In July 1862, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a 33-year-old professor at Bowdoin College, received a two year leave from the College to pursue his studies in Europe. However, exactly one year later, Chamberlain would find himself on a hill in Gettysburg called “Little Round Top”. His orders were to hold his positions at all cost. Out numbered and out of ammunition, they could not withstand another assault. They had to strike first. Colonel Chamberlain gave the order to his 20th Maine in one word. “Bayonet!!!!”

Chamberlain graduated from Bowdoin with highest honors in 1852. He then entered Bangor Theological Seminary where, along with regular courses, he studied Arabic and oriental languages. After graduation, Bowdoin College immediately offered him a position as special instructor in the department of natural and revealed religion. The next year he was elected professor of rhetoric and oratory and later appointed instructor of French and Germain. Now (July 1862), as a professor of Modern Languages of Europe, he was preparing for a well earned leave to study abroad.¹

Unfortunately, the war of secession was not going well for the Union. In a series of battles (June 25-July 1, 1862), the Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee drove back General George B. McClellan’s Union forces and thwarted the Northern attempt to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.² On July 2, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln put out a desperate call for more troops.

Joshua Chamberlain immediately tendered his services to the Governor for any military duty for which he might be capable.¹

Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

Chamberlain’s decision to join the military was strenuously opposed by his colleagues in the faculty who filed a formal protest. Nevertheless, he felt it was his patriotic duty. After all, he had attended Major Whiting’s military academy at Ellsworth, Maine, where he prepared for West Point. However, by 1848 the Mexican-American war was over. And therefore, he chose to attend Bowdoin College.¹

The army offered him a rank of colonel to lead a new regiment, but he deemed it wiser to first serve under an officer of the regular army.¹ He was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 20th Maine infantry under Colonial Adelbert Ames was a young officer who graduated from West Point in 1861, and was recognized for gallantry in the first battle at Bull Run.^3a

Chamberlain began duty on August 8, 1862, and by the end of the month, completed the organization of the one-thousand man regiment. The new regiment was assigned to Butterfield’s famous Light Brigade in the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac.¹

Antietam, Maryland

The battle of Antietam was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil war. During the carnage of September 17, 1862, the inexperienced 20th Maine was held in reserve. Their first sharp encounter with the enemy came three days later.

On September 20, they waded through Shepherdstown Ford of the Potomac in pursuit of Lee’s retreating army. Union artillery gave them some cover. A few units of the Fifth Corps crossed into Virginia the day before. Therefore, Stonewall Jackson hurried A. P. Hill’s troops to the high ground overlooking the river. Their repulse began when the 20th Maine and others were in the water.¹

As soon as they reached the Virginia shore the bugles sounded from the Maryland side calling for a hasty retreat. Incessant rifle fire from the bluff soon surrounded them with little water spouts. Seemingly unperturbed, Chamberlain calmly steadied his men through the treacherous water. Sitting on a white horse in the middle of the Potomac made him an inviting target. The confederates missed him, but his horse was shot out from under him. He soon arrived back in Maryland as wet as any of his men.^3b

Antietam was not the complete victory President Lincoln hoped for. Nevertheless, they chased Lee out of Maryland, and that would have to do. On September 22, 1862, he issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, announcing that, if the rebels did not end the fighting and rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states would be free. This boosted moral of the Union and dissuaded European powers from backing the confederacy.¹

A new commander, General Ambrose E. Burnside

President Lincoln replaced General George B. McClellan for not pursuing Lee more aggressively.  McClellan passed command of the Union army to General Ambrose E. Burnside on November 7, 1862.

Burnside organized his army into three Grand Divisions. The Right Grand Division under Major General Edwin V. Sumner, the Left Grand Division under Major General William B. Franklin, and the Center Grand Division under Major General Joseph Hooker. Hooker was commander of the Fifth Corps which included the 20th Maine.^3c

The battle of Fredricksburg, Virginia

Burnside knew that a more aggressive move was called for and proposed marching on Fredricksburg with the goal of moving south to Richmond ahead of Lee’s army.

