“…if the raising of colored troops prove such a benefit to the country and to the blacks as many people think It will, I shall thank God a thousand times that I was led to take my share in it...”

Colonel Robert Gould Shaw

When I started to prepare a Civil War Movie review of the Movie Glory (1989) I decided to brush up on a few of the major figures of the movie. I began researching the leader of the 54^th Regiment Massachusetts Infantry, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. The more I read about this brave American the more he evokes admiration and thanks for the sacrifice he made. I hope reading this makes you feel the same way.

Shaw’s Early Life---A life of privilege, and of a promising, bright future

Robert Gould Shaw was born in Boston Massachusetts on October 10, 1837 to abolitionist minded and parents of some wealth. In his teens he attended and studied in schools in Europe and eventually returned home to attend Harvard University, which he attended for three years without receiving a degree, and then went on to attend the college which would eventually become today's Fordham University in New York.[i]

The minute details of Shaw’s early life are not important for the purpose of remembering the dates, places, and the schools he attended. However, they are important for what they tell us about the man. What they reveal is a young man, in 1850's America, who had an education and an affluent family. Shaw was therefore a man with a bright and promising future. Yet despite all that he was given he was compelled to a higher calling, and sacrificed this future to enlist and serve in the Civil War primarily to end what he thought was a moral evil----the institution of slavery. As stated in one of his letters:

“The only persons responsible for the depravity of the negroes are their scoundrelly owners, who are, nevertheless, not ashamed to talk of the Christianizing influence of slavery.”[ii]

[i] “Robert Gould Shaw, Wikepedia.org

[ii] Harvard Memorial Biographies, Cambridge, Sever & Francis, 1867, University Press, pg. 195

Shaw’s Prior Military Service—He saw action at bloody Antietam

With the release of the Civil War movie Glory, Robert Gould Shaw is remembered as the Colonel of the first African American regiment, the 54^th Massachusetts, who died a glorious death during the Union assault on Fort Wagner on Morris Island in South Carolina. It is correct and proper that he must be remembered for this. However, Shaw had a military career, and saw action, prior to his commanding the 54^th.

Shaw joined the 7^th New York Infantry immediately after hostilities broke out in April 1861. However, like many of the early regiments pressed immediately into service after the outbreak of hostilities the unit only served 30 days in the defense of Washington DC.[i]

Anxious to serve, Shaw immediately enlisted in the 2^nd Massachusetts Infantry in May 1861. While in the 2^nd Mass. Shaw saw action at the battle of Cedar Mountain and bloody Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. After Antietam he wrote to his father about the excitement, yet horror of war:

“I never felt before the excitement which makes a man want to rush into the fight, but I did that day. Every battle makes me wish more and more that the war was over. It seems almost as if nothing could justify a battle like that of the 17^th [Antietam], and the horrors inseparable from it.”[ii]

Governor Andrew—“Captain Shaw I am about to organize in Massachusetts a colored regiment.”

On January 30^th 1863, Governor of Massachusetts, John A. Andrew, offered Shaw the authority to raise a black regiment of which he would be Colonel. What is not widely known is that Shaw initially declined, not thinking himself having the ability for such a great undertaking. He gave a letter declining the appointment to his father to bring to the Governor. After further thinking of the great honor the Governor had bestowed upon him, and a true sense of duty, he changed his mind and directed his father to destroy his previous letter declining the appointment.

He would later write about being charged with the duty of raising the 54^th colored regiment:

“.. . Truly, I ought to be thankful for all my happiness, and my success in life so far and if the raising of colored troops prove such a benefit to the country and to the blacks as many people think It will, I shall thank God a thousand times that I was led to take my share in it.”” [iii]

Of historical note is that two sons of famed black orator Frederick Douglass enlisted and served in the 54^th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment under Colonel Shaw.

The 54th’s Brave assault on Fort Wagner—the death of Colonel Shaw

After the raising of the 54^th Regiment they were sent to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Soon thereafter they would engage in their most glorious action, and the one for which they are best remembered--- the charge against a well defended Rebel fort, Fort Wagner, on Morris Island in South Carolina. The depiction of this assault is the most compelling and action packed scene in the Civil War movie Glory.

Located on Morris Island the fort was considered necessary for the Union’s ultimate capture of Charleston.

