half+the+regiment+was+dead...


 * [|The 54th regiment]**

The first all black regiment was the 54th regiment, led by Robert Gould Shaw. (the colenel). During the Civil War the Union was staring to have blacks fight, but for cheaper rates than white men. In this line, the author writes about this regiment and how they volunteered to be the front line in the battle of James Island. In this line " Shaw's father wanted no monument except the ditch,where his son's body was thrownand lost with his niggers." This line shows that Shaws body was buried with the rest of the black men who died in the 54th regiment. Much of this poem shows the sacrifices blacks made during the Civil War to get their freedom.