A shipment of Pontoons needed to cross the Rappahannock River were greatly delayed. When they finally arrived, the window of opportunity had passed. Nevertheless, Burnside preceded with the plan. Lee’s 72,000 men were now dug in on highly defensive ground. Chamberlain was not at all impressed with the new commander.

A small brigade of rebel sharp shooters in Fredricksburg held off the 116,000 man Union army by firing on the bridge construction engineers. The Union responded by pulverizing the town with an artillery barrage and sent in infantry to flush out the small group of defenders.^3c

The army began crossing the Rappahannock on December 12. Burnside ordered Franklin to attack Lee’s right flank and roll it up, and Sumner to drive through the center left at Marye’s Heights. Hookers Division was held in reserve on the north side of the river to be used where needed.

The stone wall on Marye’s Heights

The Heights, on the other side of Fredricksburg, were defended by a stone wall behind which defenders stood three deep on a sunken road bed. The results of the attack at this location was a bloody catastrophe as wave after wave of Union soldiers were mowed down. In the meantime, Franklin’s attempt to roll up Lee’s right flank failed. Believing his superior numbers could break through, Burnside persisted in the assault.

On December 13, the 20th Maine crossed the narrow crowded pontoon bridge. It swerved and swayed. Horses were rearing and men lost their balance. Artillery shells were exploding all around. It was a nerve wracking experience.

They moved through Fredricksburg then toward the heights, stepping over and around the bodies of the fallen dead and wounded. The stone wall ahead appeared as a solid sheet of flame. At the final crest they dug in and exchanged volleys until dark.

There was little sleep to be had that night laying in the blood and mud next to the dead and moaning wounded. The cold wind prompted some to borrow coats from those who no longer needed it. Chamberlain, who had covered himself with the flap of an overcoat, was startled when someone tried to pull it away. The man jumped in freight when Chamberlain spoke to him.

At  dawn, about 200 confederates came from behind the stone wall to fire on their left flank where they had little protection. Quickly, the troops gathered the dead to build a breastwork of bodies. They crouched or laid there all day and somehow survived. That night they received orders to withdraw.^3d In the dead of night, they began the march back through the ghastly scene toward Fredricksburg.

The 20th Maine bivouacked in the streets of Fredricksburg for the rest of the night, where they endured constant shelling from confederate artillery.

Lookout out for them Yanks!

On the afternoon of the 15th, there was a rumor brought by prisoners that Stonewall Jackson was about to swoop down on the right side of town and drive the whole Union army into the river. Chamberlain had little doubt that he could do it. At night fall, the 20th Maine and two other regiments were again sent out to the front to cover movements of the enemy. Their orders: “Hold to the last.” Last of what? Chamberlain wondered.^3e

The men quickly dug in to build a protective mound of earth between them and the enemy. The Southern trenches were so close they could hear the anxious chatter of the enemy. Chamberlain crept along in the dark to check his defenses. He noticed one man digging his fox hole incorrectly. “Throw to the other side, my man. That is where the danger is!” Chamberlain corrected.

“Don’t ya s’pose I know which side them Yanks be?!!! came his retort.

Hiding his surprise, Chamberlain responded in his best southern accent, “Dig away then, but keep a right sharp lookout.” Then walked swiftly away.^3f

“The whole army is across the river!”

They had just finished the trenches when a staff officer rushed in with a message “Get out of here as quick as God will let you, the whole army is across the river.”

Chamberlain was startled, not at the message, but that it was so loud that the enemy was alerted to the army’s retreat. “Steady in your places men, this is a stampeding coward! Arrest this man as a spy, and hold fast your lines.”.^3f

His voice tone calmed his men and the enemy alike. They held the line for a time, then slowly and calmly the odd numbered men of the regiment dropped back about 100 yards and formed a new battle line. Then the even numbered men alternately repeated the maneuver.

The pitch black stormy night aided their stealth retreat. However, a brief break in the clouds made their muskets glisten in the moonlight. A musket cracked in the distance and a volley of musket balls passed over their heads as the men hit the ground. When the clouds closed in and darkened the moon again, the quiet retreat continued.^3g

When they got back to Fredricksburg they found the army was gone and the shattered town completely deserted. Dead were seen everywhere on sidewalks roads and home porches.  There were some wounded who could not be moved and some devoted surgeons and medical staff who volunteered to stay for their care.

