The word “Gettysburg” makes most people immediately think of President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, where he explained how the war would determine whether or not a country built on the ideals of America could endure. His idea of “a new birth of freedom” would stick with people for a very long time. The Battle of Gettysburg was a significant event in the civil war, and one person who played an interesting part in it was Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.
Chamberlain was born in Maine on September 8, 1828, meaning he was 34 years old when the Battle of Gettysburg took place in July of 1863. When the Battle of Gettysburg began, 3,000 Union soldiers were facing 60,000 Confederate soldiers. This did not look like a good position for the Union to be in, and the battle was initially not going well for them at all. However, by the second day of fighting, the Union army had brought itself into a better position. After three days of intense fighting, the battle ended with a Union victory and approximately 51,000 casualties.
Morale was a crucial part of the civil war, and in this particular battle, it would take great strength for the soldiers from both sides to continue fighting. Joshua Chamberlain was a colonel who led the 21st Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Battle of Gettysburg. At one point during the battle, he was shot, and a lead bullet struck through his body at his hips. Chamberlain was confident that he was going to die. But, knowing the importance of the morale of his soldiers, he used his sword to hold himself up until his body gave out. When he eventually was brought to a hospital, he continued to believe his life was ending and even requested that the surgeons focus their attention on the other soldiers first. Somehow, though, Chamberlain managed to survive and continue being a part of the Union army in future battles.
Chamberlain was also injured in battles after Gettysburg and fell ill multiple times. Despite the pain he had to endure throughout his life, though, he did see the end of the war and ended up living until 1914. His cause of death was an infection of the wound from the Battle of Gettysburg.
Chamberlain’s story exemplifies the strength required to make it through Civil War battles such as Gettysburg and also the perseverance and passion many members of both the Union and Confederate armies had during the Civil War. The attitude of the soldiers was an important weapon. People like Chamberlain were crucial to the war efforts not only because of the sacrifices they made, such as their health in this case, but also because they realized how important it was to not let the other soldiers be defeated by their own doubt, which could have easily come from seeing others fall.
Sources:
- http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent1/?file=cvw_g_chamberlain
I really like your post Brynna because it is well written and has lots of statistics. I agree that Chamberlain was an important part of the battle of Gettysburg because he kept the morale of his troops up. I think it is awesome how he was so resilient and tough and kept standing after being shot. Using the source https://www.civilwar.org/learn/biographies/joshua-lawrence-chamberlain, I found out more about his actual role in the battle. Chamberlain was assigned the role of protecting the left side. However his soldiers were down on ammunition so he ordered a famous bayonet charge down Little Round Top to repel them which was critical to the success of the union.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiPrvWu5-LWAhXJrVQKHbilBVwQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FBig_Round_Top&psig=AOvVaw3pKPre1-15B-mxiZ_cC2kO&ust=1507613251688244
Chamberlain was not only a brave leader who kept his soldiers moral high but also a good military leader to; he was very important to the victory at Gettysburg.