Robert Gould Shaw
| Robert Gould Shaw | |
|---|---|
Shaw in May 1863
|
|
| Born |
October 10, 1837 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | July 18, 1863 (aged 25) Morris Island, South Carolina |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch |
 U.S. Army (Union Army) |
| Years of service | 1861–1863 |
| Rank |
 Colonel
|
| Unit |
7th New York Militia 2nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry |
| Commands held | 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment |
| Battles/wars | |
Robert Gould Shaw (October 10, 1837 – July 18, 1863) was an American soldier in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War. Born into a prominent abolitionist family, he accepted command of the first all-black regiment (54th Massachusetts) in the Northeast and encouraged the men to refuse their pay until it was equal to the white troops’ wage. At the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, a beachhead near Charleston, South Carolina, Shaw was killed while leading his men to the parapet of the enemy fort. Although they were overwhelmed and driven back, Shaw’s leadership passed into legend with a unit that inspired tens of thousands more African-Americans to enlist for the Union and contribute to its ultimate victory. Shaw's story is dramatized in the 1989 film Glory, starring Matthew Broderick.
Shaw was born in Boston to abolitionists Francis George and Sarah Blake (Sturgis) Shaw, who were also well-known Unitarian philanthropists and intellectuals. The Shaws had the benefit of a large inheritance left by Shaw's merchant grandfather and namesake Robert Gould Shaw (1775–1853), and Shaw himself would have been a member by primogeniture of the Society of the Cincinnati had he survived his father. Shaw had four sisters— Anna, Josephine (Effie), Susanna, and Ellen (Nellie).
When Shaw was five years old, the family moved to a large estate in West Roxbury, adjacent to Brook Farm. During his teens he traveled and studied for some years in Europe. In 1847, the family moved to Staten Island, New York, settling among a community of literati and abolitionists, while Shaw attended the lower division of St. John's College (comparable to a modern high school).
...
Wikipedia