The Ex-Slave Who Joined the Union Army and Became the First Black Medal of Honor Recipient

On this episode of Our American Stories, Sgt. William H. Carney became the first Black American to earn the Medal of Honor after protecting one of the United States' greatest symbols during the Civil War—the American flag. Here to tell the story is Elliott Drago, historian and editorial officer at the Jack Miller Center.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Up next, the
story of Army Sergeant William H. Carney, who became the
first black American that have earned the Medal of Honor
for protecting one of the United States' greatest symbols during
the Civil War, the American Flag. You to tell a
story is the Jack Miller Center's editorial officer and historian,

(00:34):
Elliot Drago. The Jack Miller Center, by the way, is
a nationwide network of scholars and teachers dedicated to educating
the next generation about America's founding principles and history. To
learn more, visit Jackmillercenter dot org. Let's take a listen.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
William Carney heard a familiar voice roar forward fifty fourth.
Dashing up the steep slope with sand chafing his arms, legs,
and neck, he saw a bullet ridden flag flutter, beginning
an agonizing plummet to the ground, throwing his rifle aside,
He grabbed the stars and stripes before they landed on
the gritty crest. Time stopped as he raised the flag

(01:29):
as a monstrous rifle volley melted away the soldiers around him.
He felt the heat of a lead ball careene through
his thigh. Carney braced himself against the flag, ready to die,
while rallying his friends to take the fort. Despite the
danger around him, Sergeant William H. Carney of the fifty
fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment survived, holding the flag aloft

(01:52):
for one whole half hour on Fort Wagner's power pit.
William Henry Karney was born enslaved in Norfolk, Virginia, on
February twenty ninth, eighteen forty. While his mother, Anne, was
freed by her owner upon his death, his father, William Senior,

(02:13):
remained enslaved to Sarah Twine of Old Point Comfort, Virginia.
Twine promised to free her slaves in her will, but
when she died in eighteen fifty seven, the high sheriff
took them all to the auction block. William Senior escaped,
making his way north via the underground railroad. He met
with the black abolitionist and underground railroad conductor William still

(02:36):
in Philadelphia, yet did not feel secure on the soil
where the Declaration of Independence was written. Slave catchers proud
the Philadelphia region, forcing the elder Carney to move to
New York, though that city also had ruthless kidnapping gangs
like Frederick Douglas. William Senior finally found safety in New Bedford, Massachusetts,
where he worked as a skilled laborer and coastal sailor

(02:57):
and earned enough to emancipate the rest of his Enslaves family.
Though not much as known of the younger Carney's childhood,
he later told a reporter that he attended a private
and secret school led by a Norfolk minister who taught
him how to read and write. Carney embraced the Gospel,
and when he arrived in New Bedford as a young man,

(03:18):
joined a church led by Reverend William Jackson, an underground
railroad agent who would not only become the chaplain of
the fifty fourth Massachusetts but also the first black man
to be commissioned as an officer in the United States Army.
Despite Carney's strong inclination to join the ministry, the tug
of the war inspired him to, in his words, serve

(03:38):
my God by serving my country and my oppressed brothers,
and so he enlisted in the fifty fourth Massachusetts in
February eighteen sixty three. President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of
January first eighteen sixty three had already announced that black
men could and would enlist in the United States Army

(03:58):
and Navy. Many white Americans doubted their ability to fight,
though by war's end, over two hundred thousand black soldiers
and sailors had joined the Union cause. Their statistics were
mind boggling. Approximately three quarters of military age northern black
men served, about half of them were former enslaved people
from the Confederate States. Forty thousand black men lost their

(04:22):
lives during the war. When Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew
called for recruits, over one thousand black men responded, including
two of Frederick Douglas's sons, with many of these volunteers
coming from the South and locales as distant as the Caribbean.
Though Governor Andrew hoped to commission black officers for this

(04:42):
new regiment, the fifty fourth Massachusetts, many viewed such a
move as controversial, and therefore white officers led the black recruits.
The governor selected the twenty five year old Colonel Robert
Gould Shaw to command the fifty fourth. Born to a
well healed Boston abolitionist family, Law was deeply moved by
family friend Harriet Beecher Stowe's uncle Tom's cabin, and though

(05:05):
initially reluctant to take command of the fifty fourth, he
soon grew to respect the eager black recruits. Later, Shaw
refused wages until his soldiers earned equal pay. The fifty
fourth drilled outside of Boston, and on May twenty eighth,
eighteen sixty three, they paraded through the city to bid
the residents farewell. The parade passed the home of the

