The 54th Massachusetts Regiment 

Ben’s Collection of Rare Documents and Historic Newspapers

Colonel Robert Gould Shaw’s aunt and uncle, Mary Louisa Sturgis Shaw and Robert Gould Shaw Jr., lived at 44 Beacon Street in Boston for many years. From this balcony, on May 28, 1863, Colonel Shaw’s family watched the parade march of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. This included his mother Sarah Blake Sturgis Shaw, his wife Annie Kneeland Haggerty Shaw, and his four sisters Josephine (Effie), Anna, Ellen, and Susanna. Shaw’s father, Francis George Shaw, either watched the parade from this location or from the reviewing stand in front of the Massachusetts State House with Governor John A. Andrew and Frederick Douglass.