Veterans Day naturally takes on an added significance when large numbers of U.S. troops are participating in potentially deadly combat. It is a day for any and all who have served to keep us free – a day to remember, a day to salute and a day to recount the stories of their heroics. This is one such story of heroism, just one of countless soldiers who rose up with remarkable actions during times of national crisis.
While small groups of soldiers were participating in the first skirmishes of the Civil War, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was a 30-something language professor at Maine’s Bowdoin College. The school, sensing his desire to fight for the Union cause, and concerned about losing such a talented teacher, offered to pay his way to Europe and fund a year of linguistic studies across the Atlantic.
He refused.
Passing on an all-expenses paid, leisurely year in European academia, Chamberlain instead volunteered his services to the governor of Maine. He was soon appointed lieutenant colonel of the state’s 20th Infantry Regiment, beginning one of the most remarkable combat careers of any United States soldier.
After enlisting, Chamberlain and the “Fighting 20th,” as his regiment came to be known, fought in the battles of Antietam, Shepherdstown Ford and Fredericksburg, where Chamberlain was wounded for the first time. Undeterred, he continued fighting and took part in the battle of Chancellorsville.
Soon after, Chamberlain received command of his regiment, and led his men on to Gettysburg. It was here that he would permanently etch his name into the pantheon of American war heroes.
At Gettysburg, the 20th Maine was the extreme left flank of a strategically essential hill, Little Round Top. One of the primary goals of the Confederate armies was to overrun this regiment and outflank a line of Union troops.
During a particularly brutal advance by Confederate soldiers, Chamberlain issued a gutsy order to his outnumbered men: they were to fix bayonets and charge down the hill. In what was essentially hand-to-hand combat, Chamberlain fought down the hill alongside his men, preserving the flank and receiving his second wound in the process. The maneuver is widely regarded as one of the most heroic of the entire war, and Chamberlain would later receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for his spectacular defense of the hill.
Despite weathering two combat wounds, Chamberlain soon contracted Malaria and was forced to return to Washington, D.C. in November 1863. Only six months later he was again leading his men, fighting admirably in the Battle of Cold Harbor and earning a promotion to Brigade Commander. Twelve days later, he led an attack on Petersburg, was wounded a third time, and was instantly promoted to Brigadier General by Ulysses S. Grant.
A surgeon told Chamberlain his wound would surely prove fatal, but within six months he was again participating in the continuing siege on Petersburg, despite being wounded yet again. He characteristically returned to combat despite this latest wound, and fought with Northern armies all the way to Appomattox Courthouse
All told, Chamberlain risked his life in 24 different Civil War battles, was wounded either five or six times (depending on differing accounts), and had six horses shot out from under him.
At Appomattox, General Grant gave Chamberlain the supreme honor of receiving the formal surrender of the weapons and colors of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. In a gesture that was as telling of his virtue as any of his battlefield heroics, Chamberlain ordered his men, who were lining the road to surrender, to salute the defeated soldiers of the Confederacy as they passed.
To Brigadier General Chamberlain, and the countless others like you – America salutes you.