The Paternalism of Robert Gould Shaw
Today I am going to share a bit of writing that I’ve been working on. What follows are some rough ideas that open chapter 10 of my biography of Robert Gould Shaw. Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts have just returned to St. Simon’s Island following the Darien expedition. I am hoping to explore Shaw’s interactions with the enslaved in the region, his observations concerning the Port Royal Experiment, and his fascination with Col. James Montgomery. The chapter will end with the regiment’s skirmish on James Island, which occurred just a few days before the more costly assault against Battery Wagner on July 18, 1863.
The Fifty-Fourth’s return to St. Simon’s Island offered Shaw his first extended stay in one place since arriving in the low country roughly ten days earlier. He resumed regular correspondence once again with his family and close friends, but the brief respite from active operations made Shaw increasingly restless. His former friends and comrades in the Second Massachusetts were now engaged in another costly campaign season that had the potential to change the tide of the war.
There appeared to be little prospect for battlefield glory or opportunity to bring the Confederacy to its knees as long as Shaw and his regiment remained under the command of James Montgomery. In contrast with how the men under his command viewed their work in Darien, Shaw maintained that, “These little miserable expeditions are of no account at all” to the broader course of the war. Speaking as much for himself, Shaw was convinced: “My men are capable of better service than mere guerilla warfare.”