The 54th Made a Greater Impact
While the Wagner conflict is shown as the 54th‘s climactic moment, the 54th actually had a lasting legacy only touched on in the film. In the movie, the 54th are given their pay, and notice it is less than white soldiers of equal rank. They respond by tearing up their paychecks and refusing the pay, with Shaw joining them in this peaceful protest (in reality, he suggested the protest). African American solders were, in fact, paid $3 less per month than their white counterparts.
The policy of paying these men less didn’t end with the single protest, though. The 54th led a larger protest movement by African American regiments across the Union. Massachusetts governor John Andrew, who created the 54th shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation, even offered to pay the difference from state funds, though the regiments declined this offer. The ‘lesser pay’ policy would continue until 1864.
