Memorial Day 2021: Captain Cabot Jackson Russel and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment

by William Stilwell, Park Ranger at Boston African American National Historic Site

Captain Cabot Jackson Russel's name (botton left) on the King's Chapel Civil War memorial

This Memorial Day Weekend in Boston marks the unveiling of the restored Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial on Beacon St across from the State House. Originally dedicated on May 31, 1897, the St. Gaudens relief commemorates the Massachusetts 54th, the first all Black northern regiment in the Civil War, and their white commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw. (While the Emancipation Proclamation allowed for Black men to serve in the Army it required white officers.) Col. Shaw and almost half the regiment were killed in July 1863 at the Battle of Fort Wagner in South Carolina. One of the men killed in the battle was 18 year old Captain Cabot Jackson Russel, a member of King’s Chapel whose name can be found on the Chapel’s Civil War memorial.

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