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[BCF] Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Edited by Russell Duncan. University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA, 1999; paperback, 480 pages.
While the whereabouts of Shaw's original letters to his wife are unknown, most of his letters to the rest of his family are held by Harvard University's Houghton Library.
Robert Gould Shaw (October 10, 1837 – July 18, 1863) was an American military officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. As Colonel, he commanded the all-black 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.
The bulk of the collection consists of letters by Robert Gould Shaw to his family, including 98 letters to his mother, 31 to his father, and some to his sisters and brothers-in-law.
Colonel Shaw was the Commander of the Massachusetts 54th Infantry regiment, the first official African American regiments to be formed in the United States. Colonel Shaw was killed at the battle for Fort Wagner, near Charleston South Carolina on July 18, 1963. Creator: Shaw, Robert Gould, 1837-1863. Date:
Robert Gould Shaw (October 10, 1837 – July 18, 1863) Was an American soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War. Born into a prominent abolitionist family, he accepted command of the first all-black regiment (54th Massachusetts) and encouraged the men to refuse their pay until it was equalled to the white troops’ wage.
On the Boston Common stands one of the great Civil War memorials, a magnificent bronze sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. It depicts the black soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry marching alongside their young white commander, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw.
