Shaw, Robert Gould (1837-1863), was a Union colonel during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Shaw commanded the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the first African American regiment recruited in the North during the war.
Shaw was born on Oct. 10, 1837, in Boston. His parents were wealthy abolitionists—that is, opponents of slavery. Shaw attended Harvard University from 1856 to 1859, but he withdrew to work for an uncle in New York. In April 1861, Shaw joined a New York regiment that served for only a month. In May, he became a second lieutenant for a Massachusetts regiment. Shaw served for two years in this regiment, rising to the rank of captain. In September 1862, he was wounded at the Battle of Antietam, in Maryland.
In early 1863, Massachusetts Governor John Andrews organized the 54th Massachusetts Infantry regiment. The Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect in January, allowed blacks to serve in the Union Army. The antislavery Massachusetts governor recruited African Americans from Massachusetts and other states to serve in an all-black regiment. African Americans from across the North volunteered to serve in the unit. Andrews selected Shaw to lead and train these men. Shaw initially declined the offer, but he eventually took command of the troops. In May 1863, after a few months of training, the regiment left Boston and headed for South Carolina, where the Union was attempting to capture Charleston.
On July 18, 1863, Shaw led his men in an assault on Fort Wagner, part of the Charleston harbor defenses. Shaw and many of his men were killed in the assault, and the Confederates buried them in a mass grave. Although the assault failed to take Fort Wagner, the regiment’s bravery helped turn the tide of Northern public opinion to accept African American troops.
