This film tells the story of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Regiment, the first regular army regiment of black soldiers commissioned during the Civil War. At the beginning of the war, most people believed that blacks could not be disciplined to make good soldiers in a modern war and that they would run when fired upon or attacked. Colonel Shaw, a white abolitionist, and hundreds of soldiers in his regiment, all black volunteers, gave their lives to prove that black men could fight as well as whites.
             In the beginning of the movie, Shaw returns home to Massachusetts after a horrific battle. He is then offered a position as a Colonel for a newly formed black regiment. He accepts the position and begins training the men for battle. Hundreds of black men left their families in order to fight for their freedom. To most whites, black men were not considered as soldiers. The men were denied shoes, and not even given the same pay. Colonel Shaw does everything he can to have the men treated as soldiers. In doing this he has gained their respect and he respects them.
             At first, members of the Fifty-fourth are used for nothing more than manual labor until Shaw convinces his commander through the use of blackmail that they should be transferred to a combat command. When they finally are transferred, they are involved in their first real battle at James Island, South Carolina on July 16, 1863 to be followed by the attack on Fort Wagner two days later. The one thing that stands out about this movie most is the final battle scene. In the scenes climax, a colored division leads an attack on Confederate held Ft. Wagner. Confederates sit perched high above on their fort and rain down hell on their union attackers. Everything from cannon fire, to muskets, and even grenades are hurled at their enemy. At the end of the film it appears at first that the black division will wi
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