55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment

55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Fox leads the 55th Massachusetts into Charleston, South Carolina, February 21, 1865
Active	June 22, 1863 – September 23, 1865
Country	United States of America
Allegiance	Union
Branch	Union Army
Type	Infantry
Size	1,226
Nickname(s)	55th Massachusetts
Engagements	American Civil War Battle of Honey Hill, S.C. James Island, S.C. Deveaux Neck
Commanders
Colonel	Norwood Penrose Hallowell
Lt. Colonel	Alfred Stedman Hartwell
Major	Charles B. Fox

American Civil War

The 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment was the sister regiment of the renowned Massachusetts 54th Volunteers during the latter half of the American Civil War. The enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 had opened the way for the enlistment of free men of color and newly liberated slaves to fight for their freedom within the Union Army. As the ranks of the 54th Massachusetts quickly reached its full complement of recruits, an overflow of colored volunteers continued to pour in from several other states outside Massachusetts-many of whom simply had not arrived in time-prompting Governor John Albion Andrew to authorize yet another regiment of colored soldiers sponsored by the Commonwealth. Thus, the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry came into being.

Although Union forces had achieved a significant victory at the Battle of Antietam in 1863, two years of war had taken a great toll in men and resources. Yet, in spite of this, free men of color remained largely excluded from taking up arms as soldiers in the defense of the Union and their own continued liberty. In his Pulitzer Prize winning book Battle Cry of Freedom noted historian James M. McPherson wrote: “Despite the service of black soldiers in the [American] Revolution and the War of 1812, Negroes had been barred from state militias since 1792 and the regular army had never enrolled black soldiers. The prejudices of the old order died hard." In a speech delivered on March 21, 1863, the great abolitionist orator Frederick Douglass recounted how he had “...implored the imperiled nation to unchain against her foes, her powerful black hand.” Under the leadership of Governor Andrew, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts took decisive action to do just that. Both the 54th and the 55th regiments were mustered in at Camp Meigs in Readville, Massachusetts, near Boston, and were trained there in that camp. The two regiments ultimately brigaded together, fighting and dying side by side during the campaign at Honey Hill, South Carolina, on November 30, 1864. It was from the 54th Massachusetts that officers Norwood Penrose Hallowell and Alfred Stedman Hartwell were promoted and mustered in as Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel, respectively, to lead the newly formed regiment, with Charles Barnard Fox of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry mustered in as Major. Together with the 2nd and 3rd North Carolina Colored Volunteers (which later became renumbered as the 36th and 37th U.S. Colored Troops respectively), it was a part of "Wild's African Brigade" led by Edward A. Wild for much of the war.