The 20th Maine had buried their four dead and carried out their 32 wounded. The ghostly quiet town prompted great anxiety that they had arrived too late to cross the river. However, they made it in time and as soon as the last man crossed into Maryland, the cables were cut and the pontoons removed.

Chancellorsville, Virginia

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s part at the battle of Chancellorsville was not what he wanted or expected. They were detailed to guard the telegraph line from Falmouth to General Hooker’s headquarters.^3h This assignment may have been given because some men in his regiment had contracted smallpox. They were sequestered and put into a quarantine camp by itself.

When Colonel Ames was detached as an aide on the staff of the corps commander, General Meade, left the regiment in command of Lt. Colonel Chamberlain. Chamberlain immediately rode to general headquarters and begged to have his regiment given some place at the front. His request was denied. In frustration, he presented his final plea, “if we can’t do anything else, we can give the rebels the smallpox!”¹

Calming a mutiny

On May 20, 1863  Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was promoted to Colonel. A short time later a hundred and twenty men of the Second Maine Volunteers were transferred to his regiment. They were in a state of mutiny. Though they had signed up for three years, they had served as long or longer, but were not being discharged with men with two-year contracts. They had openly refused to obey orders and they were sent to Colonel Chamberlain under guard of a Pennsylvania regiment with loaded rifles and fixed bayonets. Orders from the corps commander were to fire on them if they refused duty.

Colonel Chamberlain immediately rode to General Meade and got permission to manage the men in his own way. He then took off all the guard, supplied them with proper clothing and food, and assigned them to companies without giving them any specific orders. He expected them to be treated and behave like other soldiers. They caused no more trouble except for a couple of men who were tried by court martial. The men from the Second Maine were afterwards among his very best.¹

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

After Robert E. Lee’s great victory at Chancellorsville, the confidant General decided to take the offensive in the north. General George Mead replaced Joseph Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac on June 28, 1863. On June 30 Lee was in southern Pennsylvania with Mead in pursuit. They met in the small town of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863.

Little Round Top

On the morning of July 2, 1863 the Union established their battle lines. In the great confusion, General Daniel Sickles of the Third Corps, failed to protect a very strategic position, a boulder laden hill called Little Round Top. If this location were held by the confederates, they could rain cannon fire down on cemetery ridge and most of the Union army.

That afternoon, General Meade sent General G. K. Warren, to assess the situation on Little Round Top. Warren was horrified to find Little Round Top completely undefended. He hastily sent messengers to Meade and Sickles requesting immediate assistance. By then Sickles was engaged in battle and had no troops to spare.⁴

Colonel Strong Vincent’s 3rd Brigade

Colonel Strong Vincent commanded the 3rd Brigade in the 1st Division of the Fifth Corps.  A harried courier informed him of the immediate threat at Little Round Top. Vincent led his men to the hill at the double-quick and lined his four regiments along the south-western base of the hill. These regiments, placed from right to left, were the (356 man)16th Michigan, (313 man) 44th New York, (308 man) 83rd Pennsylvania and the (358 man) 20th Maine under Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.⁴

Vincent left Chamberlain with the following instructions: “I place you here. This is the left of the Union line. You understand? You are to hold this ground at all cost!” .³ⁱ

Immediately after Vincent’s troops had taken up their positions, the (415 man) 4th Texas and (409 man) 5th Texas regiments, of General John B. Hood’s division, charged up the slope. The battle was fierce and Colonel Vincent was mortally wounded. Under the massive assault, the right-center defensive line was greatly weakened and on the verge of collapse. Colonel Patrick O’Rorke’s (526 man) 140th New York rushed in and saved and greatly strengthened the right flank of 3rd Brigade.⁴

Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s 20th Maine

Chamberlain was to protect the left flank of 3rd Brigade which was the left flank of the whole Union army. However, he also had to protect his own exposed left flank. He lined up nine companies (314 men) in a right angle so that his formation faced both the south and the east.

