Commemorative print depicting the African American regiment's heralded battle at Fort Wagner at the moment of the death of their white commander, Robert Gould Shaw. Shaw, his hand on his chest from the fatal gunshot, falls back on top of the parapet. His color-bearer holding the American flag inscribed, "54th Mass." continues to charge. Gory hand-to-hand battle and bayonet fighting proceeds around them. Soldiers fall to their death. The battle at Fort Wagner fomented Union support of African American regiments and immortalized Shaw as a martyr for the cause., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress i the year 1863, by Currier & Ives, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York., LCP exhibition catalogue: Negro History, p. 50., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Civil War views. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator
Currier & Ives
Date
1863
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *GC - Civil War - Campaigns & battles - Fort Wagner [5779.F.38]