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Organized during the Civil War, the 54th Massachusetts was the first official all-Black regiment in the U.S. armed forces. In July 1863, during its famous attack on Battery Wagner in South Carolina, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and fifty members of his regiment were killed. Berkshire County had the largest enlistment of any county in the state. Rev. Samuel Harrison, pastor for forty years at Pittsfield's Second Congregational Church, was working for the National Freedmen's Relief Society in August 1863 when Massachusetts Governor John Andrew appointed him chaplain of the 54th. Harrison was a powerful orator, writer and local political leader until his death in 1900. Today, the Reverend Samuel Harrison Foundation leads efforts to restore his home as an archival museum. The release in February 2005 of a PBS American Experience documentary portraying his life brought national attention to his story and created widespread interest in curricula based on his life.

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