Honoring the Sacrifice of George Washington Dugan

Concord is proud of its history. Concord, like many communities, is trying to do a better job of telling the full history of the town and looking to recognize the stories of people who may have been ignored or forgotten. Today, many Concordians are working hard to ensure that the town’s history includes the stories of all the people who have been a part of its fabric. For many years, the focus of Concord’s cultural heritage has focused on the “minutemen and muskets” involved in the early fight for American democracy, as well as the literary greats that influenced the Transcendentalist movement. Busts and paintings of Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne abound. Yet, many do not know about the important contributions of Concord’s Black residents and the indigenous people who lived here for thousands of years before the English arrived.

This is starting to change. This year, for the first time in 160 years, the town paused to honor and celebrate the story of its Black native son, George Washington Dugan.

Dubbed “GLORY for George,” this celebration engaged visitors and locals alike to honor the legacy of George Washington Dugan on the 160th anniversary of his heroic sacrifice as a member of the 54th Massachusetts, the first all-Black regiment of the Civil War.

George was born in Concord and spent his life here. His father, Thomas Dugan, a self-emancipated enslaved person from Virginia, had made his way to Concord and lived here as a farmer introducing the innovation of the Rye Cradle to local residents. George worked at the Middlesex Hotel in Concord Center. He was also a farmer, owned land, and paid taxes. Even though, as a Black man, he was denied equal rights as a citizen in the 1857 Dred Scott Decision, he remained loyal to the nation. George was moved to volunteer to serve in the first all-Black regiment of the Union Army, the 54th Massachusetts. When he enlisted on February 20, 1863, the 43-year-old widower was one of the two oldest men in Company A.

The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment was one of the first Black regiments to serve in the U. S. Civil War. Prior to 1863, no concerted effort was made to recruit Black troops as Union soldiers. The adoption of the Emancipation Proclamation in December of 1862 provided the impetus for the recruitment of free Black men as soldiers and, at a time when state governors were responsible for the raising of regiments for federal service, Massachusetts responded with the formation of the Fifty-fourth Regiment.

The formation of the regiment was a matter of controversy and public attention from its inception. Although Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew believed that Black men were capable of leadership, others felt that commissioning them as officers was simply too controversial. The decision was made to maintain white officers, even as they enlisted black men to serve.

Any Black officers up to the rank of lieutenant were non-commissioned and reached their positions by moving up through the ranks. On May 28, 1863, upon the presentation of the unit’s colors by the governor and a parade through the streets of Boston, spectators lined the streets with the hopes of viewing this experimental unit. The regiment then departed Boston for the coast of South Carolina, where they fought at Battery Wagner as memorialized in the film Glory.

Along with many of the 54th Massachusetts, George lost his life in the battle at Fort Wagner that summer and never returned to his hometown of Concord. The valiant efforts of those men were credited with inspiring more than 180,000 Black soldiers to enlist in the Union Army – a boost in manpower and morale that President Lincoln credited with turning the tide of the war towards victory and, ultimately, defeating the rebellion and eradicating enslavement throughout the United States.

Even with this storied history, Concord has never formally recognized its native son. As with many of his fallen unit, George’s body was never recovered. He was originally listed as “missing in action” rather than killed in battle. One hundred and sixty years after his death, citizens of the town, visitors, and military units from across the country joined in an emotional ceremony and celebration, providing formal military honors for George with the placing of a cenotaph at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

Historian Marvin Alonso Greer spoke on the history of George Dugan’s contribution as well as the role that Black soldiers played in the Civil War. Black soldiers, in general, were not paid equally to their white peers, and George Washington Dugan was never paid any amount for his service in the war. Nonetheless, Greer described George as “a man who fought for a country that did not fight for him.” Indeed, George risked everything for a town and a nation that would wait 160 years to fully acknowledge his ultimate sacrifice.

As our country wrestles with a more complicated yet complete understanding of its past, places like Concord can be at the forefront of sharing that history with the public and ourselves. In the middle of a wider conversation about race, justice, the mistreatment of indigenous peoples, and the legacy of enslavement in the United States, Concord continues to reckon with its part in that history.

This memorial to George Dugan allows for public visibility and exposure – and a chance to learn about and honor a history that may be new to some but is essential to our collective understanding of Concord.