The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment was one of the first official black units in the U.S. armed forces. Their courageous assault on Fort Wagner played a key role in bringing about an end to slavery.

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In this American History video, brought to you by the History Channel, Jane Alexander talks about the history of her home state of Massachusetts. She loves it for its diversity of activities like skiing and hiking and for its diversity of people. She talks about growing up and swimming in Walden Pond, skiing in the winter, and going to the Cape in the summer.

Historians and experts look at the role of slavery in the Civil War and its effect on the U.S. from Reconstruction through the present day.

1863 "Wallpaper Edition" of the Daily Citizen newspaper is created as resources is scarce during the Civil War.

Original or facsimile? The original Gettysburg Address bears creases in it it from when Abraham Lincoln placed it in his pocket.

The assassination of President Lincoln was just one part of a larger plot to decapitate the federal government of the U.S. after the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is regarded as one of the most powerful and poignant speeches in American history.