Replies

Also helping to defend Little Round Top were Major Homer R. Stoughton's 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters, armed with .52-caliber breechloading rifles. These sharpshooters' skirmishing abilities were unequaled in the Union Army, and a 14-man squad was attached to Company B. The men took up a position in a ravine east of Little Round Top.

Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

Shortly after the Federals had taken up their positions, the 824 men of the 4th and 5th Texas regiments of Maj. Gen. John B. Hood's division hammered up the slope of Little Round Top, pushing toward the center and right of Vincent's line. During that assault, Captain James H. Nichols, the commander of the 20th Maine's Company K, ran to alert Chamberlain that the Confederates seemed to be extending their line toward the regiment's left. Chamberlain called his company commanders together and told them his battle plans. With the new information from Nichols, Chamberlain ordered a right-angle formation, extending his line farther to the east.

Meanwhile, Colonel Vincent tried to rally his 3rd Brigade as the 16th Michigan staggered under the heavy assault by the 4th and 5th Texas. Just when the Federals were on the verge of collapse, Colonel Patrick O'Rorke led the 140th New York Zouaves into the gap to save Vincent's brigade. Both Vincent and O'Rorke paid with their lives for their heroism.

Colonel William Calvin Oates

Elements of Hood's division, the 15th and 47th Alabama, then began to smash into the Maine troops. Hood ordered these regiments, led by Colonel William C. Oates, to "find the Union left, turn it and capture Round Top."

Twenty-five-year-old Color Sgt. Andrew J. Tozier of the 2nd Maine quickly emerged as an unlikely hero, and he was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery. It had been Chamberlain's idea to elevate Tozier to the post of color sergeant for the 20th Maine, a move designed to instill a new esprit de corps in the mutineers. Color sergeant was a dangerous but coveted position in Civil War regiments, generally manned by the bravest soldier in the unit. As the 20th Maine's center began to break and give ground in the face of the Alabama regiments' onslaught, Tozier stood firm, remaining upright as Southern bullets buzzed and snapped in the air around him. Tozier's personal gallantry in defending the 20th Maine's colors became the regimental rallying point for Companies D, E and F to retake the center. Were it not for Tozier's heroic stand, the 20th Maine would likely have been beaten at that decisive point in the battle.

Sergeant Tozier

When their ammunition had almost run out, Chamberlain decided to fix bayonets and charge down into the two Alabama regiments. Chamberlain later said he communicated his decision to counterattack to Captain Ellis Spear, the acting battalion commander of the unit's left flank. Spear, however, claimed he received no such orders.

Corporal Elisha Coan, a member of the 20th Maine's color guard, claimed that 1st Lt. Holman S. Melcher, the acting commander of Company F, actually conceived the idea to advance the colors and that Colonel Chamberlain initially hesitated, fearing that it would be extremely hazardous. Coan said other officers joined Melcher in urging a forward movement.

Chamberlain -- whose right foot had been pieced by a shell fragment or a stone chip -- then limped along the regimental line giving instructions to align the left side of the regiment with the right. After Chamberlain returned to the regimental center, Melcher asked permission to retrieve his wounded from the front. Chamberlain replied, "Yes, I am about to order a right wheel forward of the whole regiment." (Chamberlain himself claimed later to have said, "yes, sir, in a moment! I am about to order a charge.")

Chamberlain ordered a right-wheel maneuver and took up a place behind Tozier. There is some disagreement about exactly what Chamberlain said to order the bayonet charge. One story is that he screamed: "Bayonet! Forward to the right!" Chamberlain claimed later that one word -- "Bayonet!" -- was enough and that it was vain to order "Forward" because no one could hear it over the noise. Nor was there time. "Right wheel" or "Bayonet! Forward to the right" was perhaps someone's post-war idea of what Chamberlain would have said if time permitted. The state-appointed Maine commission that later gathered facts regarding Maine's contribution to the Bat-tle of Gettysburg maintained that Melcher sprang forward as Chamberlain yelled, "Bayonet!" and that Chamberlain himself was abreast of the colors.

Colonel William C. Oates leads his regiment up the slopes of the Little Round Top to attack the left flank of the Union Army on the second day of the fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg.

