In a city as rich with history as Boston, the constant deluge of busts, equestrian statues, fountains, national landmarks, obelisks, plaques and victory columns can have an almost numbing effect. With this much history, it’s easy for even the most noteworthy pieces to get lost in the shuffle. Case in point: The Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial, a stately bronze relief on the northern edge of Boston Common.
Although widely considered one of the country’s most stirring war monuments, this 1897 memorial is easily missed by the thousands who stream past it every day. But stop and take a closer look. This emotionally resonant masterpiece by Beaux-Arts sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens is a testament to a game-changing historical figure. More than that, it was the nation’s first public monument to honor African American soldiers.
Battle casualties
If you don’t know Col. Shaw by name, you may know him by reputation: Matthew Broderick played “the blue-eyed child of fortune” in the 1989 Oscar-winning film Glory. Born to a prominent Boston family of abolitionists in 1837, Shaw, at the young age of 25, took command of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the first all-Black regiments to fight for the Union in the Civil War. Unfortunately, he and more than half his regiment were shot and killed during the July 1863 Second Battle of Fort Wagner, near Charleston. In a sign of disrespect for Shaw having led Black soldiers, the commanding Confederate general refused to return his body and instead had it buried in a mass grave alongside his men. But the general’s move had the opposite effect: His family saw the burial as a great honor, and his father wrote, “We can imagine no holier place than that in which he lies, among his brave and devoted followers, nor wish for him better company — what a body-guard he has!”
After his death, veterans from the 54th Regiment proposed a monument to Shaw’s memory near his burial site, but local citizens stopped it from being built. Instead, the funds raised for its construction went toward building Charleston’s first free school for Black children in Shaw’s name. Later, thanks to the efforts of African American businessman Joshua B. Smith (who had once worked for the Shaw family), a committee convened in Boston to plan for a proper memorial — a committee that included Charles Sumner, the senator famously beaten nearly to death by a pro-slavery representative after a fiery abolitionist speech.
To create the memorial, the committee commissioned Saint-Gaudens, who crafted some of the most gorgeous sculptures of the day, including “Abraham Lincoln: The Man” (1887) in Chicago’s Lincoln Park. The sculptor drew inspiration from a French painting of Napoleon on horseback in front of rows of marching infantry men to depict a similar scene: Shaw and the 54th Regiment marching down Beacon Street on May 28, 1863, before shipping out to Charleston.
Ever a perfectionist, Saint-Gaudens took his time getting every detail right. “It took Saint-Gaudens nearly 14 years to complete the monument, much to the chagrin of the committee,” says Shawn P. Quigley, a park guide with the National Parks of Boston. “In fact, one committee member complained in 1894 that ‘that bronze is wanted pretty damned quick! People are grumbling for it, the city howling for it, and most of the committee have become toothless waiting for it!'”
Massive masterpiece
At 11 feet by 14 feet, the massive bronze relief depicts a row of lifelike soldiers marching with their bedrolls, canteens, drums and rifles, led by a stoic Shaw on horseback. An ethereal female allegorical figure floating above the gritty realism below carries an olive branch for peace and an armful of poppies, symbolizing death. Note that it wasn’t until 1982 that the Friends of the Public Garden raised funds to restore the monument and finally inscribed the names of the fallen Black soldiers who died alongside Shaw.
“One thing I always like to call attention to are the individual faces of the soldiers,” says Quigley. “It’s a masterpiece when you look at the entire monument, but the painstaking detail is where I think the genius of Saint-Gaudens really shines.”
The sculptor hired men to pose for the monument, so that he could create individual soldiers rather than generic idealized figures. Quigley points out that some are old, others young, some have beards, others are barefaced. “Whenever I have folks on a tour, I always ask them to look at these individual faces and describe the emotions they see,” he continues. “I think it’s important to point this out because, in 1897 when the monument is completed, the men captured in bronze by Saint-Gaudens are not the typical late-19th-century depiction of African Americans.”
A trail of Black history
Today, the memorial is part of the Boston African American National Historic Site, a collection of pre-Civil War structures sprinkled throughout Beacon Hill and connected by the 1.6-mile Black Heritage Trail (BHT). Stops along the way — many now private residences you can only view from the outside — include the 1807 Charles Street Meeting House, a ormerly segregated church that went on to host speakers such as Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth; the 1824 Phillips School, one of Boston’s first integrated schools; and the residences of abolitionists, Underground Railroad conductors and Black militia leaders.
At the end of the BHT, you’ll find the Museum of African American History (MAAH), which comprises two historic structures that are open to the public: the 1806 African Meeting House, the oldest Black church building still standing in America; and the 1835 Abiel Smith School, the first public school for free Black Bostonians. The church has been restored to its 1855 look, while the school now houses exhibits and a museum shop.
While the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial has stood for more than a century, it’s still very much a living part of Boston history. Last summer, when George Floyd protests ignited debates about the role of monuments, some in the city questioned the memorial’s continued relevance. Is it, for instance, perpetuating a white savior narrative? And why should the white officer be given such pride of place over his Black soldiers? “It’s important to look at the difference between Shaw on his horse and the men marching,” Quigley points out. “The memorial speaks to the fact that these men are fighting to end slavery but doing so in a regiment that is segregated.”
Friends of the Public Garden has just completed a $3 million restoration of the monument in partnership with the City of Boston, the MAAH and the National Park Service. As part of the overhaul, conservators spruced up the bronze relief in a studio in Woburn while stone conservators in nearby Lexington worked on the granite and marble base.
Over the years, the monument has inspired composer Charles Ives’ orchestral work “Three Places in New England” (1911-1914) and Robert Lowell’s poem “For the Union Dead” (1964), and appeared in the end credits of Glory. The restoration ensures that Robert Gould Shaw and, perhaps more importantly, the groundbreaking Black soldiers of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment will stand as beacons of hope and heroism for generations to come. (AARP)
