Robert Gould Shaw Memorial

It depicts Colonel Robert Gould Shaw leading members of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry as it marched down Beacon Street on May 28, 1863 to depart the city to fight in the South.

[2] Joshua Bowen Smith, a Massachusetts state legislator, led the effort to obtain authorization for the monument; others participating in its early planning included Governor John Albion Andrew, who had urged Shaw to take command of the 54th Regiment, Samuel Gridley Howe, and Senator Charles Sumner.

On May 31, 2020, as part of the 2020 George Floyd protests, the back of the monument was vandalized with phrases such as "Black Lives Matter", "ACAB," and "Fuck 12".

There on horseback among them, in his very habit as he lived, sits the blue-eyed child of fortune, upon whose happy youth every divinity had smiled.A Latin inscription on the relief reads OMNIA RELINQVIT / SERVARE REMPVBLICAM ("He left behind everything to save the Republic").

The pedestal below carries lines from James Russell Lowell's poem "Memoriae Positum": Right in the van of the red rampart's slipperyswell with heart that beat a charge he fellfoeward as fits a man: but the high soul burnson to light men's feet where death for nobleends makes dying sweet.On the rear are words by Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard University: The White Officers taking life and honor in their hands cast in their lot with men of a despised race unproven in war and risked death as inciters of servile insurrection if taken prisoners besides encountering all the common perils of camp march and battle.

Together they gave to the Nation and the World undying proof that Americans of African descent possess the pride, courage and devotion of the patriot soldier.

[14] 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.

A photo of the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial taken after the completed renovations in 2021. The photo depicts the sculpture set further back from the street to allow for more standing room and benches.
The Robert Gould Shaw Memorial after the completed restoration project in 2021.
Photo of inscription which reads : "To the 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Infantry The White officers taking life and honor in their hands cast in their lot with men of a despised race unproved in war and risked death as inciters of servile insurrection if taken prisoners besides encountering all the common perils of camp march and battle. The Black rank and file, volunteered when disaster clouded the Union cause served without pay for 18 months till given that of white troops faced threatened enslavement if captured were brave in action patient under heavy and dangerous labors and cheerful amid hardship and privations. Together, the gave to the nation and the world undying proof that Americans of African descent possess the pride courage and devotion of the patriot soldier, 180,000 such Americans enlisted under the union flag in MDCCCLXIII–MDCCCLXV. The memory of the just is blessed" then the names of the regiments.
Inscription on the back of the Memorial
Restored plaster cast at the National Gallery of Art