With all the confusion and noise on Little Round Top that day, if anything other than "bayonet" had been said it probably would not have mattered, anyway. An infantryman who is out of ammunition, faced with being cut down on the next enemy charge, and hearing the metal-to-metal sound of bayonets being put on en masse knows the intent of the upcoming order without actually hearing it. In all likelihood Lieutenant Melcher conceived the idea to advance the colors to retrieve the wounded, but Chamberlain expanded upon the idea, deciding to have the whole regiment conduct a bayonet attack. In doing so, Chamberlain exercised effective battle command.

After Chamberlain ordered "Bayonet!" the Union line hesitated until Melcher sprang out in front of the line with his sword flashing. Captain Spear said he never received a formal order to charge -- he charged only after he saw the colors start forward.

The Rev. Theodore Gerrish, then a private in Company H, stated that Melcher led the men down the slope when the enemy was only 30 yards away. Corporal Coan said the men hesitated when Melcher ordered them forward because they were not sure if the colonel had sanctioned the attack. Chamberlain claimed there was no hesitation and said that the line quivered for the start. Captain Nichols wrote in 1882 that Company K never hesitated. Perhaps Company H did hesitate on the left because they were taking heavy fire when the charge started. Company K probably did not delay since the right side of the regiment was not experiencing heavy fire at the time. Most evidence indicates that Chamberlain ordered the charge, and Melcher was the first officer down the slopes. Melcher was an inspiration to the tiring regiment as he sprang a full 10 paces to the front with his sword glittering in the sunlight.

Another crisis soon faced the Maine soldiers when the left side of the regiment drew even with the right, short of its planned position. Melcher broke this momentary disruption by running down the slope screaming: "Come on! Come on boys!" with Tozier beside him and Chamberlain not far behind.

Colonel Joshua Chamberlain - his 20th Maine almost out of ammunition - orders a bayonet charge against a superior force of attacking Confederates.

Great responsibility also fell upon Captain Spear, whose flank was to start the attack -- otherwise the charge would not pivot and work to its fullest potential. But Spear gets curiously little credit for marshaling and organizing the tactics of the left flank of the 20th. Spear literally controlled half the regiment during the climactic counterattack. The lack of credit perhaps helped create the rift that later developed between him and Chamberlain.

During the charge, a second enemy line of the 15th and 47th Alabama tried to make a stand near a stone wall. For a moment it looked as though the Confederates might succeed in halting the Unionists and breaking their momentum. But, using the classic element of surprise, Captain Morrill's Company B rose up from behind a stone wall and fired a volley into the Confederates' rear, breaking the will of the enemy troops. Confederate reports showed that the Union company had been magnified into two regiments. According to Confederate Colonel Oates, it was the surprise fire of Company B that caused the disastrous panic in his soldiers. Chamberlain, for his part, wrote incorrectly to his wife that his regiment had been attacked by a whole brigade.

Chamberlain seemed to have been blessed with both good timing and luck. He not only had made the right command decisions but also had managed to survive when by all rights he should have been dead. An Alabama soldier twice failed to pull the trigger of his rifle because he had second thoughts about killing the brave colonel. Then a pistol aimed and fired by a Southern officer misfired only a few feet from Chamberlain's face.

Without the private stand of Sergeant Tozier inspiring others to close up and bolster the sagging middle of the regiment, the Confederate attacks could have eliminated the 20th Maine as a fighting force. Tozier's bravery sparked the 20th Maine and changed the course of the engagement. Without Tozier, there would not have been an opportunity for Chamberlain to attack.

Spear, who would later become a brevet brigadier general, believed that all the officers at Little Round Top shared in the battle fully and honorably, but that the bayonet charge was a success largely due to the spirit of the enlisted men. He was convinced that only the tenacity of the 358 Maine men had enabled Chamberlain to defeat Oates' two Alabama regiments.

Captain Howard L. Prince, former 20th Maine quartermaster-sergeant, considered Captain Morrill the coolest man in the regiment -- a man who had no superior on the skirmish line. Morrill led his unit at the decisive point of the bayonet charge without orders. His contingent created the impression of two regiments rushing through the woods, though it consisted only of 44 Company B soldiers and 14 U.S. Sharpshooters. It was this group that Oates believed caused panic in his men. Without Morrill's up-front leadership, Chamberlain's attack probably would have been spoiled and pushed back.

Don't Give An Inch

Others who merited more credit than they received were Gouverneur Warren, who conducted one of the best reconnoitering jobs of the war, and Strong Vincent, who unhesitatingly put his brigade on Little Round Top and rallied that brigade under intense fire until he fell mortally wounded. Colonel Patrick O'Rorke was also one of the heroes, as his 140th New York reinforced Vincent's brigade and saved it from early defeat. Both Vincent and O'Rorke gave their lives at Gettysburg, and if not for those two men and others, Chamberlain probably would be remembered today as only a minor figure in a major Union disaster.

