BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick participated in a State House ceremony on Friday marking the redesignation of the Massachusetts National Guard Ceremonial Unit as the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment.
The unit was reorganized in honor of the state's famed 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first black regiment raised in the North during the Civil War and authorized by Gov. John Andrew in 1863. The regiment's best-known action was the charge on Battery Wagner in South Carolina, which killed its young leader Col. Robert Gould Shaw and saw the Medal of Honor awarded to Sgt. William Carney.
Photos courtesy governer's office
Gov. Deval Patrick awards campaign streamers Friday to Guard units for their duties in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo at a ceremony in Nurses Hall at the State House
The regiment was featured in the film "Glory" and memorialized in a bronze relief by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens a century ago.
The change was prompted by National Guard leader Maj. Gen. Joseph Carter, the first black to lead the Massachusetts National Guard, and designated by Patrick, the state's first black governor.
Patrick also awarded campaign streamers to 31 Massachusetts Army and Air National Guard units returning from service in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo.
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