Description
- Abstract:
- The memorial commemorates Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and members of the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the first African American regiment to be formed in the North during the American Civil War. Shaw, the regiment’s leader, is shown on horseback in control of his horse and staring forward. Cast in bas relief, three rows of Black infantrymen of various ages stride forward in unison behind him. This scene depicts the Massachusetts 54th Regiment parade march down Beacon Street in Boston on May 28, 1863, as they left the city for Beaufort, South Carolina. On July 18, 1863, nearly 250 of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment were killed, wounded, or captured at the Battle of Fort Wagner located on Morris Island in Charleston Harbor including the death of Shaw. Sargeant William H. Carney received a Medal of Honor for his courageous actions during the fight, the first African American to receive the medal. The Massachusetts 54th Regiment and the Battle of Fort Wagner were the subject of the epic Civil War film, Glory (1989).
- Notes:
- Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-fourth Infantry Regiment (Boston, Massachusetts), Brown University Library
- Digital object made available by: Brown University Library, Center for Digital Scholarship, Box A, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, U.S.A., (http://library.brown.edu/)
Access Conditions
- Rights
- CC0 1.0
- Restrictions on Use
- Collection is open for research.
Citation
U.S. National Park Service,
"Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-fourth Infantry Regiment (Boston, Massachusetts)"
(1897).
United States Colored Troops (USCT).
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:c4d79rv8/
Relations
Collection:
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United States Colored Troops (USCT)
Included in this thematic collection are seventeen memorials that honor the vital contributions of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) to the Union victory during the American Civil War. The first all-Black units formed unofficially in Louisiana (Louisiana Native Guard, …...