Entitled: "Storming Fort Wagner" showing Union soldiers storming the walls of Fort Wagner on Morris Island, South Carolina, and engaging some Confederate soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. The Second Battle of Fort Wagner was fought on July 18, 1863, during the American Civil War. Union Army troops commanded by General Quincy Gillmore, launched an unsuccessful assault on the Confederate fortress of Fort Wagner, which protected Morris Island, south of Charleston Harbor. The 54th Massachusetts Regiment was organized in March 1863, and led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a 26 year old Boston abolitionist. The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was one of the first black units formed in the northern states. The unit gained lasting fame when it staged the heroic but doomed assault which led to the death of Shaw. Chromolithograph published by Kurz & Allison, 1888.