Death Or Glory: Bermuda Civil War Hero
A Bermuda soldier who fought against the Confederacy in the American Civil War would probably have been one of the first black recipients of the US Medal of Honor had he not succumbed to his wounds following the pivotal Battle of Fort Wagner.
As America marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War’s outbreak this year, the heroism of black Bermudian soldier Robert John Simmons is being remembered by historians.
The American Civil War [1861–1865] was fought between 11 Southern slave states which seceded from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America and the other 25 states which supported the the Union. After four years of fierce warfare, mostly within the Southern states, the Confederacy surrendered and slavery was outlawed.
First Sergeant Simmons served in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the Union’s first all-black fighting units in the war against the slave-holding Confederacy.
A former clerk, probably from St. George’s, Sgt. Simmons joined the 54th on March 12, 1863. Unlike most black Americans, he had prior military experience as a result of his time spent with the British garrison then stationed in Bermuda.
Many black and white Bermudians fought for the Union, mostly in the US Navy, although others profiteered from the war by smuggling arms through St. George’s to the blockaded South.
The black regiment was raised in March 1863 by the Governor of Massachusetts, John A. Andrew. Commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, it was formed after the passage of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
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Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton decided white officers would be in charge of all “colored” units. Colonel Shaw was hand picked by Governor John Andrew. Governor Andrew also selected Norwood Penrose Hallowell as the unit’s second in command.
Sgt. Simmons was introduced to Francis George Shaw, father of Col. Shaw, by William Wells Brown, a prominent abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, historian and former slave, who described him as “a young man of more than ordinary abilities who had learned the science of war in the British Army”.
In his book, “The Negro in the American Rebellion”, William Wells Brown wrote that “Francis George Shaw remarked at the time that Simmons would make a ‘valuable soldier’. Col. Shaw also had a high opinion of him”.
The regiment gained recognition on July 18, 1863, when it spearheaded an assault on Fort Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina. Col. Shaw was killed, along with one-hundred and sixteen of his men.
Another 176 were wounded or captured. The total casualties of 272 would be the highest total for the 54th in a single engagement during the war.
Although they were not able to capture the fort, the 54th was widely acclaimed for its valour, and the event helped encourage the further enlistment and mobilisation of African-American troops, a key development that President Lincoln once noted as helping to secure the final victory.
Sgt. Simmons was among the casualties of the battle for Fort Wagner. He was wounded and captured by the Confederates.
An article in the July 28, 1863 edition of a Confederate newspaper, Georgia’s “Weekly Columbus Enquirer”, described him as “a brave man and of good education.
“He was wounded and captured. Taken to Charleston, his bearing impressed even his captors. After suffering amputation of the arm, he died there.”
Another South Carolina newspaper quoted Sgt. Simmons as saying he had fought “for glory”.
“One of the negroes is a remarkably sprightly fellow from Bermuda where he was educated as a soldier,” reported the newspaper. “His position is that of an Orderly Sergeant, but he has lost an arm, and probably one leg will go.
“A third of the ‘glory’ for which he says he came to fight, being thus amputated, he will in the future be a wiser man. The others are a mongrel set of trash and very fair representatives of the common type of free Northern negro.”
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Sgt. Simmons also received special mention by Col. Shaw’s successor, Col. Hallowell, brother of Norwood Hallowell, and was awarded a private medal. He died of his wounds in August, 1863, at the age of 26.
His brother in arms Sgt. William Carney was decorated with the Congressional Medal of Honour for rescuing the regiment’s flag from the walls of Fort Wagner. His citation read: “Planted his colors on the Confederate works in advance of his regiment, and when the regiment was driven back to the Union works he carried the colors there and bravely rallied the men.”
In the book “Hope & Glory: Essays on the Legacy of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Regiment”, American Civil historians Martin H. Blatt, Thomas J. Brown, Donald Yacovone say Sgt. Simmons should probably have also received the medal — the highest military decoration awarded by the US, bestowed by the President in the name of Congress.
“Sgt. Robert J. Simmons of New York won high praise for his bravery at Fort Wagner,” they said. “He had served with the British army in his native Bermuda before migrating to New York.
“Had he not been wounded, captured and allowed to die in Charleston, Simmons too would probably have won the Medal of Honor.”
The Bermudian’s comment that he had fought for glory was not known to the filmmakers who, in 1989, released the Academy Award-winning film “Glory”, which told the story of the unit.
Starring Matthew Broderick as Col. Shaw, Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman, the film re-established the now-popular image of the combat role African-Americans played in the Civil War, and the unit is now nicknamed “The Glory Regiment.”
A bronze relief sculpture memorialises Col. Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment on Beacon Street in Boston.
The sculpture [pictured at top] depicts the 54th Regiment marching down Beacon Street on May 28, 1863. The monument was unveiled on May 31, 1897.
The inscription reads: “The Black rank and file volunteered when disaster clouded the Union Cause. Served without pay for eighteen months till given that of white troops. Faced threatened enslavement if captured. Were brave in action. Patient under heavy and dangerous labors. And cheerful amid hardships and privations. Together they gave to the Nation and the World undying proof that Americans of African descent possess the pride, courage and devotion of the patriot soldier. One hundred and eighty thousand such Americans enlisted under the Union Flag in MDCCCLXIII-MDCCCLXV.”
Trailer For the 1989 Movie “Glory”
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