Hometown: Boston, MA 
Branch: U.S. Army 
Unit: 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Date of Sacrifice: July 18, 1863 - KIA at Fort Wagner on Morris Island, near Charleston, South Carolina 
Age: 25 
Conflict: Civil War, 1861-1865

Born in 1837 to a prominent aristocratic family in Boston, Robert Gould Shaw’s early life was one of privilege and security. The son of Francis George Shaw, a merchant and social reformer, and Sarah Blake Sturgis, an abolitionist, he attended private schools in New York and Switzerland and had private tutors in Italy and Germany.

Returning to the United States after a period of drifting and self-indulgence, Shaw enrolled at Harvard University. After years of disciplinary problems and failing to distinguish himself academically he dropped out of school, returning to New York City to work at his uncle’s mercantile firm. With his future uncertain, Shaw saw his life as a failure.

He found his purpose with the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. Joining the 7th New York Infantry in the defense of Washington D.C., his regiment was dissolved after 30 days. He then joined the Massachusetts 2nd as a Second Lieutenant, rising to the rank of Captain after two years. Wounded twice, Shaw miraculously survived the bloody battles of Cedar Mountain and Antietam.

With President Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, Massachusetts governor John Andrew, an ardent abolitionist, was eager to form the first black regiment from a northern state. He offered command of that regiment, the 54th, to Shaw.

Shaw turned down the commission, which was personally delivered to him by his father. While Shaw opposed the Southern slavery system, he did not at first share his parent’s zealous indignation to slavery. His reasons for declining the commission may have been in part due to his loyalty to his 2nd Massachusetts Regiment, his reluctance to take on the responsibility of such a highly publicized post, or his belief that a black regiment would never see action and be relegated to manual labor details. Shaw’s mother was deeply ashamed, calling his decision the “bitterest disappointment.”

Whatever his reasoning, Shaw changed his mind and accepted the command. He organized the new regiment at Camp Meigs in Readville, Massachusetts. The regiment included two sons of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the grandson of author and poet Sojourner Truth.

Despite his stern disciplinary methods, Shaw quickly earned the love and respect of his men by insisting they be issued regular uniforms and joining them in refusing substandard wages. His regiment was rewarded with back pay after the war.

Despite Shaw’s objections, the regiment was forced to take part in the burning of the undefended town of Darien, Georgia. On July 16, 1863, the 54th redeemed and distinguished itself by holding off a Confederate surprise attack at James Island, South Carolina. Two days later, the regiment’s shining hour would come with the courageous assault on Fort Wagner, a Confederate stronghold near Charleston, South Carolina.

Shaw himself led the attack, rather than taking the customary position in the rear of his regiment. The 54th suffered heavy losses in a horrific battle against a strongly defended position. Of the approximately 650 men who went into battle, over 280 were killed, wounded, captured, or missing and presumed dead. Colonel Shaw was among the casualties, having been shot through the heart while shouting “Forward 54th!” and charging to the top of a sandy slope. Despite the bravery of the 54th Massachusetts regiment and units from New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, and Pennsylvania, the Union was unable to seize and hold Fort Wagner.

Intending to insult the officer who had led a regiment of black soldiers, Confederate General Johnson Hagood refused to return Shaw’s body to the Union army, burying him in a mass grave with his black troops. When Shaw’s family was later offered the opportunity to move their son’s remains, his father proclaimed, “We would not have his body removed from where it lies surrounded by his brave and devoted soldiers…We can imagine no holier place than that in which he lies, among his brave and devoted followers, nor wish for him better company. What a body-guard he has!”

The assault on Fort Wagner by Gould’s 54th Massachusetts Regiment is one of the first major actions in which black soldiers fought for the Union. The valor of the soldiers convinced many politicians and Army officers of their value, prompting the further enlistment of black soldiers to end slavery and preserve the Union.

Shaw had become an unlikely martyr for the cause of Emancipation. He and the 54th were later memorialized by Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ bronze monument in downtown Boston, depicted in Peter Burchard’s book, One Gallant Rush, and in the 1989 film Glory.

Sources
Photo Credit: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Whipple’s Studio, Boston
American Battlefield Trust: Robert Gould Shaw
American National Biography: Shaw, Robert Gould
Britannica: Robert Gould Shaw
Fordham University: Robert Gould Shaw
History.com: Assault of Battery Wagner and death of Robert Gould Shaw
Military.com: Col. Robert Gould Shaw
National Parks Service: Robert Gould Shaw
National Parks Service: 54th Massachusetts Regiment