[African-Americana] Emilio, Luis F. History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1863-1865

Boston: The Boston Book Company, 1891. First edition. 8vo. xvi, 410 pp. Illustrated with frontispiece, 27 plates (one folding), and one folding map. Original blue-green cloth, stamped in blind, titled in gilt on front board "A Brave Black Regiment", spine lettered in gilt, wear to front board, spine, and top rear board edge; all edges trimmed; old ownership signature in pencil on front free endpaper; scattered light soiling and spotting to text.

A scarce first edition of the history of the famous all-black 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment led by Robert Gould Shaw during the Civil War, the second all-black Union regiment to fight after the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and the first military unit consisting of black soldiers recruited in the North. Prior to 1863 and the Emancipation Proclamation, little effort was made in the North to recruit black soldiers for the war effort. This changed in February of 1863 when abolitionist governor John Andrew assembled the unit after receiving authorization from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. The unit is remembered for their courageous fighting, and particularly, their charge on Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863. The author, Luis F. Emilio, was a Captain in the 54th Regiment, and later Acting Commander after emerging as the highest ranking surviving officer after the carnage at Fort Wagner. The story of the regiment was famously told in the award-winning 1989 film, Glory.