Ellis Spear later suggested somewhat bitterly that the abundance of articles written by Chamberlain himself indirectly led to Chamberlain receiving sole credit for the victory. Much of the primary information about Little Round Top does come directly from Chamberlain, who published 25 separate writings on the battle. Chamberlain also was a member of the official Maine at Gettysburg Commission and wrote the organization's chapter on the 20th Maine.

Scenes around Little Round Top at Gettysburg, PA after the battle - early July 1863
PHOTOS: Library of Congress

The problem with becoming a legend is that deeds may become distorted inadvertently due to commercial profits, hero worship and the sheer passage of time. Many American junior officers still look up to Chamberlain. Some take his deeds out of context, however, and mythologize him.

Chamberlain's vivid personality overshadows the regiment that made him famous -- even though it was the regiment that saved the day. There is a Chamberlain museum in Brunswick, Maine; Chamberlain Pale Ale produced in Portland, Maine; and a Chamberlain Bridge exists in Bangor, Maine -- yet no commercial product commemorates the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry. Chamberlain overshadows the 20th Maine in the way that George S. Patton overshadows the U.S. Third Army in World War II.

Major Holman Melcher,
20th Maine Infantry

The valorous defense of Little Round Top will always belong to the 20th Maine Infantry and to Joshua L. Chamberlain as the regimental commander. But after weighing all the evidence, it seems fair to say that without the contributions of the 2nd Maine Infantry, Andrew J. Tozier, Company B and Holman Melcher, Chamberlain clearly and convincingly would have been defeated. Strong Vincent, Patrick O'Rorke and Ellis Spear also deserve greater recognition for their contributions. Joshua Chamberlain deserves much acclaim, but not to the exclusion of many others whom history has so far -- and so unfairly -- underrated.

Additional Sources:

www.americanmastersgallery.com
www.militaryhistoryonline.com
www.geocities.com/airbornemuseum
polyticks.com/Hole/2k/maine20
www.gdg.org
www.oldgloryprints.com
www.milartgl.com
www.americanmastersgallery.com
www.gallon.com
www.me.ngb.army.mil
www.softwhale.com
www.historicalartprints.com
www.pattonsgallery.com
www.generalsandbrevets.com
www.scot-skinner.com
www.oneworldart.com
www.fredericksburg.com
users.adelphia.net

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on November 06:
1558 Thomas Kyd English dramatist (Spanish Tragedy)
1661 Charles II last Habsburg king of Spain (1665-1700)
1671 Colley Cibber England, dramatist/poet laureate (Love's Last Shift)
1746 Absalom Jones Delaware, born into slavery
1771 Alois Senefelder inventor (lithography)
1814 Adolphe Sax Belgium, musician/inventor (saxophone)
1832 Joseph Smith son of founder of Mormonism
1836 Francis Ellingwood Abbot Boston, theologian (Scientific Theism)
1851 Charles H Dow co-founded Dow Jones/1st editor of Wall St Journal
1854 John Phillip Sousa Wash DC, march king (Stars & Stripes Forever)
1860 Ignace Jan Paderewski Kurylowka Poland, composer/pianist/patriot
1861 James A Naismith inventor (basketball)
1887 Walter Johnson Kansas, Wash Senator pitcher (1907-27) (414-218)
1892 John Sigvard Olsen Wabash IN, comedian (Olsen & Johnson)
1896 Jim Jordan radio comedian (Fibber McGee)
1900 Heinrich Himmler Nazi SS leader
1901 Juanita Hall Keyport NJ, actress (Capt Billy)
1904 Selena Royale NYC, actress (Date With Judy, Misleading Lady)
1906 Francis Lederer actor (Diary of a Chambermaid)
1916 Ray Conniff Massachusetts, chorus director (Ray Conniff Singers)
1921 James Jones Robinson IL, novelist (From Here to Eternity)
1923 Robert P Griffin actor (Barricade, Broken Arrow, Crime of Passion)
1928 Peter Matz Pittsburgh PA, orchestra leader (Hullabaloo, Carol Burnett Show)
1931 Mike Nichols stage/film director (Catch 22, Biloxi Blues)
1933 Knut Johannesen Norway, 5K/10K speed skater (Olympic-gold-1964)
1943 Michael Schwerner civil rights worker, murdered in 1964
1946 Sally Field Pasadena CA, we really like her (Gidget, Flying Nun)
1947 Jack Arnold character on Wonder Years
1948 Glenn Frey Detroit, rocker (Eagles-Take it Easy)
1949 Brad Davis Tallahassee FL, actor (Roots, Chiefs)
1950 Ernest Thompson Bellows Fall VT, actor (Sierra, Westside Medical)
1954 Catherine Cryer
1955 Maria Shriver [Mrs A Schwartenegger], Chicago IL, newscaster (Sunday Today)
1959 Teri Peterson Santa Monica Cal, playmate (July, 1980)
1960 Lance Kerwin Newport Beach Ca, (James at 15, The Lonliest Runner)
1962 Lori Singer Corpus Christi Texas, actress (Fame, V, Footloose)
1966 Lisa Fuller Los Angeles CA, actress (Dawn-General Hospital)
1966 Peter DeLuise actor (Free Ride)
1967 Jana McCoy Portales NM, Miss NM-America (1991)
1967 Rebecca Schaeffer Eugene Oregon, actress (Patti-My Sister Sam)
1968 Kelly Rutherford Elizabethtown Kentucky, actress (Generations)
1970 Ethan Hawke Austin, TX, actor (Dad, Dead Poets Society, Explorers)

