Robert Gould Shaw
Robert Gould Shaw was a Union Army officer born on October 10, 1837, in Boston, Massachusetts, into a wealthy and socially active family committed to abolitionism. Despite his privileged upbringing, Shaw grappled with his family’s views on slavery and initially struggled with his academic pursuits at Harvard University, which he left in 1859. He enlisted in the military following the outbreak of the Civil War and became a captain in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, one of the first all-black regiments in the Union Army, formed in response to the Emancipation Proclamation.
Shaw took command of the 54th Infantry in February 1863 and led his men into battle at Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863, where he was killed in action. His leadership and the bravery of his regiment were recognized posthumously, and his commitment to equality was evident when he and his fellow officers refused to accept their higher pay in protest against the lower wages given to black soldiers. Shaw's legacy has been immortalized through memorials, including a notable sculpture in Boston, and he was depicted in the 1989 film "Glory." His life story reflects the complex interplay of privilege, duty, and the fight for civil rights during a pivotal era in American history.
Subject Terms
Robert Gould Shaw
Union colonel during the American Civil War
- Born: October 10, 1837
- Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
- Died: July 18, 1863
- Place of death: Fort Wagner, South Carolina
Education: Harvard University
Significance: Robert Gould Shaw was a Union Army colonel who commanded the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, a volunteer regiment of black soldiers. Shaw died during the Union assault on South Carolina's Fort Wagner in 1863.
Background
Robert Gould Shaw was born on October 10, 1837, to a wealthy family in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents, Francis George and Sarah Blake Shaw, were prominent social reformers and staunch abolitionists. Shaw's early life was one of privilege. In 1847, his family moved to Staten Island in New York. Shaw was sent to a private school on Staten Island, but he was unhappy with his new surroundings. On the advice of his uncle, he was enrolled in a Catholic boarding school, but he ran away several times.
In 1851, the family left for a tour of Europe and Shaw was placed in a private school in Switzerland. The teenager began to rebel against his family's abolitionist views, questioning how one person could make a difference against slavery. At age sixteen, Shaw moved to Germany before returning to the United States in 1856 to attend college. Despite his wishes to enroll in a New York school, Shaw's family insisted he attend Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He struggled academically at Harvard and left the school in 1859. Shaw went to work for H. P. Sturgis and Company, a firm run by his uncle in New York City.
Military Career
Shaw worked for his uncle until 1861, when the outbreak of the American Civil War seemed to give him a new focus on life. He jumped at the chance to enlist in the 7th Regiment New York National Guard, a unit made up of young men from wealthy New York families who wanted to prove their patriotism. After the unit disbanded, Shaw enlisted in the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry. He fought in several battles and was wounded in the Union victory at Antietam Creek in Maryland—the deadliest encounter in the entire Civil War. In August 1862, Shaw earned his officer's commission and was promoted to captain.
Prior to 1863, black men were not allowed to serve as soldiers in the Union Army. On January 1 of that year, President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation took effect, declaring that all enslaved blacks in the Southern states were free. The measure also allowed free black men to enlist in the fight for the Union cause. In Massachusetts, abolitionist governor John Andrew began to organize an all-black military unit of volunteer soldiers. More than one thousand recruits answered the call. Some of the men came from other states, Canada, and the Caribbean. Andrew's choice to lead the newly formed 54th Massachusetts Infantry was Shaw, but the young captain was reluctant to accept the position. He felt the responsibility was beyond his capabilities, and he did not want to leave his comrades in the 2nd Massachusetts. He also doubted the new regiment would ever see meaningful battle.
Under pressure from his mother, Shaw eventually took command of the 54th infantry regiment in February 1863. The unit trained under Shaw's command until May 1863, when the men were sent to Hilton Head, South Carolina. They were given a heroes' send-off as they left Boston. Shaw came to respect the men of the 54th and their fighting capability. When he learned that the black soldiers were to be paid less than white soldiers, he and his fellow white officers refused to accept their pay in solidarity.
One week into their deployment, the unit was ordered by Shaw's superiors to take part in the looting and burning of the captured town of Darien, Georgia. The order angered Shaw, who believed the 54th had come to the South to fight and not be used to raid undefended towns. He wrote to his commanding officer, Gen. George C. Strong, asking that his unit be allowed to fight in a true battle.
On July 16, 1863, the 54th engaged the Confederate Army at James Island, South Carolina, holding off a surprise attack by enemy forces. Two days later, Shaw volunteered his regiment to lead the attack on Fort Wagner, a well-defended post on a beach near Charleston, South Carolina. Shaw himself led about six hundred of his men in the assault on the fort. The unit fought well and breached the walls twice before being driven back. Ultimately, the attack failed and Shaw was struck by a bullet in the chest and killed. More than two hundred members of the 54th regiment were killed, injured, or captured in the assault.
The Confederate commander of the fort refused to release Shaw's body to the Union Army and buried him in a trench with his men. The commander considered this an insult, but Shaw's parents believed it to be an honor and insisted their son remain buried on the beach. After the war, the bodies in the trench were moved to nearby Beaufort National Cemetery and reburied. They are interred under a gravestone marked "unknown."
Impact
In 1897, Shaw and the men of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry were honored with a memorial by American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The bronze sculpture took fourteen years to create. It was unveiled on Boston Commons, near the site where the regiment received its send-off to battle in 1863. The memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th regiment is a National Historic Site and still stands in Boston in the early twenty-first century. In 1989, the story of Shaw and the 54th regiment was told in the Academy Award–winning film Glory. Shaw was played by actor Matthew Broderick.
Personal Life
Shaw married Annie Kneeland Haggerty in May 1863. Their union was short-lived; Shaw left to command the 54th Massachusetts Infantry twenty-six days after their wedding day.
Bibliography
"Assault of Battery Wagner and Death of Robert Gould Shaw." History.com, 2009, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/assault-of-battery-wagner-and-death-of-robert-gould-shaw. Accessed 12 Jan. 2018.
Crocker, Matthew H. "Shaw, Robert Gould." American National Biography, www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-0401086. Accessed 12 Jan. 2018.
Duncan, Russell, editor. Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. U of Georgia P, 1999.
Egerton, Douglas R. Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments That Redeemed America. Basic Books, 2016.
"54th Regiment!" Massachusetts Historical Society, www.masshist.org/online/54thregiment/index.php. Accessed 12 Jan. 2018.
Pohanka, Brian C. "Fort Wagner and the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry." Civil War Trust, www.civilwar.org/learn/articles/fort-wagner-and-54th-massachusetts-volunteer-infantry. Accessed 12 Jan. 2018.
"Robert Gould Shaw." Civil War Trust, www.civilwar.org/learn/biographies/robert-gould-shaw. Accessed 12 Jan. 2018.
"Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment." National Park Service, www.nps.gov/boaf/learn/historyculture/shaw.htm. Accessed 12 Jan. 2018.