Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment, Bronze relief sculpture near Beacon Street, Boston, United States
The Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment is a bronze relief across from the State House on Beacon Hill in Boston. The composition shows Colonel Shaw on horseback before the marching soldiers of the first African American regiment raised in the North.
Work began in 1884 after a private fundraising campaign and was unveiled thirteen years later in May 1897. Shaw and many soldiers of the regiment died in 1863 at Fort Wagner in South Carolina.
Saint-Gaudens spent three years sketching African Americans in Boston to give each soldier in the relief individual facial features. This approach was rare at the time, when memorials typically showed only generic figures.
The memorial stands at the corner of Beacon Street and Park Street directly in front of the State House and is always accessible. A 2021 restoration cleaned the surface and introduced an app with additional information.
A flying angel hovers above the soldiers and holds poppies and laurel branches in her hands. This allegorical figure represents death and glory and recalls the sacrifices of war.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
