The Movie Glory

The film Glory is set during the Civil War, particularly in 1862-1865. The film's primary focus is the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first all-black regiment in the Union army. This film covers from their time of enrollment, to their attack on Fort Wagner, a major historical event that influenced African Americans all over the Union to enroll. The movie is depicted through the eyes of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the leader of the 54th. In addition, it introduces four side characters, each an African American man with a different history. A gravedigger, John Rawlins, A free man; Jupiter Sharts, an escaped slave, Silas Trip, and an educated African American identified only as Thomas.
The film begins with the main character,

Captain Robert Shaw (Matthew Broderick), marching toward the Battle of Antietam, while his mother is reading a letter he had posted earlier. This letter conveys to you to some of his hopes and beliefs, also establishes him as the main character. This time is September 17th, 1862 and the location is Antietam Creek, Maryland. A strong Confederate defensive repels the union soldier attack. As Captain Shaw looks around seeing all the suffering and destruction, he continues to lead his troops forward. After a stray bullet grazes his neck, he falls and is stranded to lay and to listen as the Union soldiers retreat. After the battle, the grave diggers come and begin disposing of bodies. One of these graves diggers awakens him, making sure he's not seriously injured and introduces us to a secondary character, John Rawlins.
This injury will cause him to be sent back home to Boston. Here he meets with Fredrick Douglas, and is offered the opportunity to raise and to command a regiment of African American soldiers. He would be promoted to the rank of Colonel in the regiment. Deciding to accept the invitation, he convinces his close friend, Cabot Forbes, to accompany him as his second in command. Shortly thereafter, his African American friend, Thomas, will be their first volunteer introducing us to another secondary character. Then meeting with the volunteers, he delivers a short speech and tries to begin the forming of companies. The disarray and chaos that follows illustrates the challenges he will face regarding men that are untrained and unfamiliar with army protocol.
The plot moves to Readville Camp, Massachusetts, on November 27th , 1862. The scene is a group of men sharing a tent, where we find the grave digger from John Rawlins, the educated man Thomas, the escaped slave Silas Trip, and the quiet Jupiter Sharts . These men will be the secondary characters, to give us the view of the enlisted men in the regiment. Taking us, the viewer, through their training, each man’s personal view of the war, and later their behavior in battle. To train these unorganized men, Colonel Shaw brings in Irish Sergent-Major Mulcahy. In another letter to his mother, he relays to his mother about how the men begin quickly learn to become disciplined, yet relaxed once freed from training.
The men have begun their training and there development is going well. Until however, the Confederates hear word of the African American regiment and bring forth a proclaim that, “Any Negro taken in arms against the Confederacy will immediately be returned to a state of slavery. Any Negro taken in federal uniform will be put to death. Any white officer commanding Negro troops will be deemed as citing servile insurrection and will likewise be put to death”. When this proclamation is learned, Colonel Shaw offers full honorable discharge for those who are interested. After making this promise, he awakes on the morning the discharges would have departed to find that no one had left or applied to leave the camp. Now their military training begins in earnest. Each man is supplied with a rifle, and they begin target practice. The men are trained through rigorous exercises to ensure they're ready for battle.
WHY NEW PARAGRAPH As the training persist, the escaped slave, Silas sneaks out of camp during the night. When he is discovered, he is labeled as a “deserter,” which is punishable by death. Instead, the sentence is a flogging. After the punishment has been delivered, the colonel is informed that the Silas had left in search of new shoes as his would not keep his feet from the elements or disease. Realizing a failure on his part, the Colonel looks to procure the proper necessities for his men. After making a complaint and wrecking the quartermaster's office to emphasize the gravity of the issue, he is finally able to obtain shoes and union uniforms for his regiment. The unexpected result is that the men are overjoyed with and have obtained a new level of respect for their colonel.
Following an announcement from the government that each African American soldier will be paid $10.00, instead of the White's $13.00 salary, Silas encourages the men to protest and not to take the money. Ultimately, the whole regiment ends up ripping up their wages. As the colonel quiets the disturbance, he rips apart his wages and says, “Since none of you will work for pay, then neither shall we”. This one small act serves to prove to his men that he truly is one of them and endears them fully to his command.
Finally, his regiment is trained and ready to go to war. Instead of going to war, however, they are used as manual laborers. While attempting to file a complaint regarding this treatment, a colonel of another, newly formed, African American regiment invites them to go on a raid of a small town. During the raid, the other soldiers are unorganized and chaotic, while his are organized and disciplined. This illustrates the effect of his training and work he has done with his regiment. He is ordered to burn down a building with no soldiers or supplies in it. Making it an unlawful order. At first he refuses, but under threat of being relieved of his troops, he obeys.
The Colonel, after many complains and threats to reveal a smuggling of goods, finally gets his men into a battle.

The battle of James Island, South Carolina, on July 16th, 1863. They sustain casualties, but come out victorious. This achievement serves to boost the morale of the men and ultimately gets them placed on the front lines. They are chosen to lead the attack on the impenetrable Fort Wagner. As they charge the fort, they sustain major casualties and Colonel Shaw falls in the battle. While the heroic soldiers break the outside defenses, they are soon outnumbered and are forced fall back. Fort Wagner was never taken, and this is how the movie

ends.
As a Hollywood film, it has obviously been added to or been altered in different ways.

In essence, this film is an entertaining history lesson. It is my belief that it attempts to stay close to the actual story while making it entertaining. For example, when he rips apart the quartermaster’s office for his men, which was most likely added for dramatic effect. The story covers the major aspects throughout the war for the regiment, including the forming, training, battles, dates, and places. The language, scenery, and costumes in this movie are all accurate. For example, some of the racial words during that period are present as well as the correct military jargon. Another powerful illustration is the bruised and diseased feet from the lack of shoes. Also, when the Colonel of the other chaotic black regiment shoots one of his soldiers in the arm in order to stop him from harming a white woman seemed to increase the dramatic affect. Simply, it just is to show the treatment blacks received.
The reason for this movie was first, to make money, as every Hollywood movie does. However, this movie is a tribute to the 54th and serves as a memorial of the regiment and the bravery each soldier showed to join and fight. Even though the regiment had no large significant battle in the war, it impacted the views of the Blacks and Whites. They influenced blacks to step up and become part of the war, and whites to understanding that blacks could do the same thing as whites. The effecting of that

understanding is still visible in the United States today.
This movie has given me a greater understanding of the civil war in two different aspects. First, during that era, the hate African Americans had to endure must have made this journey an extremely difficult, yet these men persevered. Second, the bravery of Robert Shaw, to first take on the role of leading the first black regiment, and then lead the charge on the Fort Wagner. The 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry would leave the lasting impact on the remaining African Americans to volunteer and according to Abraham Lincoln, “Change the tide of the war”.