Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1897-06-04
Honoring a Hero's Memory.

Dedication In Boston OF Monument
TO Col. Robert q. shaw on Memorial
Day.
One of the most notable Memorial day
celebrations was the unwilling of a monu-
ment to Col. Robert Gould Shaw on the
common in front of the state house at
Boston. The central figure of the struc-
ture is Mr.. st. Gaudens's bronze alto re-
lievo of the hero, mounted and leading on
ward in his last charge, his faithful col
ored soldiers of the oath Massachusetts
Infantry, while above is the figure of Fame
holding out her laurel branch. The bronze
is on a splendid mass of granite, and sur
rounding it is a balustraded terrace, with
decorations of spheres surmounted by
eagles, urns and wreaths, above which are
carved the names of officers who fell with
Shaw, and inscriptions to both officers and
soldiers.
Robert Shaw was native of Boston who
travelled extensively abroad before he en-
tered Harvard college, and he left that in
stitution at the end of three years to en-
| gage in mercantile life in New York. He
| enlisted in the Seventh New York regi-
ment, marched with it TO Washington and
then obtained a commission as second
| lieutenant in the Second Massachusetts
regiment, "for three years or the war"
| He served in Virginia, was present at
| Cedar Mountain, and rose to be a captain.
! On Jan. 80 1868, Gov. Andrew offered
him the Colonecy of the Fifty-fourth
Massachusetts, the first regiment of col
ored troops from a Northern state mus
tered into the federal service. He accept
ed, being then 20 years old, took his regi-
ment to Charleston, and there, on July Is,
in the stormng of Fort Wagner, fell dead
on the battlefield.
The regiment had been assigned to lead
Strong's brigade in the charge, and suf-
fered severely under the fire concentrated
upon it from several points. \ letter
written at Gen. Strong's headquarters
! gives this account of the charge:
when about 100 yards from the fort
the rebel musketry opened with such terri
| bic effect that for an instant the first bat
talon hesitated, but only for an instant,
for Col Shaw, springng to the front and
waving his sword, shouted, Forward,
| Fifty-fourth" and with another cheer, and
a shout they rushed through the ditch and
gained the parapet on the right. Col.
Shaw was one Of the first to scale the
walls. He stood erect TO urge forward his
men, and, while shouting for them to press
on, was shot dead and fell into the fort
The Fifty-fourth was the first regiment
of colored men mustered into the federal
service and after Shaw's death, when a re-
| quest for his body was made to the Con-
| federates, an answer came back that they
had buried him with his niggers.' And
there be lies with them still in the trench
that was dug on the field Of his glory, for
when ii was proposed to remove his body
and bring it North, his father refused to
indorse such proceeding, prefeIring that
his son should lie where he fell.
Rain interfered with the outdoor fea-
lures of the elaborate program which had
been arranged for tie dedication of Col.
Shaw's monument. The presence of the
New York Seventh regiment was one of
the features of the occasion. The dedica-
tory exercises were held in Music hall.
! Gov. Walcott presided One of the speak
ers was Prof. William James Of Harvard
college, brother Of Major James, who fell
at the battle of Fort Wagner while fighting
at the side of Col Shaw. The closing ad-
dress was made by Booker T. Washington
of Tuskegee Institute, Alabama the fore
most representative of the colored race in
lllt luON tlltuk lOl Lutll tuACdNlbll vi llAN-
tical lines, which will make them indie
pendent and self-respecting citizens. In
his eloquent peroration Prof Washington
said:
zone Of the wishes that lay nearest
| Colonel Shaw's heart was, that his black
troops might be permitted to fight by the
side OF white soldiers. Have we not lived
to see that wish realized, and will it not
be more so in the future? Not at Wagner,
not with rifle and bayonet, but on the
field of peace, in the battle Of industry, in
the struggle for good government, in the
lifting up Of the lowest to the fullest OPP
portunities. In this We shall fight by the
side of white men North and South And
if this be true, as under Gods guidance il
will, that old flag that emblem of progress
and security which brave Sergeant Carney
never permitted to fall upon the ground,
will still be borne aloft by Southern sol
der and Northern soldier and in a more
potent and higher sense We shall all real
lie that
The slaves chain and the masters alike are
broken.
| The one curse of the races held both in tether.
! They are rising all are rising,
The bla ok and the white together