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Albany Resident Served in Unit Made Famous in the Movie "Glory"
By Eric Durr, New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs
Oct 7, 2009 - 6:29:53 PM
MENANDS, NY - A New York Army National Guard Color Guard joins members of the 125th New York Volunteer Infantry, a Civil War reenactors group, and members of the Patriot Guard motorcycle riders on Wednesday, October 7, to salute Albany Civil War veteran 1st Sgt. William Francis, who died in 1897. The ceremony, organized by Albany, New York Civil War historian Mark Bodnar, was held to dedicate a new marker placed on Francis' grave.
Francis served in the famed 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the Union Army's first regular black regiment which was immortalized in the 1989 movie Glory, from 1863 to 1865, enlisting as a private. He took part in the unit's famous assault on Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863, and returned home to Albany where he worked as a waiter before enlisting at age 30. He was one of a dozen Albany area African-American men who joined the regiment.
The original headstone on his grave was broken and buried beneath a thin layer of soil so Bodnar and Albany Rural Cemetery officials arranged to have a new market provided by the Veterans Administration.
The service of the 54th Infantry is commemorated by the Massachusetts National Guard today, which has named its honor guard the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment.
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