Battle Exhortation by Yellin Keith;

Author:Yellin, Keith;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press

Managing Violence in the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts

Carl von Clausewitz defined war as “an act of violence intended to compel our opposition to fulfill our will.” Submission of the enemy is the object, violence the means. He was not impressed by “self-imposed restrictions” to the violence of war, boundaries that today take the shape of rules of engagement (for specific operations) and the general law of war (the Hague Conventions and Geneva Conventions). For him, “War is an act of violence pushed to its utmost bounds,” each side egging the other on, “which logically must lead to an extreme.”31 The advent of nuclear weapons has necessarily kept humanity from carrying war to its logical extreme, but even in Clausewitz's day, competent warfare required curbs to violence. Without checks, without tension, there would be neither enemy left to surrender nor captured treasure left to enjoy. Moreover, one's troops would not execute their mission smartly but operate as unrestrained savages, an incendiary mob. Spartan war songs and pipes, Plutarch reminded us, not only emboldened the scarlet-cloaked hoplites but guarded them against “excessive rage.”32 With this sort of tension in mind, Garry Wills characterizes the psychological state that commanders must engender in troops prior to combat: “To overcome combatants' inhibitions against facing death, against inflicting death, against massive violence, leaders must create a kind of psychic explosion in each soldier, but a controlled explosion. All the discipline of drill, uniforms, codes of conduct are meant to ignite and yet contain the forces that can keep up this unnatural psychic game of risk and wrath.”33 Where might we find an exemplar of violent ardor being carefully managed, a mix of spur and bridle? The Fifty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts during the Civil War.

The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts is one of the Civil War's more famous regiments because its ranks comprised the first free black troops enlisted in the North, it was formed with great fanfare by the abolitionist establishment, and it faced dramatic challenges on and off the field. Fascinating personalities were involved: Frederick Douglass, as recruiter and father of two of the regiment's members; governor of Massachusetts John Andrew, official champion of the regiment and the principles behind it; Sergeant William Carney, remembered for his gallantry during the regiment's first major action; and Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the regiment's young commanding officer, virtually deified in New England upon his death at the head of his unit. The 1989 motion picture Glory has helped educate modern audiences about the regiment. Its story, a microcosm of the nation struggling to become worthy of its philosophical principles—capped by a climactic battle—is well-suited for cinema.

The exhortative climax of the Fifty-fourth took place at the start of its climactic battle, the regiment's first major combat. Immediately prior to assaulting Fort Wagner, South Carolina, Colonel Shaw faced his men and urged, “Now I want you to prove yourselves men,” reminding them that “the eyes of thousands” watched “the night's work.”34 Without further appreciation of the context, besides battle being imminent and the Fifty-fourth being

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