Unknown [Draft of inscription intended for the Robert Gould Shaw monument]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02928.05 Author/Creator: Unknown Place Written: s.l. Type: Typed document Date: circa 1897 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 33 x 20.4 cm. Order a Copy
Includes hand written corrections. Describes the Shaw monument as a tribute to the famous 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry, organized in Boston and reviewed by Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew 18 May 1863. Includes extracts from Andrew's speech on presenting the regiment standards, in which he declares "These men, sir, have now, in the Providence of God, given to them an opportunity, which, while it is personal to themselves, is still an opportunity for the whole race of men." Honors Shaw and the 54th by stating "The conduct of these troops at Fort Wagner and elsewhere proved that a race which had been long branded as chattels and slaves would fight bravely when treated as men having both rights and duties." Indicates that the content of this draft is intended for the rear inscription.
John Murray Forbes, philanthropist and chairman of the Shaw monument committee, was initially in charge of producing an inscription for the Shaw monument, which was dedicated in 1897. John Albion Andrew was the governor of Massachusetts during the Civil War and was a supporter of emancipation and the early principles of the Radical Reconstruction after the war.
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