Robert Gould Shaw Memorial

History

The Robert Gould Shaw Memorial commemorates the colonel’s death on July 18, 1863, during an assault on Fort Wagner, a key defensive position for the Confederate port of Charleston, South Carolina. The push for a monument was spearheaded by Massachusetts state legislator Joshua Bowen Smith, with early support from Governor John Albion Andrew—who had encouraged Shaw to lead the 54th Regiment—along with Samuel Gridley Howe and Senator Charles Sumner. Its purpose was to express public gratitude toward Shaw and to honor the events that affirmed the citizenship of Black men.

Sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens created a groundbreaking design: Shaw sits mounted on a horse, while the soldiers of the Massachusetts 54th appear in bas-relief. This hybrid approach broke from the traditional equestrian monument and later influenced Saint-Gaudens’ 1903 memorial to William T. Sherman in New York’s Central Park. Each of the twenty-three Black soldiers is portrayed with unique, individualized features, based on real models Saint-Gaudens hired.

Fundraising started right after the battle, led by survivors of the 54th and by emancipated Black people from Beaufort, South Carolina. However, the planned Beaufort site was deemed unsuitable, and local white residents expressed resentment, so the funds were redirected.

The monument has been vandalized multiple times: in 2012, 2015, and 2017. On May 31, 2020, during the George Floyd protests, the back was defaced with phrases including “Black Lives Matter,” “ACAB,” and “Fuck 12.” The front, already covered with plywood as part of a renovation plan, also received graffiti. That July, the monument became a point of debate amid the iconoclasm tied to the protests.

Dedications and inscriptions

The work was dedicated by philosopher William James of Harvard. A Latin inscription on the relief reads "He left behind everything to save the Republic." The pedestal below carries lines from James Russell Lowell's poem "Memoriae Positum." On the rear are words by Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard University. A plaster cast, exhibited at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, is displayed at the National Gallery of Art, on loan by the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish, New Hampshire. The inscription running along the bottom of this plaster cast incorrectly states that the assault on Fort Wagner and Shaw's death in 1863 occurred "JULY TWENTY THIRD," five days later than the historic events.

In popular culture

The monument appears in William Vaughn Moody's poem "An Ode in Time of Hesitation," which references Shaw and the memorial. Charles Ives made it the first movement of his composition Three Places in New England, titled "The 'St. Gaudens' in Boston Common (Col. Shaw and his Colored Regiment)." Robert Lowell's poem "For the Union Dead" also mentions the monument; the first printing of his 1964 poetry collection displayed a drawing of the relief on its cover.

The memorial appears during the end credits of Edward Zwick's 1989 film Glory, which tells the story of Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. In 1998, the U.S. Postal Service used the memorial as the backdrop for a stamp commemorating Stephen Vincent Benét on the centennial of his birth. The documentary Route One/USA features a scene where a local guide explains the monument's history to a group of southern girls visiting Boston Common.