Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Calls for the Bayonet

On July 3, 1863, Union forces easily took up a defensive line along a small rise call Cemetery Ridge in the peaceful Pennsylvania crossroad village called Gettysburg. But the extreme far left of the Union line was, in the parlance of the time, “in the air” — meaning it was not anchored to a river or forest or other natural barrier. Defense of the extreme let of the Federal line fell to the 20th Maine Infantry regiment, commanded by a Professor of Rhetoric named Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Standing on the crest of a small hill known as Little Round Top, Chamberlain immediately realized that to lose this position would mean that Confederate Artillery would be able to enfilade the entire Union line. The loss of Little Round Top meant the loss of the Battle of Gettysburg, and the loss of Gettysburg would mean the loss of the Pennsylvania capitol at Harrisburg. After the endless series of catastrophes suffered by the Army of the Potomac, the loss of a northern state capital might have been enough to bring Great Britain into war on the side of the Confederacy. Astonishingly, Chamberlain saw all of this very plainly. Robert E. Lee wanted Little Round Top, and launched wave after wave of attacks up the thickly forested hill. By the time of the penultimate charge, Chamberlains men were out of ammunition and reduced to throwing rocks. As his exhausted, bloodied and battered men faced yet another Confederate charge, Chamberlain, acting on instinct, personally led Union bayonets in a counter-charge that saved the position, the battle, and possibly the war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Om Podcasten

We are the children of heroes. These are the stories of seven men whose courage, determination and skill are so remarkable that it is nearly impossible to credit them as true. But the stories are true. These men were real. These things actually happened. Writer and series host Bill Whittle peels away the history, the colorless and drab recitation of dates and events, to reveal the actual human beings beneath the legend. Many of these men were national celebrities in their day, although a few of them never got the recognition that they deserved in their own time. The one thing that all seven have in common is the tragic fact that almost no one today can even recognize their names, let alone tell you anything about the actions that made those names worth remembering.