[4] He later became a reporter and editor for several Chemung County newspapers and joined the New York National Guard's 30th Separate Company.

[2][7] At the start of the War with Spain in 1898, the 5th Infantry was ordered to guard duty at ports and military facilities on the coast of South Carolina.

[7] The regiment was later ordered to the Tampa, Florida port of embarkation, where Shaw was assigned as quartermaster and commissary officer of the Independent Regular Brigade commanded by Theodore Schwan.

[7] When Schwan's brigade was ordered to Puerto Rico, Shaw took part in the subsequent campaign, including combat at Hormigueros.

[9] In 1906, he graduated from the Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (now the Command and General Staff College).

[18] In July 1916, Shaw was promoted to major[6] and assigned to the 36th Infantry, which performed duty on the Texas-Mexico border during the Mexican Expedition.

[7] Shaw was promoted to temporary colonel in August 1917[6] and assigned as chief of staff of the 87th Division at Camp Pike, Arkansas.

[21] In February 1919, Shaw reverted to his permanent rank of major[22] and was assigned as head of recruiting for the Army's Northeastern District, based in Boston.

[28] In 1923, he was assigned as chief of National Guard affairs for the Fifth Corps Area, based at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana.

[2] He was a member of The Society of the Cincinnati as a collateral descendant of Captain Sylvanus Shaw (1750-1777) of the Continental Army's 2nd Rhode Island Regiment.

[1] With her first husband, Mary Shaw was the mother of Marion Macfarlane, the wife of Army major general Howard L.