With the sun setting, Colonel Shaw deploys six hundred soldiers of the 54th Regiment onto the beach. He prepared them by telling them that he wanted them to show off their skills and that the whole country would talk about what they did that night. When night fell on July 18, 1863, Colonel Shaw personally led the attack over the Fort Wagner wall, was shot in the chest, and died while trying to climb over the Fort Wagner wall. This did not stop the 54th Regiment from continuing the attack. The Battle of Fort Wagner was a disaster as there were more Confederate soldiers inside Fort Wagner than expected. As the 54th Regiment fought a battle in which they were outnumbered, they expected reinforcements to arrive to equalize the battle, but this never happened. In the aftermath of the battle 281 soldiers were killed, wounded or captured. The Confederate decided to send a message by burying all the bodies of the African American soldiers, including Colonel Shaw's body, in a grave and communicating with the union "we buried [Shaw] with his