Glory Movie Essay

“Glory” is a 1989 war film based on the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry of the civil war (18861-1865). It stars Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Care Elwes, and Morgan Freeman. It was directed by Edward Zwick, and the screenplay was written by Kevin Jarre who was inspired by two books, One Gallant Rush: Robert Gould Shaw and His Brave Black Regiment (1989) and Lay This Laurel (1973). The story is told largely through Colonel Robert Gould Shaw’s perspective and what he experiences throughout the war.

The movie begins at the Battle of Antietam, which ended in a Union victory, but a very bloody encounter between the Union and Confederates. Captain Shaw, who was present in the early scene of the battle, was seen horrified and perplexed

by the violence of the battlefield. He returns home with minor injuries and abolitionists Fredrick Douglas and Governor John A. Andrew come up with the idea of forming a Union regiment with colored soldiers. They recruit Shaw to be colonel of the 54th regiment and he agrees, even though he has doubts about the proficiency of the colored soldiers. Shaw asks his childhood friend, Cabot Forbes, to be 2nd Lieutenant. His other friend, Thomas Searles, an educated African American, was one of the first to volunteer. Other recruits soon follow, including gravedigger John Rawlins, freeman Jupiter Sharts and Silas Trip, an escaped slave who does not trust Shaw or anyone.
About 1,000 colored soldiers (escaped slaves and freed men) and 37 white officers volunteered to form the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. They headed off to training camp to prepare for battle not knowing that they would only be used for manual labor. The men learn that the Confederate Congress issued an order that any colored soldier found in Union uniform will be executed, along with their white commanding officers. The troops and officers are offered a chance to take an honorable discharge, but none of them do. They were trained by Irish Sergeant-Major Mulcahy, who treated them harshly and cruel. Colonel Shaw confront Mulcahy about his methods of training and then realized that his methods were just because he was preparing them for the real challenges that they were going to face on the battlefield. When Trip has left his tent without anyone knowing and gets caught, Shaw orders him to be whipped in front of the troops. When Mulcahy removes Trip’s shirt, the scars from his beating as a slave are exposed, giving pause to the troops as well as Shaw. Later that night, while Shaw talks to Rawlins, he discovers that Trip only left in order to find a pair of shoes to replace his worn out ones. When Shaw goes to talk to the base’s racist quartermaster on their behalf, he discovers that his men are being denied supplies and forces the quartermaster to provide his soldiers with needed supplies. The next day, the troops were provided with new shoes to replace the worn out ones.
Shaw further shows his support by refusing to accept a paycheck. He does this because the Federal government decided to pay his soldiers $10 a month because they were colored, as opposed to $13 a month that white soldiers earn. Trip encouraged the men not to accept the payment and protest, and Shaw tears up his own paycheck in consensus. In doing so, he earn the respect and esteem of his men. In acknowledgement for his leadership among the men, Shaw issues Rawlins to be Sergeant-Major.
When the men complete their training they are on their way to join the war in South Carolina when General Charles Garrison Harker’s second-in-command, Colonel James Montgomery, orders his troops to sack a Georgia town and burn it.

Shaw refuses right away, but he obeys only under threat of being relived and having his men taken away. Shaw continues to fight for the men’s right to fight in an actual battle rather than just doing manual labor. He finally gets them into combat after he confronts Harker and threatens to report the smuggling, looting, and graft he has uncovered, unless Harker orders the 54th into combat. In their first battle on James Island, South Carolina, success is followed by a bloody confrontation with many casualties. However, they are able to make the Confederates retreat, leading to their victory.

The next battle that the 54th fight is at Fort Wagner, a foothold in Charleston Harbor on Morris Island. General George strong informs the Colonels that the forts only landward approach is a small strip of the beach with little cover, and the first regiment to take charge is sure to suffer extreme and heavy casualties. Shaw volunteered to have his troops lead the attack on Fort Wagner. The night before the battle, the colored soldiers perform a religious service where Jupiter, Rawlins, and Trip make emotional speeches to inspire the troops and ask God for

help.
The 54th take charge towards the fort and suffer heavy casualties. Night begins to fall and the bombardment continues. In attempt to urge his troops forward, Shaw is shot multiple times and killed. Trip picks up the flag and rallies soldiers to take charge, but is shot and holds the flag up until his last breath. Forbes takes charge of the regiment and leads them through the outer defense of the fort. Once inside, they realize that they are extremely outnumbered. The morning after the battle, the beach is shown with bodies of Union soldiers and a Confederate flag raised over the fort. The Confederates bury the corpses of the Union soldiers in a mass grave, where Trip’s and Shaw’s bodies are side by side. Though Fort Wagner was never taken by the Union forces, the courage that was demonstrated by the soldiers of the 54th resulted in the Union accepting colored men for combat, which became the turning point of the war.
The movie was mostly historically accurate, but there were some inaccuracies. For example, it was accurate in ways such as when Colonel Shaw refused to take pay was accurate and when he died, his last words actually were “forward, fifty-fourth!”. Also when the film shows him being buried with his soldiers was historically accurate. The burning of a Georgia town, shown in the film, was also historically accurate. The attitude of the North was accurate because even though the North was against slavery, their attitude towards the former slaves remained the same.
Some historical inaccuracies includes when we see white union soldiers cheering towards the 54th before they charged Fort Wagner. We don’t really know if that actually happened. Also the Confederates guarding the Charleston Harbor were shown in the movie as taking place from south to north, when it was actually from north to south. One major inaccuracy is when Colonel Shaw was shown as the first choice to command the regiment, when actually, he hesitated before accepting the offer. Lastly, when we see one of the soldiers being flogged was inaccurate because by this time and before the civil war, flogging was outlawed.
Just like most war movies, the central theme of this film is brotherhood.

Although this is true, I believe that there are many underlying themes in the movie. This movie shows that just by giving someone a chance to prove themselves can pay off in the end. It’s the whole “don’t judge a book by its cover” kind of deal. One of my favorite scenes from the movie that depicts the “brotherhood” theme, is when the night before the battle at Fort Wagner all of the soldiers sing and each one of them give an individual speech to motivate and encourage themselves as well as each other. Honor and bravery played a role in the theme because the men knew all of the racism and discrimination that surrounded them, but they never failed to push themselves forward. They all fought with bravery and demonstrated courage until their last breath, encouraging the Union to accept colored soldiers into

combat.

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