The Flag Never Touched the Ground
William Harvey Carney
William Carney was born into slavery in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1840. At age 14, a white minister illegally taught him to read and write in a secret school. He dreamed of becoming a minister. Then the war came.
THE 54TH
In 1863, Carney joined the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, the first Black regiment raised in the North for Civil War service. On July 18, 1863, the 54th charged Fort Wagner in South Carolina under heavy Confederate fire. The colonel was killed. The flag bearer was killed. The flag began to fall.
FORT WAGNER
Carney grabbed the flag. Wounded twice, he carried it to the fort's parapet and planted it, then carried it back to Union lines as his regiment retreated under fierce fire. Bleeding from multiple wounds, he said, Boys, I only did my duty. The old flag never touched the ground.
37 YEARS LATER
Carney waited 37 years to receive the Medal of Honor. When he died in 1908, Massachusetts lowered all flags to half-mast, the first time the state gave that honor to an African American.
“The man born a slave became the nation's first Black Medal of Honor hero.
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