Reactions of reporters to the Fifty-fourth and the events around them

In the November 28, 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly in an article entitled “Paying Colored Soldiers,” the writer had this to say:

“Nobody but those who are blinded by the stupid prejudices of slavery would for a moment think it compatible with national honor to invite men to give themselves to the military defense of the country, and then pay some of them lower wages because they were of a different complexion.’ This was after mentioning the fact that Governor Andrew was trying to get passed in the state legislature a bill to make up the difference in pay (which eventually did pass).

Later he says: “Nothing is more plainly established than the bravery, fidelity, and docility of the colored troops.”

Then: “When it is remembered how splendidly these men behaved upon the Mississippi and at Morris Island – that, wounded and upons his knees, the color-sergeant of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts held up a flag, and bourght it still flying out of the fiery storm – and how ardent and profound is their attachment to the flag and the cause it stands for, it is incredibly that any man, not a rebel or a Copperhead, should for a moment doubt what ought be done.”