Robert Gould Shaw
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Commanding officer of the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry.
1837-1863
Son of a prominent Boston abolitionist family, Robert Shaw was
serving as a captain in the 2nd Massachusetts when he was tapped by
Massachusetts Governor John Andrew for a special assignment. Shaw was
to raise and command the first regiment of black troops organized in
a Northern state.
All the previous 11 colored" regiments had been raised principally
from freed slaves in occupied areas. Shaw went about the organization
of his command, recruiting free blacks from all over New England and
some from beyond. The regiment was mustered into service on May 13,
1863, with Shaw as its colonel, and was sent to the South Carolina
coast to take part in the operations against the cradle of secession,
Charleston. After leading the regiment in smaller actions on James
Island, at Legaresville on July 13, and Secessionville on July 16,
Shaw moved the regiment over to Morris Island.
On July 18, 1863, he led the 54th, in conjunction with two brigades
of white troops, in an assault on Confederate Battery Wagner. In the
unsuccessful charge, the black troops proved themselves to be fully
capable of standing up to enemy fire but lost about one quarter of
their men, including Colonel Shaw. The rebels in the battery were so
outraged by the Union commanders arming blacks that they decided to
insult the white officer by burying him in a common grave with his
black enlisted men. But Shaw's parents, when they heard of it, were
pleased and believed that was the way their son would have wanted it.
(Burchard, Peter, One Gallant Rush: Robert Gould Shaw and His Brave
Black Regiment)
