civil war-ft. wagner-54th mass-shaw?

Question

why would Shaw want to lead a group of black men in this time era? i mean, i know his parents were abolitionists, and he was a leader...but what was he getting out of it? proving that blacks would fight for the union? i just dont see why he wouldnt have wanted to lead a group of white men in that era instead...

Answer 1

Shaw was not a racist. He was interested in serving where he was needed. Black troops needed a leader who believed in them, and one they could believe in.
Shaw was very young, relatively inexperienced. Even if he'd wanted command of a tested batallion, officers senior to him would have gotten those posts.
The short answer is idealism. Incredible it might seem to you, some people go to war as a personal way of fighting for their beliefs.

Answer 2

Well, first of all, he was recruited by the governor of Massachusetts for the position because of his family's prominence and political views. And what was he getting out of it? It was a command of his own as opposed to serving as an officer in someone else's unit, which he had been doing for 2 years.

There were certainly people in the US at the time who disputed that black soldiers could fight as well as whites. In many ways, it can be argued that Shaw was not initially enthusiastic about the specific duty of commanding a regiment of African-American enlisted men, but he grew devoted to the project as he worked with the soldiers, which comes through clearly in his letters (see source below).

Answer 3

I would understand if Robert Gould Shaw wanted to lead the 54th Massachusetts, and not a group of white soldiers, as a personal choice. For many it is hard to understand when someone who is in a position to do more than what is his/her mission requires does just that. Others may say he was only looking for 'Glory' - but since these answers may not be what you are looking for to answer your question, I suggest you take a look at this:

http://www.pbs.org./cibilwar/classroom/lesson_shaw.html

Answer 4

Shaw was an idealist. He believed in the albonist cause and he believed that white men would have to be willing to lead and die before blacks would ever be permitted to fight.

Answer 5

Well, first off, all black regiments were require to have white leaders. At first even, Shaw was calling the blacks in his troops colored folk and *******. But later on he becomes apart of them.

Answer 6

He wanted to show that black men WOULD fight, and were capable of doing a good job.
Certainly we would have rather have had a white regiment, if only because he would have had fewer problems- caused by the other whites- than running a black reg't. But he put the needs of the blacks first.

Answer 7

He was young, 26, and his father asked him to do it in addition to the Governor of MA. It was a way to get a command quickly at a young age.