Matthew Broderick as Robert Gould Shaw, and Denzel Washington as the former slave recruit Trip, in the movie Glory.
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Boston. Shaw hesitates for a moment. Then he confers pri-
vately with another officer, who is appalled.
“I knew how much you’d like to be a colonel, but a col-
ored regiment?”
“I’m gonna do it,” Shaw replies.
“You’re not serious.”
“Yeah.”
These scenes contain truths without being entirely
truthful. Governor Andrew did offer the commission and
Shaw accepted it. But at the time Shaw was in Virginia.
Andrew, in Boston, conveyed it through Shaw’s father and
young Shaw initially refused. Zwick has compressed the story
chronologically, squeezing weeks into minutes; and he has
rearranged it geographically to enable Andrew and young
Shaw to meet. Such modifications are common in “reel his-
tory,” and these do not impair historical understanding.
ButGlorydeviates from the historical record in more signif-
icant ways. It suggests, for example, that the Massachusetts 54th
was composed mostly of former slaves whose hatred of slavery
was based on personal experience. In fact, most of its volunteers
were from northern states and had never been slaves.
The fiction that they had been slaves, however, made
it possible for Zwick to examine a larger truth. Of the
178,000 blacks who served in the Union army, fewer than
one-fifth were from the North; the great majority werefor-
mer slaves. Nearly 100,000 were recruited from Louisiana,
Mississippi, or Tennessee, among the first states occupied
by the Union army.Glorythus merges the story of the free
blacks of the Massachusetts 54th with that of former slaves
who were recruited from the Deep South.G
lory(1989) tells the story of the 54th Massachusetts
Volunteer Infantry, a black regiment, from its establish-
ment in the fall of 1862 through its attack on Fort Wagner,
South Carolina, on July 18, 1863.
“Historical accuracy,” director Edward Zwick declared,
was “the goal of everyone involved in the production.”
Filmmakers of historical subjects commonly make such
assertions, but Zwick proved that he had attended to the
historical record. The peak of Shaw’s cap was dyed the
exact shade of medium green used by officers of the
Massachusetts 54th; and when shoes were distributed to
the recruits, there were no “lefts” or “rights”: Shoes were to
shape themselves to either foot from wear. Few viewers
could be expected to take note of such historical details,
but Zwick included them nevertheless.
Zwick’s evident commitment to history makes his devia-
tions all the more interesting. Consider the opening scenes.
The movie begins with a panoramic shot of rolling hills, dot-
ted with tents. Fog blankets the valley and softens the morn-
ing light. The camera moves closer, focusing on Union
soldiers around a campfire. Then the quiet is shattered by
explosions: Soldiers hasten to form ranks, trot toward a bat-
tlefield, and charge across it, a young officer in the vanguard.
(He is Captain Robert Gould Shaw, played by Matthew
Broderick). The attackers are decimated. When Shaw turns to
rally his troops, he sees that they are fleeing in terror. Then he
is hit and loses consciousness.
Shaw is sent home to Boston to convalesce. At a recep-
tion, Governor Andrew offers the young officer command of
the Massachusetts 54th, a black regiment being raised in
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Glory