4. Andrew personally requested the services of Shaw commanding the 54th Massachusetts Regiment
Governor Andrew was a personal friend of long standing with Francis Shaw, father of Robert, and when Stanton approved the raising of black troops, the governor turned to his friend. Andrew wrote to Francis, describing the requirements of command, with emphasis on the special difficulties and intense scrutiny the commander would face. Included in the letter, which described the requirement for the officer to be “superior to the vulgar contempt for color” was a commission for Robert Shaw, as a colonel of the Massachusetts infantry. Francis Shaw carried the letter to his son, then stationed with the 2nd Massachusetts in Virginia.
The 54th was to be raised in Massachusetts, far from the fighting, and would not be fully manned and trained for some time, both factors which entered into Robert Shaw’s thinking as he considered the offer. He also believed as he told his father and friends, that the Union Army would never consider actually committing the regiment to battle. He believed they would be used as show troops, kept in garrison far from the front lines. Nor was he inclined to leave the unit in which he had served. Shaw was 24 years old, and the rank of colonel at that age was rare. It swayed his decision, and in February, 1863, he wired his father that he would accept the position.