern states, all border states, and some Southern States as well, even enlistments from canada and the west indies. Most of the people who enlisted were freeman. There were some runaway slaves. To recruiters themselves were many prominent abolitionists, people who i think will be familiar to many who love American History today such as, for example, sojourner truth, Martin Robison delany a noted abolitionist as well. As someone who was promoting the idea of black nationalism. There may be others who are less wellknown to. People today such as Robert Purvis who was the son of a cotton broker and a free woman of color. He had been born in charleston, south carolina, lived quite a bit in philadelphia. He was so rich that he was known as the president of the underground railroad. As you can see from this wonderful daguerreotype we have very attractive. Sojourner truth was also another of the recruiters. Charlotte forten, who was one of the women we featured, she would have contact with the 54th regiment when they sailed to the charleston and buford area. She taught many of the soldiers to read and a school that she set up in that area. She was actually the niece of Robert Purvis or, for example, Charles Lennox raymond who was also a very prominent abolitionist in the 1850s and a noted speaker, someone who rivaled Frederick Douglass in the 1850s. And along these two walls here, we have pictures of some of the members of the 54th. Weve begun with a picture of colonel Robert Gould Shaw. He was offered the commission as colonel of the regiment by governor anders. That was one of the first things governor andrew did. He made sure he had for leadership of the 54th. At the time, military regulations stipulated that the rank and file soldiers could be africanamericans but the officers had to be white. That was the rule. And governor andrew knew it was important to have the leadership of the 54th be men from strong abolitionist families, which shaws family was. So he offered the leadership to shaw. Shaw was initially hesitant about accepting it. You might have heard or seen the movie glory, which came out in the late 1980s starring Denzel Washington and rather broader. Matthrew broderick. Broderick played shaw. The movie depicts shaws reluctance about accepting the commission. In part, he may have been hesitant to accept because he was only 25 years old. Imagine leaving such leading such a momentous band of men at such a very young age. Other pictures along this wall i think are equally momentous. These two are made of soldiers right after they received their uniforms and their rifles at camp meade. We know they were issued their rifles early in may, 1863. And these two soldiers from the same company i of the 54th, as soon as they got their uniforms and their rifles seems to have marched themselves down to the local photographers studio to have their pictures taken. Or looked to at this picture here. Frederick douglass had two sons in the 54th. Sergeant major Lewis Douglass was one of them. He was one of the highest ranking africanamerican soldiers in the 54th. He was known as a very calm and courageous leader. I think you see that in his stance and in his expression. Frederick douglass was someone who very much understood the power of photography and how photography could be used to spread his image across the land and in spreading his image, help to spread his ideas and help convince people of the merit of his ideas. I think you can see that his son here has also inculcated some of that understanding of how useful photography could be to him. Look at the way hes standing. He has his arms crossed, standing up very straight, very confidently. But look at the way he has angled himself so that we can see those Sergeant Major stripes. Hes displaying them quite probably, quite confidently. Or look to here, at this photograph of Sergeant Henry stewart. He had been one of the recruiters and had been responsible for getting a number of people to enlist in the 54th. Look how tall and straight he stands and how his sword is standing up so straight next to him. He paid an extra fee to the photographer to have his sword and his belt buckle and breastplate highlighted with gold as well as having his pants washed with blue, all to bring out, to highlight the importance of his uniform. Alas, we know the fate of many of the soldiers. And Sergeant Henry steward survived the battle of fort wagner but he died of dysentery a little over a month later. And perhaps some of the most poignant photographs in the exhibition are of the young drummer boys. As well as the other musicians. Some were as young as 13, 16 years old. Alexander johnson was 16 years old. You were supposed to be 18 years old to enlist, but many of the drummer boys, many of the musicians in the civil war would fib about their age. Apparently one of the things that they would often do is that they would write down the number 18 on a piece of paper, slip it into their shoe, and when asked how old they were, they would say, im 18. And i stand on my word. And so, of course, they were accepted. In many of the pictures of the drummer boys and other musicians, they look somewhat shy, candidate, hesitant, perhaps scared. This may well have been the very first time they were having their picture taken. We know from accounts that Alexander Johnson weathered the battle of fort wagner extremely heroically. He was standing next to shaw and carried important messages. This scared look on his face may have been his unfamiliarity with his picture being taken and not his character. We have the officers and soldiers intermingled in our depiction. The 54th, although it was certainly segregated as i said, the officers were white. The enlisted men were africanamerican by the terms of the military regulations of the time. They were quite united in their feelings, in their stance on many issues. The 54th, when they enlisted, were promised the same pay as white soldiers at the time. And indeed we have a wonderful poster here in the exhibition which was one of the poster circulated throughout the north. You see it says 13 a month. However, when it came time to pay the soldiers, they, the union army renege on that offer. And they were only going to pay the africanamerican soldiers 10 a month, not the 13 a month they were offered. We have in the case here an extraordinary letter from Corporal Henry James Gooding to president Abraham Lincoln complaining about that disparity in pay. And he says quite pointedly to president lincoln, are we soldiers or are we laborers . As so many others would argue in the years thereafter, arguing for equal pay for