In 1863, the US Civil War was raging. Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation had freed over 3.5 million African-American slaves, and now the Union Army began to recruit a second all-black regiment of soldiers to join the fight. As the struggle against the Confederate South raged on, the newly-formed 54th Massachusetts battalion prepared to attack the seemingly impregnable fortress of Fort Wagner.

The odds were heavily against them; the fort had never been taken. America was watching them - and when the bugle sounded they marched towards the guns, flag held high.