As the soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment stormed toward Fort Wagner, South Carolina, the soldier carrying the American flag fell.
It was July 18, 1863, at the heart of the Civil War.
Charging with the 54th was Sgt. William Carney, who saw the colors fall. He picked up the flag and carried it forward, reaching the wall of the fort, where his comrades rallied around him.
Soon, the regiment’s position became untenable, and the order was called to retreat.
Shot several times, Carney held the flag aloft as the unit dropped back, returning it to Union lines.
Years after the war, his actions in the assault would be recognized with the Medal of Honor, making Carney the first Black American soldier to earn the nation’s highest award for valor.
Carney’s bravery — and that of the all-Black 54th Massachusetts — was retold in the 1989 movie “Glory,” in which Denzel Washington played a soldier based on Carney, Pvt. Trip.
Now, Carney will get his own comic book, the latest in the Medal of Honor series produced by the Association of the United States Army.
The Carney issue is the 24th produced by AUSA, an ongoing project by the organization that recruits major stars in the comic book world to tell the stories behind Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers.
The script was written by Chuck Dixon, whose past work includes “Batman” and “The Punisher.” The cover was created by Wayne Vansant, whose work has appeared in “The ’Nam” and “Savage Tales.” Color was by Peter Pantazis, who worked on “The Justice League” and “Superman” series, while the lettering was by Troy Peteri, who worked on “Spider-Man” and “X-Men.”
The Carney book will be one of four AUSA will publish in 2025. Other graphic novels will also be released on:
- Clint Romesha, who rallied his fellow soldiers in Afghanistan at Combat Outpost Keating;
- Van Barfoot, a WWII soldier who advanced through a minefield to engage a machine gun position and a tank;
- Emil Kapaun, a Korean War chaplain known for his courage under fire in providing spiritual guidance to soldiers mid-combat.
According to an AUSA release, 24 issues of the Medal of Honor series have already been published, including stories on Audie Murphy, Mary Walker, Daniel Inouye, Henry Johnson, and Roy Benavidez.
DEI controversy
Carney’s story was caught up in controversy in March when Department of Defense officials removed dozens of webpages from the Pentagon’s official websites that covered the histories of notable non-white or female service members. Carney was among dozens of past military heroes — including the Navajo Corps Code Talkers, baseball legend Jackie Robinson, and the Tuskegee Airmen — whose stories were removed from the site amid a review aimed at identifying diversity, equity, and inclusion material.
A 2017 article, “Meet Sgt. William Carney: The first African-American Medal of Honor recipient,” was removed from the Pentagon’s Defense.gov domain. The page appears to have been restored as of April 24. The same article had remained on the Army’s official website.
The real soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts
Carney was the first Black American to earn the Medal of Honor, though not the first to be awarded. Several other Black soldiers were awarded the medal during or soon after the Civil War for valor, while Carney’s came in 1900. But his actions at Fort Wagner are the earliest by a Black soldier later recognized by the award.
Born into slavery, Carney was eventually freed and joined the 54th Massachusetts during the Civil War.
“Glory,” released in 1989, is a retelling of the 54th, but neither Carney nor any other real Black soldiers are directly portrayed in the movie. Instead, the Black characters in the film were fictionalized versions based on biographical sketches of soldiers known to have been in the 54th.
The movie does include the 54th’s real white commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, played by Matthew Broderick. Shaw’s real-life death in the Wagner assault is depicted in the movie.
The Black soldier in the film who perhaps most resembles a real member of the 54th may be Morgan Freeman’s Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins, the unit’s senior non-commissioned officer. Rawlins’ seniority and position are a close match to one of the 54th’s best-known soldiers, Sgt. Maj. Lewis Douglass, the son of abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
The soldier whose combat actions in the movie most resemble Carney’s Medal of Honor actions is Pvt. Trip, played by Denzel Washington, who won an Oscar for the performance.
The film’s final battle — like nearly all war movies — is far from wholly accurate, but its general tone, several small actions and its outcome mostly match the record of the 54th’s assault on Wagner, including Carney’s actions.
In the second battle at the fort, Union forces attempted to breach the defenses. During the battle, Carney saw the soldier carrying the unit’s flag fall and proceeded to carry it forward to rally the 54th.
In the film, Pvt. Trip, grabs an American flag from a fallen soldier and carries it forward. In the movie’s climactic moment, he holds the flag aloft as Confederate cannons fire at the attacking wave of Union soldiers, killing them all.
That part, though, isn’t quite right. Though the 54th suffered over 40% casualties in the battle, Carney and Douglass both survived. Douglass even wrote his father a letter that night that tried to capture the terror and trauma of the fight.