equal work. Then he goes on to remind president lincoln that as soon as the north had opened its armies up to enlistment by africanamericans, the south had tried to inhibit that by saying that any africanamerican soldiers who were caught would be killed outright. Summarily executed and lincoln said, if you do that, you must read all of our soldiers equally, blackandwhite. Gooding in his letter goes on to say, if you tell the south they had to treat all soldiers black and white the same, then why arent you paying all soldiers the same . Wonderful, extraordinary letter. Indeed, when the union army refused to pay the africanamerican soldiers the 13 a month they had promised, all of the 54th, both the officers and the soldiers, refused to accept any pay until they receives the amount they were due. It lasted 18 months before the. Problem was resolved we have here along this wall two depictions of the battle of fort wagner. A pen and wash drawing that was made of the actual battle itself. It was a horrific battle. For wagner was one of several forts regarding trolls and harvard. The guarding charleston harbor. The 54th sailed to the south on may 28, 1863. Initially, they did not do work that colonel shaw thought befitting of the importance of this regiment. In the middle of july, the opportunity came for the 54th to be involved in the charge on for wagner. Indeed to lead the charge. Even though for wagner was an almost impenetrable fort, colonel shaw one of the 54th to prove its mettle, to demonstrate they were fit soldiers, as fit as any the union had to offer. So he volunteer the 54th to lead this charge. For wagner had been bombed by the union army mercilessly for days on end. And it did not crack. On july 18, it was bombed throughout the day. The 54th charge that evening. Colonel shaw charge the top of the parapet. As this print demonstrate, almost as soon as he got to the top of the parapet and yelled forward, 54th, he was shot dead and fell right there. As he was mounting the parapet, standing next to him was a young africanamerican sergeant, Sergeant William carney. And carney saw at that moment the flag bearers start to drop the flag. The flag was important at this time because the flag showed the rest of the regiment where to go. Before walkietalkies and electronic communication, you followed the flag. If the flag bearer dropped it, you did not know where to go. Carney saw that. Even though he was wounded, he threw away his own gun and he picked it up, and he planted it on top of the parapet. That probably is what we are seeing here, a depiction of that event. It was something for which, an action for which he was widely celebrated. After Sergeant Carney planted the flag, the order to retreat came and he carefully furled the flag and brought it back to the 54th headquarters and presented it to the officers of the 54th. When he did he uttered the words that became immortalized. He said, boys, i but did my duty. She never touch the ground. Those words got quoted in the Northern Press numerous times. They actually became a recruiting tool used by the union army to get other africanamericans to enlist in the army. You can see evidence of that here in this print which depicts a banner that was hung in front of a recruiting station in philadelphia. This panel shows a wounded Sergeant Carney being tended to by another soldier with words above it saying, boys, i but did my duty. She never touch the ground. For his actions, Sergeant Carney was awarded the medal of honor, the first African American to ever receive the medal of honor. He was awarded that in december, 1863. However, because of an administrative oversight, he did not receive the medal of honor until 1900. Indeed, it was not until an exposition in paris when the saintgaudens memorial that we have at the National Gallery was being exhibited and one of the organizers of that fair was doing an exposition that was talking about africanamericans in the United States that organizer asked carney if he could borrow the medal of honor. And carney said essentially, what medal of honor . I never received the medal of honor. That person helped to rectify the wrong. And carney in 1900 was finally sent his medal of honor. All those many years after the actions which for which he was awarded it. He did not, even though, have a ceremony at that time giving him this medal of honor. It was sent to him through the mail. His great great grand nephew carl cruz who leant us the medal of honor for this exhibition suggests that because carney was a mail carrier in new bedford, massachusetts, that perhaps carney was not insulted at having the metal sent through the mail, that this was one more indication of the importance of the u. S. Mail. I think that probably is a generous interpretation, as generous as Sergeant Carneys letter to the u. S. War department telling them how honored he was to receive this medal in 1900. I think a wonderful fitting end to this story is the photograph that Sergeant Carney had made of himself right after he received the medal of honor. You can see he is dressed himself up in a suit, marched himself down to a photographers studio, and had this wonderful picture taken of himself with the medal of honor pinned to his chest. I think its no coincidence that he had this photograph taken at a studio that was run by james e. Reid. Mr. Reid was one of the very few African Americans to own and operate his own photography studio in massachusetts at this time. As you may know, at the time, the military did not have any regularized way of informing families about the fate of their loved ones in battle. And although there were reporters, covering the 54th and immediately after the battle of four wegner, there were accounts in the press about the action and about the loss of life. Colonel shaws family did not know officially for over two weeks that he had died. This letter here from an anonymous individual written to colonel shaws family was the First Official account of his death that they received. And it tells how general gilmore, the general in charge of the action, had ordered the 54th to march into battle side by side with other white regiments. And the author of the letter notes in it, tell it with pride to the world. That is where the title of our exhibition comes from. The shaw memorial is a plaster cast of the bronze memorial at the edge of the Boston Common in massachusetts. You have been watching american artifacts on cspan 3s American History tv. Next on American History tv, we hear from white house social secretary to work in the johnson, ford, clinton, george w. Bush, and obama administrations