What comes to your mind when you think of the Battle of Gettysburg? Maybe you think of Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address, Picket’s Charge, or all of the casualties from the three days of fighting. Many times we don’t think about all the people who risked their lives to protect our land, because we concentrate on the things that are familiar to us. For instance, how many people really know what role Joshua L. Chamberlain played in the Battle of Gettysburg? Chamberlain had a very important part in the second day of battle, and he definitely shouldn’t be overlooked.

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was born on September 8, 1828 in Brewer, Maine. Brewer was a small community which was known for farming and ship building. During Chamberlain’s youth, he spent a lot of his time working on his father’s one hundred acre farm and teaching school. He didn’t have much education before he entered college, except for a short time at Whitings Military and Classical Academy in Ellsworth, ME. He entered Bowdoin College in 1848 and took a special interest in language. He taught himself Greek in order to be accepted there, and he later became fluent in seven differe

The Twentieth Maine reached Gettysburg at about 7 a.m., on July 2, 1863, the second day of battle. They were constantly being moved toward the left, but they tried to get some rest and eat as much as they could, because they were expecting to be called to fight at any time. At about 4 p.m. they heard a cannon go off in the distance. They quickly moved toward their left, which was the direction in which the cannon was fired. They quickly received commands from Colonel Vincent, telling them to move toward Granite Spur, more commonly known as Little Round Top.

Chamberlain was a thin, muscular gentleman who was just shy of six feet tall. His narrow face and high cheekbones were hidden by a full mustache that extended to his jaw line. In the words of one private he was, “a brave, brilliant, dashing officer…who, when once seen was always remembered.”(Trulock, 5) I’m sure Frances Caroline Adams (Fanney) agreed with this soldier because on December 7, 1855, Joshua Chamberlain and she were married in Brunswick ME. “I know in whom all my highest hopes and dearest joys are centered. I know in whom my whole heart can rest – so sweetly and so surely. Fanny, Dear Fanny, only tell me that YOU do love me as I DO love you.”( Geocities.com 4) Together they had five children, but only two of them survived into adulthood.

By about noon on July 3rd, the Twentieth Maine was withdrawn from the battle. On the forth, they returned to Little Round Top where they buried their dead soldiers. In Chamberlain’s Excerpts from “Through Blood and Fire at Gettysburg,” he says “…I thought of those other noble men of every type, commanders all, who bore their wounds so bravely-many to meet their end on later fields-and those on whose true hearts further high trusts were to be laid. Nor did I forget those others, whether their names are written on the scrolls of honor and fame, or their dust left on some far field and nameless here-nameless never to me, nor nameless, I trust in God, where they are to-night….” On July fifth, Chamberlain and what was left of the Twentieth main marched on the Emmitsburg road.

Although Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was never given a statue at Gettysburg, he is definitely the model of what a citizen-soldier was. I feel that his acts of bravery should never be forgotten and that his story of Little Round Top should never fade from our memories. Today when we go to visit the Gettysburg battle field, we often don’t fathom that one of the bloodiest battles took place there. I think that it is wonderful that we are so close to such a large part of American History, but we often take it for granted. We have to continue to remember the courage from Chamberlain and his men in the Twentieth Maine, so that the accomplishment that they were so proud of is still talked about in years to come.

Melcher, H.S. The 20th Maine at Little Round Top. 11/10/2001 http://www. shsu.edu/~his_ncp/20Maine.html

Civil War. University of North Carolina Press, 1992.

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