Deaths which occurred on November 06:
1406 Innocent VII, [Cosma de' Migliorati], Italian Pope (1404-06), dies
1632 King Gustavus Aldophus of Sweden, dies in battle
1839 Rabbi Hayim Rapoport of Ostrowiec author (Maxim Chayyim), dies
1944 Hannah Senesh Jewish poetess, executed by Nazis in Budapest
1972 Tod Andrews actor (Gray Ghost, Counterthrust), dies at 52
1978 Flora Campbell actress (Faraway Hill, Date With Judy), dies at 67
1980 Mary Michael actress (Birdie-Wonderful John Acton), dies at 77
1987 Ross R Barnett lawyer/(Gov-D-Miss), dies at 89
1987 William C Pahlmann interior decorator (4 Seasons NYC), dies at 80
1991 Gene Tierney actress, dies at 70 of emphysema

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1964 DAWSON DANIEL G.---FORT BRAGG CA.
{ACFT OVERDUE]
1965 BOLSTAD RICHARD E.---MINNEAPOLIS MN.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1965 CORMIER ARTHUR---WEST ORANGE NJ.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1965 LILLY WARREN E.---DALLAS TX.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1965 MC KNIGHT GEORGE G.---ALBANY OR.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJ, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1965 SINGLETON JERRY A.---OKLAHOMA CITY OK.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1967 HAGERMAN ROBERT WARREN---CHICAGO IL.
[REMAINS RETURNED 12/04/85]
1968 TURNER FREDERICK RAY---COLUMBUS OH.
1972 TOLBERT CLARENCE O.---TISHOMINGO OK.
[REMAINS RETURNED 02/22/89]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
1429 Henry VI is crowned King of England.
1528 Cabeza de Vaca discovers what would become Texas
1572 Supernova is observed in the constellation known as Cassiopeia
1812 The first winter snow falls on the French Army as Napoleon Bonaparte retreats from Moscow
1813 Chilpancingo congress declares Mexico independent of Spain
1844 Spain grants Dominican Rep independence
1850 1st Hawaiian fire engine
1850 Yerba Buena & Angel Islands (San Francisco Bay) reserved for military use
1860 Abraham Lincoln (R-Ill-Rep) elected 16th President
1861 Jefferson Davis elected to 6 year term as Confederate President
1862 NY-San Francisco direct telegraphic link established
1869 1st intercollegiate football (soccer) game (Rutgers 6, Princeton 4)
1883 NYAC organizes 1st American cross-country championship race
1884 British protectorate proclaimed over southeast New Guinea
1885 US mint at Carson City, Nevada directed to close
1888 Benjamin Harrison (R-Sen-Indiana) beats President Grover Cleveland (D), 233 electoral votes to 168, Cleveland received slightly more votes
1891 Comanche, the only 7th Cavalry horse to survive George Armstrong Custer's "Last Stand" at the Little Bighorn, dies at Fort Riley, Kansas
1900 President William McKinley (R) re-elected, beating William Jennings Bryan
1906 Charles Evans Hughes (R) elected NY gov beats William Randolph Hearst
1911 Francisco Madeiro inaugurated President of Mexico
1913 Mohandas K Gandhi arrested for leading Indian miners march in South Africa
1917 Bolshevik revolution begins with the capture of the Winter Palace
1918 Republic of Poland proclaimed
1923 USSR adopts experimental calendar, with 5-day "weeks"
1924 Stanley Baldwin becomes PM of England
1928 Herbert Hoover (R) beats Alfred E Smith (D) for President
1935 Maiden flight by Canada's Hawker Hurricane military plane
1936 RCA displays TV for the press
1939 WGY-TV (Schenectady, NY), 1st commercial TV station, begins service
1942 Nazis execute 12,000 Minsk ghetto Jews
1945 HUAC begins investigation of 7 radio commentators
1952 1st hydrogen bomb exploded (by US at Eniwetok Atoll)
1956 Holland & Spain withdraw from Olympics, protest Soviets in Hungary