He stationed his (44 man) Company B, led by Captain Walter G. Morrill in a ravine to the far left.  They were separated from, but within supporting distance of the main regiment. They were to act as needed. A fourteen man squad of Major Homer Stoughton’s 2nd U. S. Sharpshooters, armed with .52 caliber breechloading rifles, was attached to Company B.⁴

The Confederate action quickly extended toward the left flank. Soon, the 20th Maine was engaged in fierce combat with the (275 man) 4th Alabama and part of the (133 man) 47th Alabama.

Lieutenant James Nichols of K Company summoned Chamberlain’s immediate attention. There was more trouble just over the horizon.

Chamberlain leaped onto a boulder where he could see “thick groups in grey” between the two round tops. They were marching toward his left flank. It was Colonel William C. Oates’ (499 man) 15th Alabama^3j who had just hiked 25 miles in 11 hours. They were worn and thirsty, but eager to erase the thin blue line that now held the key to victory.

Colonel William C. Oates’ 15th Alabama

The Alabamans made their assault on Chamberlain’s front and what they believed would be his exposed left. However, to their surprise, every tree and rock seemed to suddenly explode with bursts of fire and smoke. The Alabamans fell back to regroup and then attack the two fronts with even more vigor and greater numbers.

Again and again was this mad rush repeated, each time to be beaten off by the ever thinning line that desperately clung to it’s ledge of rocks. -Captain Howard Prince, 20th Maine.^3k

The line moved back and forward over and over again. Oates thought his Alabamans had penetrated Maine’s stubborn defense five times, but each time the Northerners somehow drove them back. The action seemed to go on forever. Chamberlain compared the line of action to ocean waves against the shore:

The edge of conflict swayed to and fro, with whirlpools and eddies. Gaps opening, swallowing, closing again with sharp convulsive energy… All around, strange mingled roar, shouts of defiance, rally and desperation. -Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain^3k

The flag was still there

Company F, which included the color guard, was at the apex of Chamberlain’s 90 degree angle formation. When some sudden brutal crossfire hit the center of his regiment, Chamberlain feared that the color guard had been annihilated. However, when the smoke cleared, he was relieved to again see his three color-bearers. It was especially remarkable to see Sergeant Andrew J. Tozier with his left arm wrapped around the flag, loading, firing and reloading a borrowed rifle.^5a

“Ammunition!”

After repelling the third assault, their situation was critical. About one third of Chamberlain’s men had fallen. His right foot was bleeding from a wound and his left leg was badly bruised when a Minnie ball hit his sword scabbard.^3l

He then heard a terrifying demand from his own men. “Ammunition!”, they shouted.

The regiment had shot off almost 25,000 rounds, nearly depleting the 60 round per man allotment. They gathered ammunition from the dead and wounded on the slope but there was little to be found.^3m

The 47th Alabama opened fire on Captain Ellis Spears’ left wing, and the formidable 15th Alabamans were now orderly moving toward the center with quiet determination. With no ammunition the 20th Maine could not stand another assault. They had to strike before they were hit with overwhelming force.^6a

The rebels were now thirty yards away and pressing forward up the hill.^5a

“Bayonet!!!”

Chamberlain told Lieutenant Holman Melcher of F company to prepare for the order, “right wheel forward” of the entire regiment. Melcher stepped out in front. Tozier lifted up the colors.

Chamberlain yelled his order in one word, “Bayonet!!!”³ⁿ

“One word was enough. It ran like fire from man to man.”^6a All eyes were now focused on the banner of red, white and blue.

Melcher listened for the steel on steel clatter to subside as blades were fixed in place. He then leaped forward, his drawn sword flashed in the sunlight.³ⁿ Sergeant Tozier’s flag billowed as it moved forward through the air. About two hundred wildly shouting men with steel blades were now charging down the hill toward the bewildered enemy.

