6. The 54th Massachusetts recruited exceptionally healthy volunteers
Of the 29 officers who volunteered to serve in the 54th Massachusetts, 26 had prior experience in the army, an extraordinarily high number for a new regiment. The experience gave them an understanding of the importance of hygiene and personal discipline required of a unit in the field, values they instilled in the men of their command. As it became apparent that more volunteers would arrive than the regiment needed to fill its ranks, physical examinations became more rigid, and the troops were examined for contagious or chronic diseases. Death from disease during the Civil War was common among the troops, including the 54th, though less so than most units.
Shaw demanded obedience and the observance of customary military courtesy among his officers, non-coms, and troops at all times. He insisted that his men appeared fully and properly turned out, with attention to every detail of uniform and accouterments. He applied the same standards to himself, at a time when many commanding officers displayed a flamboyant disregard for proper uniform as it applied to their own. He also insisted that every volunteer read or have read to them the Confederate proclamation of December 1862, that African-American troops and the white officers who led them were subject to immediate execution if captured, rather than treatment as prisoners of war.
