Robert Gould Shaw

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Robert Gould Shaw

Union army officer

Written by Jeff Wallenfeldt

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Nov 28, 2024 • Article History

Quick Facts

Born:: October 10, 1837, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

Died:: July 18, 1863, Fort Wagner, near Charleston, South Carolina (aged 25)

Role In:: American Civil War; Second Battle of Fort Wagner

On the Web:: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History - The Idolization of Colonel Robert G. Shaw (Nov. 28, 2024)

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Robert Gould Shaw (born October 10, 1837, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.—died July 18, 1863, Fort Wagner, near Charleston, South Carolina) was a Union army officer who commanded a prominent regiment of African American troops during the American Civil War. Shaw was born into an immensely wealthy Boston family. His merchant father retired from business to take up translating literature and moved his family to West Roxbury, Massachusetts, near the utopian community Brook Farm, with whose famous residents the Shaws interacted. Both Shaw’s father and mother were early ardent abolitionists (Shaw’s playmates included William Lloyd Garrison’s children). Shaw was educated in private ...(100 of 512 words)

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