Heading south against slavery

The “Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment,’’ a bronze relief sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, opposite 24 Beacon St., Boston (at the edge of the Boston Common). It depicts Col. Robert Gould Shaw leading members of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry marching down Beacon Street on May 28, 1863, to depart the city to fight in the South. The memorial was unveiled on May 31, 1897 and is the first civic monument to pay homage to the heroism of African-American soldiers. “Happy” (?) Memorial Day.