Thomas Searles (1836-18 July 1863) was a Corporal in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War.
Biography[]
Thomas Searles was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1836 to a family of free African-Americans, and he became a very intelligent young man due to his studies of abolitionism and of modern literature. He befriended Robert Gould Shaw while he was young, and he was the first volunteer in the all-black 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment when Shaw was given command of the newly-formed regiment by Governor John Albion Andrew on 13 March 1863. Searles did not fit in with the regiment, as he was intimidated and harassed by his brothers-at-arms (many of whom were escaped slaves) and was ignored by Colonel Shaw, who could not treat him as an equal due to his status as a superior officer. Searles would rise to the rank of Corporal, and he served in the regiment's limited number of engagements, being wounded at the Battle of Grimball's Landing and taking part in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner. Searles was wounded in the back at Fort Wagner, and he was killed by canister shot at the end of the battle.