‘Glory': Civil War Fight by Black Troops Recalled

Re-enactors on a wind-swept South Carolina beach have marked the 150th anniversary of a famous Civil War battle that showed the world that black soldiers could fight and later was chronicled in the movie "Glory."

The re-enactors representing a black Union regiment, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and others in Confederate butternut-colored uniforms, left wreaths on an island honoring those who died there in the 1863 attack on Battery Wagner.

Those present prayed and sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." As part of the commemoration off Charleston Harbor, they also fired a three-gun rifle volley in saluting the dead.

The 54th was raised in Boston and of the 600 black troops who bravely charged Confederate defending Battery Wagner, 218 were killed, wounded or captured in fierce fighting.

[Associated Press]