The turning point in the American Civil War hinged on the actions of one man and 120 so-called "losers". Today with our rampant snobbery prevalent in the U.S. military its easy to see an officer of today being assigned the 120 mutineers that Chamberlain was given that dusty day on the road to Gettysburg and shooting them on the spot or sending them to the rear for court-martial and execution.
Instead, Chamberlain, realizing man is both a "killer" and an "angel" found out the source of these men's discontent and found that indeed they were wronged by the Army and sought to correct it. He made sure they were fed and taken care of. Apparently their enlistments were up and they were not allowed to leave the service in a war where continued service was a certain death sentence. A reality not appreciated today with our 100 hour wars with low casualties followed by victory parades.
Assembling the men together under a tree, Chamberlain decided to talk to them about the war. He showed them that the war was really about a new form of snobbery gaining hold here in America where a man's worth was nothing more than dirt unless he came from a priviliged and rich family. As Americans we do not believe in this lie, and the value of any one of us is what he does for others, for in the final analysis we are not fighting for the union, we are fighting for EACH OTHER.
Those men---those deserters---those "ate up Soldiers", "S@##$ bird" marines, the so-called "10%" chose to fight that day on Little Round Top, and were the thin margin between victory and defeat. Because ONE MAN cared enough to stand up for the truth and be a human being and not a snotty, snobby egotistical person of superior rank, we have a NATION today. There is a lot to be learned from Chamberlain, and the most powerful is how arrogant attitudes today are going to lead us to ruin. Maybe there will not be a Chamberlain around to rally the troops the next time there is a Gettysburg placing the survival of the Republic in question. This is why the good people in the military must NEVER QUIT, as Chamberlain, wounded again and again never quit.
Chamberlain ((1828-1914) was immortalized by his critical role in the Battle of Gettysburg, where his courageous leadership of a handful of men on Little Round Top saved the day for the Union Army. But unlike Lee, Jackson, and Hancock, he was no professional Soldier. When the war broke out, he was Professor of Natural and Revealed Religion at Bowdoin College in Maine, and spoke five languages. Authors Michael and his son, Jeff Shaara brings to life the difficulty Chamberlain faced in assuming a very different role in the Army.
Joshua Chamberlain was able to hold the Union flank against the whole Confederate Army at Gettysburg. If he had not be such a superb officer the Union Army would have been crushed and the South would have won. Although Joshua Chamberlain was a magnificent infantry officer, before the Civil War he was a Bowdoin College professor, but deciding to join the Union forces he went to the Maine state capital to offer his services in 1862. Offered the colonelcy of a regiment, he declined, according to John J. Pullen in the 20th Maine, preferring to "start a little lower and learn the buisness first." He was made lieutenant colonel of the regiment on August 8. His later assignments were: Colonel, 20th Maine (May 20 1863); Commanding 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 5th Corps (August 26-November 19, 1863); 1st Brigade (June 6-18, 1864); Brigadier General, USV (June 18, 1864); 1st Brigade November 19, 1864-January 5, 1865); 1st Brigade (February 27-April 11, 1865); and Major General, USV (March 29, 1865); 3rd Brigade (April 10-25, 1865).
With the regiment Chamberlain took part in the battles of Antietam, Shepherdstown Ford, Fredericsburg (wounded), and Chancellorsville. At the battle of Gettysburg the regiment, now commanded by Chamberlain held the extreme left flank on little Round Top, a service for which he was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He also received a second wound. In November 1863 he was relieved from field service and sent to Washington suffering from malaria. He was given lighter duties. Resuming command of the regiment in May 1864 he led it in the battle of Cold Harbor. Assigned to brigade command in June, only to fall wounded 12 days later in the assault on Petersburg, he was promoted to Brigadier General on the spot by General Grant, then carried to the rear, where a surgeon declared that he would certainly die from the wound. (The doctor was right. Fifty years later Chamberlain succumbed to its effects.) Rejoining the army in November, he was forced by his wound to return to Maine, but he came back again during the Petersburg siege during which he was wounded for the fourth time. He then took part in the Appomattox Campaign about which he wrote The Passing of the Armies. He was given the honor of commanding the troops that formally accepted the surrender of the Confederate army. He later served as governor of Maine and president of Bowdoin College. (Wallace, Willard M., Soul of the Lion: A Biography of General Joshua L. Chamberlain)
