Colonel Charles B. Fox by Anthony M. Sammarco

Glory, we reveled in theBoston Transcript. He was born in Newburyport while his

With the sensationalism garnered in the movie "Glory," we reveled in the

drama and impact of the Civil War; however, the film also served to

remind us of why that war was fought. The Fifty-fourth Regiment, led

by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, was the first African American regiment

formed in Massachusetts, yet few of us realize that the Fifty-fifth Regiment,

the second African American regiment, was led by a Dorchester resident.

Charles Barnard Fox (1833–1895) was the son of the Reverend Thomas B.

Fox, editor of the "Boston Transcript." He was born in Newburyport while his

father was minister of the Unitarian church in that town, but the family

moved to Dorchester in 1845. Educated in the local schools, Fox entered

the field of civil engineering. His brother, the noted architect John A.

Fox, was also a civil engineer and is considered the father of Stick-style

architecture in this country.

Fox had enlisted in the Civil War at Lyceum Hall on Meeting House Hill,

the local recruiting office. With his brothers, John A. Fox and Thomas B. Fox

Jr., he was encouraged to enlist by his maternal grandmother, Lucy Tappan

Pierce, who came from an ardently abolitionist family. He received his

commission as second lieutenant in the Thirteenth Massachusetts Infantry;

one year later, he was made first lieutenant. In 1863, he was transferred

to the Second Massachusetts Cavalry with the same rank. That same year,

he was made major of the African American Fifty-fifth Regiment and was

promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel on November 3, 1863. The Fifty-fifth

Regiment had been trained at Camp Meigs and was composed of men

who had everything at stake in the war. Fox and his fellow officers were well

trained and commended for their service, and it was said that Fox “had a

high standard of what a regiment should be, and he endeavored to bring his

men up to it.” Fox’s obituary read, in part:

It was abundantly shown in his long and meritorious service in the army

during the civil war, and especially in his readiness to enter a branch of

the service that was not regarded with favor even by many who in theory

favored perfect equality between races, and which was not calculated to

attract the young soldier powerfully, in comparison with the more popular

and agreeable positions in white regiments. But Colonel Fox believed in the

equality of the black men with the white, and whatever he believed he lived

up to, and the relations which existed between him and the colored soldiers

in his command were ever the most intimate and mutually regardful nature.

Fox was reared in the Unitarian faith, and upon the family’s removal in

1845 to Dorchester, they became connected with the First Parish Church

on Meeting House Hill. The minister was the Reverend Nathaniel Hall, a

fierce antislavery opponent who expounded on the evils of both slavery and

the subjugation of African Americans in the South. His sermons, many of

which were published for a more general readership, were vociferous and

pointed to his belief that slavery was immoral and could only be abolished

through the war. Charles B. Fox was undoubtedly influenced by Hall, and

by his own father’s opinion, which was quite often read in the daily editions

of the "Boston Transcript."

Charles Barnard Fox served in the Army of the Potomac until after the

Battle of Fredericksburg, in the Siege of Charleston and in the Campaign

in Florida, the Battle of Honey Hill being particularly gruesome. His record

of bravery and courage was made known when he was made brevet colonel

of the Fifty-fifth Regiment; he resigned his commission on June 25, 1865,

at the end of the Civil War and decided to remain in the South. For three

years after the war, Fox managed a cotton plantation on Sea Island off the

coast of South Carolina. It was not until 1868 that he returned to Boston,

becoming an inspector at the Boston Custom House. In partnership with

his brother and his friends, he assisted in the establishment of Holbrook

& Fox, a real estate and land auction house in Boston. It was his friend

Silas Pinckney Holbrook and his brother John Andrews Fox who created the

partnership. The firm of Holbrook & Fox was one of the leading firms of

its kind in New England and was well respected for the development of the

real estate market in the late nineteenth century. Colonel Thomas and Ruth

Prouty Fox built their home, designed by his architect brother, on Fuller

Street in Dorchester. His connection with the development of the old farms

and estates of Dorchester continued until his untimely death in 1895.

The contributions of Colonel Charles Barnard Fox in regards to the Civil

War were important enough to have his convictions and personal beliefs

supersede his comfort. He served the members of the Fifty-fifth Regiment

well and earned their respect with the title of colonel by brevet, an honor

that few officers received for their service in the Civil War.

Boston Transcript.