William H. Carney

Soldier

• Born: February 29, 1840
• Birthplace: Norfolk, Virginia
• Died: December 9, 1908
• Place of death: Boston, Massachusetts

The heroism of Carney and other black soldiers in the Civil War helped dispel racial stereotypes and rallied African Americans to the Union cause, symbolized by the abolition of slavery. Of the two million soldiers and sailors who fought and died for the North, nearly 10 percent were men of color.

Early Life

William Harvey Carney was born on February 29, 1840, to a slave named William and a freedwoman named Ann Dean. Ann previously had been the slave of a Major Carney of Norfolk, Virginia; by prior agreement, she was set free upon Carney’s death. At the time of their son’s birth, William was still a slave. Following the custom of the time, the younger William, like his parents, was given the plantation master’s surname.

Because there were no schools for African American children—education of slaves or their offspring was discouraged in the South—Carney was unable to read or write until his early teens. He took lessons in private and in secret at a local black church and contemplated becoming a preacher. In the mid-1850’s, Carney’s father escaped from slavery through the Underground Railroad and made his way to Massachusetts. Carney soon took the same route north. He joined his father as a dockworker in the whaling port of New Bedford and worked loading and unloading ships. The Carney men saved their money and pooled resources to purchase the freedom of other family members, with whom they eventually reunited in Massachusetts. Before the outbreak of the Civil War, Carney became a member and trustee of Salem Baptist Church and worked restocking wholesale and retail stores in the area.

Life’s Work

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, in which African Americans were encouraged to join the Union Army and Navy. In response to published recruiting appeals, Carney soon enlisted in C Company of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, an all-black unit under the command of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a white abolitionist.

After training near Boston, the company, 600 strong, marched off to do battle in May, 1863. After a few skirmishes with Confederate troops in Georgia and South Carolina, they engaged in their first major battle: leading a mass assault against Fort Wagner, near Charleston (the battle was dramatized in the 1989 film Glory). During the nearly suicidal attack, Carney was wounded twice but kept advancing. When he saw the regimental flag bearer fall, fatally shot, he scooped up the flag and rallied the troops forward. Arriving atop the fort’s parapets, Carney found he was alone. (Shaw and more than 50 men were mortally wounded in the attack, 15 were captured, more than 50 were missing in action, and some 150 others suffered wounds.) With no support, Carney retreated, sustaining additional wounds in the leg and head as he struggled to return to Union lines. Before relinquishing the rescued flag to a comrade and falling unconscious, he modestly maintained he had been merely doing his duty in keeping the flag from touching the ground. For his heroism—which disproved the prevailing racist notion that African Americans would be cowardly soldiers—Carney was the first African American cited for the Congressional Medal of Honor. However, he was not the first to actually receive his medal: The presentation did not take place until May 23, 1900.

Promoted to color sergeant for his brave deeds and unable to serve in combat because of his injuries, Carney was mustered out of the military in mid-1864. In 1865, he married Susannah Williams and subsequently fathered a daughter, Clara, who became a music teacher. He afterward served for a time as New Bedford’s streetlight superintendent. After a brief stay in California, Carney returned to New Bedford, where he became the community’s first African American postal carrier, serving for thirty-two years until his retirement in 1901. For the remaining years of his life, he worked as a messenger, delivering documents to and from the Massachusetts state house. It was there that an old war wound caught up with him: One day in 1908, his weakened leg became caught in elevator machinery. Carney was severely mangled in the accident and died of his injuries.

Significance

Long a popular speaker at patriotic events, Carney received high honors after his death. The state house flag was lowered to half-staff, a gesture normally reserved for mourning powerful dignitaries, not former slaves, in 1908. Carney also was prominently depicted on the Augustus Saint-Gaudens-designed memorial to Shaw unveiled on the Boston Common in 1897. The lyrics of a rousing turn-of-the-century song, composed soon after the formal Medal of Honor presentation—“Boys the Old Flag Never Touched the Ground”—also celebrated Carney’s heroic deeds. His former home in New Bedford is a local landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bibliography

Blatt, Martin Henry, Thomas J. Brown, and Donald Yacovone, eds. Hope and Glory: Essays on the Legacy of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2000. This is a collection of essays commemorating not only the actions of a pioneering group of black soldiers but also their impact on America during the Civil War and afterward. Carney is discussed in several essays.

Hargrove, Hondon B. Black Union Soldiers in the Civil War. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2003. Offers a detailed account of the battle at Fort Wagner and Carney’s heroism.

Shaw, Robert Gould. Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Edited by Russell Duncan. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1999. An intriguing look into the character of the young white man who was put in command of the groundbreaking company of African American soldiers, who died in battle leading them, and who was buried alongside them in a common grave.