Accuracy_of_the_Movie_Glory

In the movie “Glory”, the story of efforts to organize all-black Union military units that are lead by white officers for the Civil War is told. The all-black unit was under Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and fighting in the war “did much to win acceptance for both black soldiers and emancipation.” Overall, the movie is historically correct except for a few minor details. In the movie, when Colonel Shaw is asked to lead the all- black unit he automatically accepts the same day. In reality, he rejected the offer once and then excepted many days later. Also incorrect, is the time period that the African Americans are recruited and trained. In the movie, this is set around christmas time and in the textbook the date is May 1863, a completely different season during the year. Also in the movie, it states that majority of the slaves were escaped slaves from southern states, but in reality they were former slaves or free blacks. Robert Gould Shaw was the only character in the movie that was actually present in the war. Everyone else in the movie was made up to fit the story. In “Glory”, it is said that over half of the regiment was killed during the assault on Fort Wagner. However, the textbook states that the 54th Massachusetts Regiment had 256 casualties which would be less than half. At the end of the movie, it states that "the fort was never taken. It is true that the fort was never taken by force, but it was abandoned by the Confederate Army two months later. Although several inaccurasies in the movie “Glory”, there were also many accurate details. From the command that was told at the beginning of the movie that said “ any black man taken prisoner by the Union uniform will be primarily executed” to the decrease in African American’s monthly wage in comparison to a white soldier, which was 13 to 10 dollars, the movie is portrayed how exactly they had been suffering from the very beginning and being treated unfairly. A third fact represented correctly by both the movie and textbook was that overall, there were 180,000 African Americans that volunteered for the U.S. Colored Troops.