Annie Kneeland Shaw was the widow of Col. Robert Gould Shaw the Civil War hero whose story was told in the movie "Glory". They met at a pre Civil War opera party given by Shaw's sister Susanna and were married on May 2, 1863 at the Church of the Ascension in New York City.
She became a widow at the age of 28 when Col. Shaw was killed at Ft. Wagner on Morris Island, S.C., July 18, 1863. Annie became a living symbol of her husband's sacrifice when nine months after his death she stood on Broadway as NY's first colored regiment marched off to war. She then seemed to slip into obscurity.
Annie's story has for the most part been lost through the years. The letters she wrote to Rob Shaw were burned by him at her request. An extremely private person it appears she left behind few traces of her life. Their short union left no direct decendents.
After her husband's death she lived abroad in France and Switzerland with her aging mother and her younger sister's, Clemence Crafts, family. She eventually returned to the United States and kept up a sporadic correspondence with her sister-in-law, Josephine Shaw Lowell.
At middle-age Annie became an invalid but the cause of her infirmity is unknown. She spent the last summer of her life in her old family home in Lenox.
Annie died in her sister's home on Commonwealth Ave. in Boston without ever viewing the monument on Boston Commons dedicated to Rob Shaw and the 54th Mass. Volunteer Regiment.
Her grave is located in the Church On the Hill Cemetery in Lenox, MA next to her mother, sister, and brother-in-law.
She became a widow at the age of 28 when Col. Shaw was killed at Ft. Wagner on Morris Island, S.C., July 18, 1863. Annie became a living symbol of her husband's sacrifice when nine months after his death she stood on Broadway as NY's first colored regiment marched off to war. She then seemed to slip into obscurity.
Annie's story has for the most part been lost through the years. The letters she wrote to Rob Shaw were burned by him at her request. An extremely private person it appears she left behind few traces of her life. Their short union left no direct decendents.
After her husband's death she lived abroad in France and Switzerland with her aging mother and her younger sister's, Clemence Crafts, family. She eventually returned to the United States and kept up a sporadic correspondence with her sister-in-law, Josephine Shaw Lowell.
At middle-age Annie became an invalid but the cause of her infirmity is unknown. She spent the last summer of her life in her old family home in Lenox.
Annie died in her sister's home on Commonwealth Ave. in Boston without ever viewing the monument on Boston Commons dedicated to Rob Shaw and the 54th Mass. Volunteer Regiment.
Her grave is located in the Church On the Hill Cemetery in Lenox, MA next to her mother, sister, and brother-in-law.
Annie Kneeland Shaw was the widow of Col. Robert Gould Shaw the Civil War hero whose story was told in the movie "Glory". They met at a pre Civil War opera party given by Shaw's sister Susanna and were married on May 2, 1863 at the Church of the Ascension in New York City.
She became a widow at the age of 28 when Col. Shaw was killed at Ft. Wagner on Morris Island, S.C., July 18, 1863. Annie became a living symbol of her husband's sacrifice when nine months after his death she stood on Broadway as NY's first colored regiment marched off to war. She then seemed to slip into obscurity.
Annie's story has for the most part been lost through the years. The letters she wrote to Rob Shaw were burned by him at her request. An extremely private person it appears she left behind few traces of her life. Their short union left no direct decendents.
After her husband's death she lived abroad in France and Switzerland with her aging mother and her younger sister's, Clemence Crafts, family. She eventually returned to the United States and kept up a sporadic correspondence with her sister-in-law, Josephine Shaw Lowell.
At middle-age Annie became an invalid but the cause of her infirmity is unknown. She spent the last summer of her life in her old family home in Lenox.
Annie died in her sister's home on Commonwealth Ave. in Boston without ever viewing the monument on Boston Commons dedicated to Rob Shaw and the 54th Mass. Volunteer Regiment.
Her grave is located in the Church On the Hill Cemetery in Lenox, MA next to her mother, sister, and brother-in-law.
She became a widow at the age of 28 when Col. Shaw was killed at Ft. Wagner on Morris Island, S.C., July 18, 1863. Annie became a living symbol of her husband's sacrifice when nine months after his death she stood on Broadway as NY's first colored regiment marched off to war. She then seemed to slip into obscurity.
Annie's story has for the most part been lost through the years. The letters she wrote to Rob Shaw were burned by him at her request. An extremely private person it appears she left behind few traces of her life. Their short union left no direct decendents.
After her husband's death she lived abroad in France and Switzerland with her aging mother and her younger sister's, Clemence Crafts, family. She eventually returned to the United States and kept up a sporadic correspondence with her sister-in-law, Josephine Shaw Lowell.
At middle-age Annie became an invalid but the cause of her infirmity is unknown. She spent the last summer of her life in her old family home in Lenox.
Annie died in her sister's home on Commonwealth Ave. in Boston without ever viewing the monument on Boston Commons dedicated to Rob Shaw and the 54th Mass. Volunteer Regiment.
Her grave is located in the Church On the Hill Cemetery in Lenox, MA next to her mother, sister, and brother-in-law.
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