Memorial.
"As you may have seen by the newspapers, I am about to raise a Coloured Regiment in Massachusetts. This I cannot but regard as perhaps the most important corps to be organized during the whole war": First edition of Robert Gould Shaw's Memorial
Memorial.
[SHAW, Robert Gould; Ralph Waldo Emerson; Harriet Beecher Stowe; James Russell Lowell; et al].
$9,500.00
Item Number: 126433
Cambridge: University Press, 1864.
First edition of this scarce volume dedicated to the commander of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Robert Gould Shaw, with contributions by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Lloyd Garrison, Edwin M. Stanton, and James Russell Lowell and with extracts from Colonel Shaw’s letters. Octavo, original publisher’s half leather over red boards with gilt titles to the spine, tipped in tissue-guarded oval carte-de-visite frontispiece of Shaw. In very good condition. Scarce, with only a handful of copies having appeared at auction in the last century.
On January 26, 1863 Stanton issued an order to Andrew to raise further volunteer regiments to fight for the Union, adding the new recruits "may include persons of African descent, organized into special corps." Andrew immediately set about doing so, and the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry began to be formed. For the unit's officers, Andrew sought a certain type of white gentleman, "young men of military experience, of firm antislavery principles, ambitious, superior to a vulgar contempt for color, and having faith in the capacity of colored men for military service." Most importantly, he wanted men who understood the stakes, that the success or failure of the endeavor would elevate or depress the manner in which the character of African Americans were viewed throughout the world for many years to come. Robert Shaw was at first hesitant to take the post, as he did not believe that authorities would send the unit to the front lines, and he did not want to leave his fellow soldiers. Finally he agreed to take the command. In July 1863, he led the 54th Massachusetts regiment at the Second Battle of Fort Wagner. They attacked a beachhead near Charleston, South Carolina, and Shaw was shot and killed while leading his men to the parapet of the Confederate-held fort. Although the regiment was overwhelmed by firing from the defenses and driven back, suffering many casualties, Shaw's leadership and the regiment became legendary. They inspired hundreds of thousands more African Americans to enlist for the Union, helping to turn the tide of the war to its ultimate victory.
