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On #MemorialDay, we honor the lives of soldiers who have died while serving in the US Armed Forces. Today, we will remember them with a look at Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s “Shaw Memorial” (1900). #MuseumFromHome
Read more about the Memorial: http://go.usa.gov/xwaR3
Read more about the Memorial: http://go.usa.gov/xwaR3
The memorial commemorates the valiant efforts of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the men of the 54th Massachusetts, the first Civil War regiment of African Americans enlisted in the North.
The version in Boston Common was dedicated as a monument on Decoration Day on May 31, 1897.
The version in Boston Common was dedicated as a monument on Decoration Day on May 31, 1897.
Before it was known as #MemorialDay, the nation celebrated Decoration Day. John A. Logan, Commander and Chief of the Union’s veteran group called the Grand Army of the Republic, initiated the holiday, urging Americans to decorate the graves of the dead with flowers.
May 30th was the originally designated date because there were no anniversaries of battles on that day. A monument to Logan designed by Franklin Simmons and Richard Morris Hunt stands at the center of DC’s Logan Circle.
The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was raised shortly after Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Recruits came from many states, encouraged by such African American leaders as Frederick Douglass, whose own sons joined the 54th.
Commanded by 25-year-old Shaw, on the evening of July 18, 1863, the 54th Massachusetts led the assault upon the nearly impenetrable Fort Wagner, which guarded access to the port of Charleston, South Carolina. Shaw, at the front of the charge, was one of the first to die.
Of the approximately 600 men of the 54th who participated, nearly 300 were captured, declared missing, or died from wounds that they received that day.
[Kurz & Allison, "Storming Fort Wagner, 1890, @librarycongress]
![Of the approximately 600 men of the 54th who participated, nearly 300 were captured, declared missing, or died from wounds that they received that day. [Kurz & Allison, "Storming Fort Wagner, 1890, @librarycongress]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EY5dfZOX0AEacLf.jpg "Of the approximately 600 men of the 54th who participated, nearly 300 were captured, declared missing, or died from wounds that they received that day. [Kurz & Allison, \"Storming Fort Wagner, 1890, @librarycongress]")
[Kurz & Allison, "Storming Fort Wagner, 1890, @librarycongress]
The bravery of the 54th was widely reported, providing a powerful rallying point for African Americans who had longed for the chance to fight for emancipation.
["Sgt. William Carney," ca. 1900, @librarycongress]
![The bravery of the 54th was widely reported, providing a powerful rallying point for African Americans who had longed for the chance to fight for emancipation.["Sgt. William Carney," ca. 1900, @librarycongress]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EY5e7NzXgAkgxUa.png "The bravery of the 54th was widely reported, providing a powerful rallying point for African Americans who had longed for the chance to fight for emancipation.[\"Sgt. William Carney,\" ca. 1900, @librarycongress]")
["Sgt. William Carney," ca. 1900, @librarycongress]
Following the fall of Charleston, South Carolina, on May 1, 1865, members of the 54th Massachusetts regiment attended a parade honoring more than 260 Union soldiers who had died in a Confederate prison. The parade may be the earliest #MemorialDay celebration on record.
