The woman, who was later arrested, complained the statue did not accurately depict history.
The Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial, located across Beacon Street from the State House in Boston. Police report the monument was defaced by a woman who threw paint at it in protest of she called its historical inaccuracy.BOSTON (AP) — A memorial depicting the famed 54th Massachusetts Civil War regiment has been defaced.
Investigators said a woman pulled up in a car Tuesday afternoon and splashed the statue with yellow paint. Some of the paint hit tourists, who detained the woman.
The statue, located across from the Massachusetts Statehouse, depicts the free black men who formed the regiment, which was led by Robert Gould Shaw, the son of a white abolitionist family.
The regiment was made famous by its 1863 attack on Fort Wagner in South Carolina. The regiment was also featured in the 1989 movie "Glory."
Investigators said the woman, who was later arrested, complained the statue did not accurately depict history.
The statue by famed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens is on Boston's Freedom Trail and is one of the most visited in the city.