Monday, May 17, 2010

Mrs. Crehore is Mentioned in Shaw's Civil War Letter

I knew we had ancestors in Milton, MA (Benjamin Crehore -maker of the first pianos in America). In the film "Glory", Matthew Broderick plays Col. Robert Gould Shaw, white commander of the black 54th Massachusetts Regiment during the Civil War. In a letter written by the real Col. Shaw to his mother on May 17, 1863, he indicates that he is staying with a "Mrs. Crehore" in Readville, MA which is very close to Milton.
Blue Eyed Child of Fortune is a a book of letters by Shaw.(shown above-amazon) I came across a few of these letters on Written in Glory , a website with letters by the soldiers of the 54th Regiment. A letter by Shaw to his sister states- " Will you please tell Mrs. Crehore to expect us on Tuesday? No matter whether she wants us or not, we are coming."
1863, Readville, MA
This is so interesting! There are 3 letters mentioning Mrs. Crehore on this website.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you notice the date is May 17, 1863? Today is May 17, 2010. Weird voodoo!

Love ya, Amy.

Brother Mike

Amy Crehore said...

yep!:)

Ted D said...

Very interesting. Great find. There is a great story in the LA Times by Joe Mozingo about his family history. You might enjoy it.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mozingo-first-20100516,0,4419674.story

alteredslates said...

I found the film and the real life story very compelling and endearing; to be reminded of it here again renews my hope for compassionate hero's like Shaw in modern times...cool your relations of the past crossed paths and helped him on his way :)