Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry Memorial in Boston

BLACK HERITAGE TRAIL

STOP 1

The Black Heritage Trail begins at the Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry memorial at Boston Common (this is the official name per the dedication booklet printed in 1897). If you have seen the movie Glory, you should be familiar with Shaw and the troops.

The sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens depicts Shaw and the men of the 54th as they march down Beacon Street on their way to Confederate territory in the south. However, the original intent of the memorial was to honor Shaw only, for rest assured that back in the early 1880s there were no white people attempting to raise money for a memorial to black soldiers. If the 54th had been led by a black commander, this monument would not exist, at least not in 1897 when it was erected at Boston Common. Furthermore, had Shaw led white troops it is doubtful that a memorial to him would have been commissioned at all, and if so, the sculpture would be of him on a horse sitting atop a pedestal like most Civil War commanders are depicted. In fact, that was the original plan for the sculpture. It was Shaw’s parents, both ardent abolitionists, who insisted that the troops be included. Thus, it can be reasoned that without the 54th that Shaw would be just another dead colonel whose name was lost to history, whereas the 54th would still be remembered today as the first black regiment raised by the Union Army.

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