American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography

CDV on cardstock mount. Verso with imprint of J.W. Black, Boston, and ink stamp of Joseph Ward, Boston.

A vignetted portrait of Robert Gould Shaw in civilian dress, indicating that the image was likely taken before enlistment.

Harvard educated Robert Shaw (1837-1863), son of a prominent Boston abolitionist family, first volunteered to serve with the 7th New York State Militia at the outbreak of the Civil War. He was serving as a captain in the 2nd Massachusetts when he was tapped by Governor John Andrew to command the first regiment of Black troops organized in a Northern state. Shaw went about the organization of his 54th Massachusetts recruiting free Blacks from all over New England and some from beyond. The regiment was mustered into service on 13 May 1863 with Shaw as its Colonel and was sent to the South Carolina coast near Charleston. After leading the regiment in smaller actions on James Island, at Legaresville on 13 July and Secessionville on 16 July, Shaw moved the regiment over to Morris Island. On 18 July 1863 he led then 54th in conjunction with two brigades of white troops in a frontal assault on Confederate Battery Wagner. In the unsuccessful charge, Shaw's well-drilled Black troops proved themselves to be fully capable of standing up to enemy fire -- even heroic in their combat debut -- but in so doing lost about a quarter of those engaged, including Colonel Shaw. The rebels in the battery were so outraged that the Federals had armed Black troops that they deliberately insulted the dead white officer by unceremoniously burying him in a common grave with his Black soldiers. When Shaw's parents heard of the slight they found solace in the act, believing that was the way their son would have wanted it. Shaw's body was never recovered. The story was made famous in the movie Glory.