At about 7:30, or 7:45. P.M., on the evening of July 18, 1863 Colonel Shaw was given the order to charge down the Beach of Morris Island and to attack the well defended Fort Wagner, head on. After receiving the order Shaw instructed his men to move at quick speed, until within a 100 yards of the fort, at which point they were to move at double quick speed. After giving these instructions the brave Colonel ordered his men forward, Shaw at the front.

The 54th moved as the shot and shell increased in ferocity. Colonel Shaw reached the parapet of the fort, waived his sword, and shouted “Forward 54^th!.” At this point he was shot through the heart (some reports say neck), death having marked him, and Colonel Shaw breathed his last breath and fell dead.[iv] He was only 25 years old.

The battle raged for a few more hours and the Confederates held the fort; the assault had failed, and the dead and dying littered the fort and surrounding area.

Because of his gallant actions a member of the 54^th, William H. Carney, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

[i] Wikipedia.org

[ii] Harvard Memorial Biographies, at pg. 188

[iii] Ibid., at 189

[iv] The Rebellion Record A Diary of American Events, Edited by Frank Moore, Seventh Volume, published by D. Van Nostrand, N.Y., 1864; Exercises of the Dedication of the Monument to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54^th Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry, Published by the Order of the City Council of Boston, May 31^st 1897.

“Buried Under a Heap of Niggers”—the Rebels Futile Attempt to Humiliate the Dead Colonel

At his death Colonel Shaw lay close to Fort Wagner, in a heap of dead and dying some say three feet deep. [1] One of the last Union soldiers who saw his body said “It [he] looked as calm and fresh, as natural, as if he was sleeping.” This soldier also recounted the animus towards Shaw by the Rebels, because of his service with Negroes and also recalled the Rebs attempt to humiliate Shaw in death:

“Brigadier-General Haygood, commanding the Rebel forces, said to me: ‘I knew Colonel Shaw before the war, and then esteemed him. Had he been in command of white troops, I should have given him an honorable burial. As it is, I shall bury him in the common trench, with the negroes that fell with him.’”[2]

The soldier concludes that Colonel Shaw was buried in a mass grave just outside the ditch bordering Fort Wagner. Prior to burial his body was reportedly stripped down to his undershirt and drawers and carried in the fort for public view by the Confederates.[3]

Another source quotes the Confederates, who allegedly had to bury more than 1,000 Union soldiers,  saying that Colonel Shaw was “buried in a pit, under a heap of his niggers.” [4]

However, his company in burial would not have the intended humiliating effect. Shaw’s father said that he was proud his son was buried with his colored compatriots and such a burial was consistent with his son’s crusade for equality of race. [5]

Dedication of the Monument to Colonel Shaw & the 54^th Massachusetts Regiment

Colonel Shaw’s and the 54^th’s sacrifice was recognized in a bronze Monument unveiled in Boston on May 30, 1897. The moving dedications of the text on the monument (seen to your right) note the sacrifices, trials and tribulations of Colonel Shaw and the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and are simply yet eloquently stated.[6]

Conclusion—an Admirable Life & Death

Colonel Robert Gould Shaw served his country with bravery and distinction. Believing in the evil of slavery, and the equality of the races, he voluntarily accepted the task of raising and commanding the first African American regiment in the Union Army. One can little doubt that as he heard and felt the shell and shot coming from Fort Wagner, and as he looked across the yards of beach over which he was about to charge, he is almost certain to have known he would die.

One fellow soldier recounted and perceived Shaw’s attitude about charging Fort Wagner:

“Here, then, came the opportunity he had waited for, when his men ‘should fight alongside of white soldiers’ and ‘show to somebody besides their officers what stuff they were made of,’ and he accepted it without hesitation. “ [7]

Colonel Shaw no doubt succeeded in showng the stuff he, and his men were made of..

[1] Livermore, Mary A., “My Story of the War, A Women’s Narrative”, A.D. Worthington & Co., Hartford Conn, 1890, pg. 53

[2]Harvard Memorial Biographies.

[3] Emilio, Louis F., History of the Fifty Fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infanty 1864-1865, 2^nd Edition, Boston Book Company, 1894

[4] Harvard Memorial Biographies, at pg. 198. 2^nd Edition, Boston Book Company, 1894.

[5] Wikipedia.

[6] Exercises…at pgs 9-10

[7] Harvard Memorial Biographies, pg 195.