(05:27):
famous abolitionist Wendell Phillips, where William Lloyd Garrison watched them.
Crying with pride. Spectators thronged the streets of Boston, cheering
the men on. At night, they left for the coast
of South Carolina. Fast forward to early July eighteen sixty three,

(05:50):
when Union forces began the siege of Charleston, the city
that many Northerners blamed for starting the Civil War. The
famous Fort Sumter loomed at the mouth of the city's harbor,
and Fort Wagner, situated on Morris Island, guarded the southern
part of the harbor. Understanding the strategic necessity and morale
boost of capturing Charleston, Union commanders soon concocted a plant

(06:13):
Union forces would attack Morris Island from the south, take
Fort Wagner, and then seize a battery on the northern
tip of the island known as Cummings Point. The capture
of Cummings Point would give the Union Navy the opportunity
to level Fort Sumter and enter the port unmolested. On
July tenth, Union forces captured the southern tip of Morris Island,

(06:33):
but the next day Confederate forces prevented the taking of
Fort Wagner. The fort itself boasted fourteen cannon, a massive
bomb shelter for one thousand of the fort's seventeen hundred defenders,
and a moat ten feet wide and five feet deep.
The Confederate forces stationed there prepared themselves for the next
Union attack, which began with an eleven hour artillery barrage

(06:56):
on July eighteenth. This bombardment was ineffective and the Confederates
suffered few casualties. When the call was made for Union
ground forces to take the foresk at dusk on July eighteenth,
the fifty fourth Massachusetts led the way. One veteran of
the battle described the beach in front of Fort Wagner
as quote the fiery vortex of hell. The regiment surged

(07:20):
through one of the narrowest points on the beach, effectively
becoming a spear shaped massive men, with Colonel Shaw and
the flag bearer at the tip, running over the dunes,
wading through the moat, and now scaling the sandy ramparts.
They watched as Shaw raised his sword atop the fort's
power pit, crying forward fifty fourth and then meet his

(07:41):
death in a hail of gunfire. Carney did not wait
to act after Shaw fell. He recovered the flag, held
a rallying point on the sandy crest of the fort,
and two hours later limped back to the field hospital.
He refused to let anyone take the flag from him,
and before he fainted from blood loss told the men
around him, boys, the old flag never touched the ground.

(08:06):
The Union forces failed to take Fort Wagner that day.
The fifty fourth Massachusetts suffered heavy losses during the battle,
and many of the survivors captured by the Confederates were
given no quarter or sold into slavery. Shaw's body was
tossed into a mass grave alongside the brave Black Americans
who fought and died with him. Those wounded in the
battle evacuated to Beaufort, South Carolina the next day. According

(08:30):
to the Free South, a Beaufort newspaper, the wounded of
the fifty fourth Massachusetts came off the boat first. And
as these sad evidences of the bravery and patriotism of
the colored man passed through the lines of spectators, every
heart seemed to be touched. And we will vouch for
it that no word of scorn or contempt for the
black soldiers will ever be heard from any who witnessed

(08:51):
the site. In that moment, our volunteers saw suffering comrades
in the black men, and the tender hand and wrong
shoulder was extended as readily to them as to their
farer compatriots. Nobody embodied bravery and patriotism more than Sergeant
William H. Carney, an American whose wartime efforts epitomized the

(09:13):
lengths to which one might strive to fulfill America's founding
ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As
a former enslaved man, Carney fought and bled for his
nation in the hopes of securing freedom for all. For
his valorous service to the United States, he became the
first black American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor,

(09:35):
and as Carney humbly repeated throughout his life to anyone
who asked about his actions at Fort Wagner, I only
did my duty. The old flag never touched the ground.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
And a beautiful job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Angler. In a special thanks to
Jack Millicenter's editorial officer and historian Elliot R. Trego. And
the work that Jack Miller Center does around this country
teaching and working with a nationwide network of scholars dedicated

(10:08):
to educating the next generation of Americans on our founding
principles in history. Well, it's work that we applaud and celebrate,
and you can find out more by going to Jackmillercenter
dot org. And what a story a reminder by the way,
that forty thousand Black Americans paid the ultimate price fighting
to defend their freedom in the Civil War. That is

(10:32):
a part of the story that is not told enough,
the story of Army Sergeant William H. Carney, the first
Black American to earn the Medal of Honor and for
doing so by protecting the flag. Here on our American
Stories