1956 President Eisenhower (D) re-elected defeating Adlai E Stevenson (R)
1957 Felix Gaillard becomes premier of France
1961 US government issues a stamp honoring 100th birthday of James Naismith
1962 BART bond issue just gets by with a 66.9% favorable vote
1962 Edward M Kennedy 1st elected (Sen-D-MA) PARRRTY!!!
1962 Edward W Brooke (R) elected attorney general of Massachusetts
1966 1st entire lineup televised in color (NBC)
1967 US launches Surveyor 6; makes soft landing on Moon Nov 9
1969 1st Cy Young Award tie (Mike Cuellar, Baltimore & Denny McLain, Detroit)
1973 Abe Beame elected 1st jewish mayor on NYC
1973 Coleman Young elected mayor of Detroit
1975 1st appearance of the Sex Pistols
1976 Benjamin Hooks, succeeds Roy Wilkins as executive director of NAACP
1977 39 killed in an earthen dam burst at Toccoa Falls Bible College, Ga
1978 Shah of Iran places Iran under military rule
1983 Discovery transported to Vandenberg AFB, California
1984 President Reagan (R) landslide (won 49 states) re-election over Mondale (D)
1985 22nd Space Shuttle Mission (61A) -Challenger 9- lands at Edwards AFB
1985 Exploratory well at Ranger TX, explodes spilling 6.3 m gallons of oil
1985 General Jaruzelski elected Poland's head of state
1986 Reagan signs landmark immigration reform bill
1988 Japan & MLB all stars played to a 6-6 draw (Game 2 of 7)
1988 Steve Jones wins NY men's marathon; Grete Waitz 9th women's title
1989 US marshals & FCC seize pirate radio station WJPL in Brooklyn
1990 Arsenio Hall gets a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame
1990 Fire destroys some of Universal Studio's stages
1993 Next transit of Mercury
1995 Art Modell officially announces Cleveland Browns are moving to Baltimore

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Mauritius : Ganga Asnam
Virgin Islands : Liberty Day (Monday)
Liberia : Thanksgiving Day (Thursday)
World : World Community Day (1945) (pray for peace) (Friday)
Denmark : Esbjerg Cup-World's largest ice skating championship (Saturday)
US : Double Talk Week (Day 5)
Arbor Day (Samoa).
US : Saxophone Day
British Appreciation Month
National Accordion Month!

Religious Observances
Anglican : St Illtyd & Leonard's Day (abbot)
Ang, RC : Commemoration of St Leonard, hermit

Religious History
1777 Anglican hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'God often takes a course for accomplishing His purposes directly contrary to what our narrow views would prescribe. He brings a death upon our feelings, wishes and prospects when He is about to give us the desire of our hearts.'
1789 Following the American Revolution, Father John Carroll, 54, was appointed the first Roman Catholic bishop in the newly organized and independent United States of America.
1853 The first Chinese Presbyterian Church in the U.S. was organized in San Francisco, CA.
1953 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'Our prayers are really His prayers; He speaks to himself through us.'
1977 In Toccoa Falls, GA, the Barnes Lake Dam burst, following heavy rains, and the resulting flood destroyed the (Christian and Missionary Alliance) campus of Toccoa Falls Bible Institute. Thirty_eight students and instructors were also killed in the tragedy.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Even the smallest candle burns brighter in the dark."

Question of the day...
Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?

Murphys Law of the day...(Kitman's Law)
On the TV screen, pure drivel tends to drive off ordinary drivel

Incredibly amazing fact #8,751...
In 1983, a Japanese artist made a copy of the Mona Lisa completely out of toast.