Posted on 12/27/2006 2:50:04 PM PST by LibertyBelt
Can any good brothers from Maine or Alabama confirm to me the source of this quote, said to be found in a book written by Joshua Chamberlain.
An Amazon review says this is found on page 21 in the book, but a search of other internet links does not mention this letter as much as one would imagine. Here is the Amazon quote/review:
A letter written to Chamberlain...by a Confederate combatant of the 15th Alabama Regiment which assaulted Little Round Top on July 2...is astonishing(p.21).The former rebel soldier simply states that he COULD HAVE SHOT CHAMBERLAIN TWICE during the battle but spared him: "I rested my gun on the rock and took steady aim. I started to pull the trigger but some ...notion stopped me.Then I got ashamed of my weakness and went through the same motions again. I had you,perfectly certain. But that same ... something shut right down on me.I couldn't pull the trigger, and gave it up--that is,your life. I am glad of it now, and hope you are...Yours truly"
Was ever such a letter written? Can anyone check if you have the book? My son needs it for a college essay. He wants to argue what would have happened if the bullet had struck Chamberlain, and the 20th Maine would have lost the left flank at Little Round Top? Would there be two nations in the US today?
Thanks!
Chamberlain's biography is called "In the Hands of Providence" but I don't know if that's the book.
You are asking for it, LOL. There will be some neo-confeds out to rip you to shreds for saying Chamberlain is somehow praiseworthy. Just warning you.
Took Maine grandson to Gettysburg to see where LJC fought.
Well then, I guess we really coulda gone to the riiiight !!!!
However, it is likely that a loss at Gettysburg would have made the Union even MORE cautious; the reticence of its commanders had already allowed Lee to run circles around the Army of the Potomac.
Logistically, and Gettysburg notwithstanding, the South could never have won that war.
I don't know how rigorous your fact-checking needs to be, but it appears
in an article online.
Scroll down about 3/4 of the page to this heading:
"MY LIFE HANGS ON AN IMPULSE"
http://www.gdg.org/Research/People/Cross/blodfire.html
Not all of us 'neo-cons' are totally without perspective. The following link illustrates how one of our Carolina soldiers saved people on both sides...
Deo Vindice
TG Has chapters and narratives about Chamberlain's brave stand at Little Round Top.
Andrews' work is a morality fiction wrapped around many historical encounters -- Andy is quite a student of Chamberlain -- and mentions this letter in the discourse of the lead character and Col. Chamberlain.
The bibliography cites all the accurate historical data and quoted works...
Hope this helps...
Answer please.
I visited the battlefield about a week before this year's anniversary and listened to a park ranger giving his opinion that the loss of Little Roundtop might not, probably would not, have made a difference. He pointed down the line (Cemetery Ridge) and basically said, "you MIGHT be able to bring 2 guns to fire down the line, but that is about it. The cleared area is just too small when firing to the north." It also assumes that the Confederates could have gotten guns up there during the melee, or captured Union guns intact.
A bit revionist. But I had to admit that he had a point about the gun line being too narrow.
He gets my vote as the most singularly underrated American citizen....ever.
The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Colonel Joshua Chamberlain - May 17th, 2004
Chamberlain, in his bio, claimed that as he advanced downhill, a Confederate officer had him dead-on in his pistol sights, but was out of ammo.
The Angel of Marye's Heights
Donald C. Pfanz
ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 1862, with the memories of Fredericksburg still fresh in his mind, Gen. Robert E. Lee wrote his wife lamenting the hardships of war: "What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world." And yet, amid the killing, there were individuals whose kindness and compassion lifted the spirit and reminded soldiers of their common humanity. Richard Rowland Kirkland was one such individual. On Dec. 14, 1862, Kirkland risked his life to comfort soldiers who lay wounded in front of Marye's Heights. It is not uncommon for a soldier to risk his life for a friend. What makes Kirkland's story so compelling is that he risked his life to help his enemies.
Thank you for your service Van Jenerette.
The gallant John B. Gordon, at the head of the marching column, outdoes us in courtesy. He was riding with downcast eyes and more than pensive look; but at this clatter of arms he raises his eyes and instantly catching the significance, wheels his horse with that superb grace of which he is master, drops the point of his sword to his stirrup, gives a command, at which the great Confederate ensign following him is dipped and his decimated brigades, as they reach our right, respond to the 'carry'. All the while on our part not a sound of trumpet or drum, not a cheer, nor a word nor motion of man, but awful stillness as if it were the passing of the dead.
Chamberlain's salute to the Confederate soldiers was unpopular with many in the North, but he defended his action in his memoirs, The Passing of the Armies. Many years later, Gordon, in his own memoirs, called Chamberlain "one of the knightliest soldiers of the Federal Army."
Even those of us with ancestors who defended the South, have a great deal of respect for Chamberlin.
Deo Vindice
Actually, I think you'll find many who will disagree with you. Had the 20th Maine run, the outcome of the war could have been considerably different.
Would the South have won? Maybe not, but the peace would have been much more equitable.
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