Robert Gould Shaw Memorial (1896). Bronze. 340 x 430. Boston Common. The Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment is a bronze relief sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens opposite 24 Beacon Street, Boston. It depicts Colonel Robert Gould Shaw leading members of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry as it marched down Beacon Street on May 28, 1863 to depart the city to fight in the South. The sculpture was unveiled May 31, 1897. According to The Monument to Robert Gould Shaw: Its Inception, Completion, and Unveiling, 1865-1897, Joshua Bowen Smith, a Massachusetts state legislator, was the prime mover in gaining authorization for the monument; others participating in its early planning included Governor John Albion Andrew, who had urged Shaw to take command of the 54th Regiment, Samuel Gridley Howe, and Senator Charles Sumner. Their goal was not only to mark the public gratitude to the fallen hero, who at a critical moment assumed a perilous responsibility, but also to commemorate that great event, wherein he was a leader, by which the title of colored men as citizen-soldiers was fixed beyond recall. In such a work all who honor youthful dedication to a noble cause and who rejoice in the triumph of freedom should have an opportunity to contribute. Gaudens provided distinct features to each of the African-American soldiers, distinguishing them as individuals, along with their commanding officer. The work was dedicated by philosopher William James of Harvard: There they march, warm-blooded champions of a better day for man. There on horseback among them, in his very habit as he lived, sits the blue-eyed child of fortune, upon whose happy youth every divinity had smiled; Oration by William James at the exercises in the Boston Music Hall, May 31, 1897, upon the unveiling of the Shaw Monument. A Latin inscription on the relief reads: The pedestal below carries lines from James Russell Lowell's poem Memoriae Positum: Right in the van of the red rampart's slippery swell with heart that beat a charge he fell foeward as fits a man: but the high soul burns on to light men's feet where death for noble ends makes dying sweet. On the rear are words by Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard University: The White Officers taking life and honor in their hands cast in their lot with men of a despised race unproven in war and risked death as inciters of servile insurrection if taken prisoners besides encountering all the common perils of camp march and battle. The Black rank and file volunteered when disaster clouded the Union Cause. Served without pay for eighteen months till given that of white troops. Faced threatened enslavement if captured. Were brave in action. Patient under heavy and dangerous labors. And cheerful amid hardships and privations. Together they gave to the Nation and the World undying proof that Americans of African descent possess the pride, courage and devotion of the patriot soldier. One hundred and eighty thousand such Americans enlisted under the Union Flag in MDCCCLXIII-MDCCCLXV. A plaster cast, which was exhibited at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, is displayed at the National Gallery of Art, on loan by the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish, New Hampshire. The inscription running along the bottom of this plaster cast incorrectly states that the assault on Fort Wagner and Shaw's death in 1863 occurred JULY TWENTY THIRD, five days later than the historic events. In the spring of 2020, the memorial will be removed and taken to an offsite location for restoration that is scheduled to take five to six months. While the bronze sculpture is being cleaned and repaired, a new concrete based will be built. The project will cost $2.8 million and include an augmented reality mobile app that will assist visitors in experiencing the monument. William Vaughn Moody describes Shaw and the monument in the poem An Ode in Time of Hesitation. The St. Gaudens in Boston Common, is the first movement of Three Places in New England, by Charles Ives. Robert Lowell's famous poem For the Union Dead was the title poem of a collection by the same name published in 1964; he refers to the monument in the poem. The first edition of the book featured a drawing of the relief on the cover. The memorial was depicted in the ending credits scene of the 1989 film, Glory, directed by Edward Zwick.