Glory Act 2 Scene 2 Analysis

When the 54th Regiment heads down South, they are put under the command of Colonel James Montgomery. In this scene, the Union army, under Montgomery’s control, pillages Darien, Georgia, stealing valuables from within the houses, and eventually burning the town.16 Creighton’s essay, while about Confederate soldiers, is similar to this scene as the corruption of morality is exemplified in the description of “independent bands of horsemen… [who] used the Confederate invasion as an opportunity to terrorize and pillage.”17 This pillaging is seen in Colonel Montgomery, who allowed his men to seize whatever they wanted and shoot at civilians’ houses, taking advantage of his authority for personal gain, similar to the independent horsemen, who took the Confederate soldiers as their authority and right to pillage the town. The night before the 54th Regiment was set to lead to attack on Fort Wagner, they held a religious ceremony. In this
Joseph Miller, a former slave, enlisted in the Union army under the promise from the federal government that his family would be given food, shelter, and clothing, in exchange for his service as an enlisted soldier.21 However, when Union soldiers ordered his family to leave the tent they occupied, Miller wrote he “told him [a soldier] that I was a soldier of the United States. He told that it did not make any difference.”22 These types of empty promises made by the Union government were only slightly referenced in the film, such as the pay of African American men, $10, versus white soldiers, $13.23 Downs writes about these empty promises in his essay, stating, “the military often fail[ed] to pay black soldiers, or paid them less than promised.”24 This is seen slightly in the film, however, the film portrayed it as a one-time occurrence, rather than a continuous pattern of failing to pay