Captain Ellis Spears’ was already under fire. His company was the first to introduce themselves to the rebels and flush them out from between the rocks. A scattering of the enemy in the advanced position had only time to chose between surrender and cold steel.^5b

Chamberlain’s other eight companies were close behind. The surprised Alabamans were in a state of confusion and panic. One Confederate officer drew his pistol and fired it point blank at Chamberlain’s face. He missed, or the pistol miss fired. He threw down his weapons and surrendered at the point of Chamberlain’s sword.³ⁿ

Captain Walter G. Morrill’s Company B

The second line of Alabamans had time to regain their composure. They headed for a stone wall. From there they could certainly make a stand and turn the tide on their ammunition impaired rivals.

However, hope quickly turned to shock and panic when fifty-eight men in blue or green uniforms arose from behind a wall with rifles blazing. It was Captain Morrill’s Company B and the squad of sharpshooters that Oates had driven off of Big Round Top.

Now under attack from front and rear, Oates gave the order to retreat. However, he did not anticipate the severe panic that would follow. “We ran like a herd of cattle”, Oates later admitted.^3o 

Company B’s position, which was separate from the rest of the regiment, had not been under assault from the rebels. Therefore, they had the needed ammunition to turn panic into a route.^6b

The road to Richmond

The 20th Maine was like a swinging gate. While still hinged to the 83rd Pennsylvania on their right, their sweep completely cleared the southern slope of Little Round Top. Chamberlain’s men were on a roll and nothing could stop them. Some declared they were on the road to Richmond.^3o

When they reached the front of the 44th New York, Chamberlain called a halt, got his men under control and returned his regiment to their assigned position.

Securing Big Round Top

That night Chamberlain received a message from brigade commander Colonel James C. Rice. They were to secure the heights of Big Round Top where the 15th Alabama had fled. The ammunition and re-enforcements requests had not arrived. So once again he called on his weary but heroic men to press up the mountain through the darkness with bayonet alone.¹

They secured that part of the field and captured 25 more prisoners from the 4th Texas. This brought the total number captured to almost 400.^1,3p

Brigade commander

At about noon on July 3, 1863, the 3rd Brigade which includes the 20th Maine, was relieved of their stations at the Round Tops. And after replenishing their cartridge boxes, they moved about a mile up the battle line near Fifth Corps headquarters.

There, as they were away from the from front line action, they received numerous visitors who had heard of the bayonet charge and had to get more details. Chamberlain’s first mentor, now Brigadier General Ames, was first to congratulate him.^5c

All of Chamberlain’s superiors recommended him for promotion to the rank of brigadier-general for heroic conduct on Little Round Top. The promotion was not made, but Colonel Chamberlain was immediately placed in command of his brigade.¹

Spencer Chamberlain

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain is a descendant of William and Rebecca Chamberlain, William immigrated to America in 1635. Spencer Chamberlain, also a descendant of William, is a 3rd cousin twice removed of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.

On September 11, 1814, 14,000 elite British soldiers invaded Plattsburgh, New York. Only about 2000 American ground troops were there to hold the city against this overwhelming force. Spencer Chamberlain was with the Vermont 31st Infantry. Their orders were to defend Fort Brown in Plattsburg “to the last man”. Chapter 17- Spencer Chamberlain in the Battle of Plattsburgh

© Copyright Dennis D. Chamberlain, All rights reserved. The Chamberlain Story, 2022.

References:

1- George Thomas Little and A. M. Litt. D. Lewis The Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Historical Society Publishing Company, New York, 1909.

2- Seven days battles, https://www.britannica.com/

3- Willard M. Wallace, Soul of a Lion, A Biography of General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
Page numbers: a p.38, b p.42, c p51, d p.55, e p.56, f p.57, g p.58-59, h p.67, i p.92, j p.93, k p.97, l p.100, m p.101, n p.102, o p.103, p p.107. q cover photo

4- Defense of Little Round Top, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/defense-little-round-top

5- Edward D. Longacre, Joshua Chamberlain, The Soldier and the Man, Combined Publishing, 1999
Page numbers: a p.137, b p.142, c p.149

6- John J. Pullen, Joshua Chamberlain, A Hero’s Life and Legacy, Stackpole Books, 1999
Page numbers: a p.140, b p.144

7- James B. Vickery, Walter G. Morrill: The Fighting Colonel of the Twentieth Maine, 1968, University of Maine Special Collections. Little Round Top