On his modest gravestone in a little cemetery behind Bowdoin College, sits a small stone with the quote penned upon it "Honor Abides Here". Scores of people, each day, come here to pay homage to this true "hero" of our "Civil War". At twilight on July 1, 1863, Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain and the troops of the 20th Maine set out on a forced all-night march down dusty Pennsylvania lanes. Their destination was the crossroads community of Gettysburg, where the greatest battle of the American Civil War was underway. It would not be their first combat - they had weathered the blaze of battle in bloody contests like Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville - but Gettysburg would be different. At Gettysburg, glory awaited them. Joshua Chamberlain, an unlikely hero, a college professor rather than a trained soldier, turned out to be a hero at Gettysburg as at Fredricksburg and later at Petersburg. His address to those gathered at Gettysburg in 1889 for the dedication of the 20th Maine Monument is extracted below. The words give you some insight into his character: "A quarter of a century ago on this rugged crest you were doing what you deemed your duty, Today you come with modest mein, with care more for truth than for praise, to retrace and record the simple facts - the outward form - of your movements and actions. But far more than this entered into your thought and motive, and far greater was the result of the action taken than any statistical description of it could import.  Battle on Little Round Top You were making history, the world has recorded for you more than you have written. The centuries to come will share and recognize the victory won here, with growing gratitude. The country has acknowledged your service. Your State is proud of it. This well earned and unsought fame has moved you already to acknowledge your deserts. Your own loyal and loving zeal for justice has indeed anticipated the State's recognition. At your own cost you set your monument here to mark the ground where faithful service and devotion wrought a result so momentous. Today your historians have recalled the facts. On that line which has been so patiently and candidly investigated and as far as possible freed from doubt and unclearness, your admirable record leaves little to be desired. But as this is a suitable, if not final, opportunity for accurate and complete statement of these facts, I may be indulged in a remark or two germane to this matter, which recent visits and this occasion itself suggests.  "Hero of Little Round Top" Col. Joshua Chamberlain July 1, 1863 I am certain that the position of this monument is quite to the left of the center of our regimental line when the final charge was ordered. Our original left did not extend quite to the great rock which now supports this memorial of honor. When we charged front with our left wing and extended it by the flank and rear, the color was brought to mark the new center, which was to become the salient of our formation; and it was placed, I was sorry to do it, on the smooth and open slope, and in a position completely exposed. Beyond this the left was refused and extended in a single rank, When the charge was made I was beside the color bearer, and I know well that we struck the enemy where their line was open to view, and the ground comparatively unobstructed. The color advanced in the direction of the proper front of the right wing, and passed the rock altogether to our left. I am not at all criticising the judgement of our comrades who selected the great boulder for the base of the monument. It was entirely fitting to mark it with that honor, as it became so conspicious an object during the terrible struggle, the center and pivot of the whirlpool that raged around...  Col. Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine on Little Round Top defending the left of the Union line against the attack of Col. William Oates and the 15th Alabama. Words elsewhere spoken by me today in our State's behalf strive to express the motive and purpose of this great struggle, and the character and consequences of the victory vouchsafed us. It is there I speak of country; here it needs only that I speak of you, and the ground made glorious by you and yours. The lesson impressed on me as I stand here and my heart and mind traverse your faces, and the years that are gone, is that in a great, momentous struggle like this commemorated here, it is character that tells. I do not mean simply nor chiefly bravery. Many a man has that, who may become surprised or disconcerted at a sudden change in the posture of affairs. What I mean by character is a firm and seasoned substance of soul. I mean such qualities or acquirements as intelligence, thoughtfulness, conscientiousness, right-mindedness, patience, fortitude, long-suffering and unconquerable resolve.  The painting captures the moment, late in the afternoon of July 2, 1863, when Joshua L. Chamberlain led his famous bayonet charge. I could see all this on your faces when you were coming into position here for the desperate encounter; man by man, file by file, on the right into the line. I knew that you all knew what was staked on your endurance and heroism. Some of you heard Vincent say to me, with such earnest and prophetic eyes, pointing to the right of our position and the front of the oncoming attack, "You understand, Colonel, this ground must be held at all costs!" I did understand; with a heavy weight on my mind and spirit. You understood: and it was done. Held, and at what cost! Held, and for what effect! There is no need that I should recount to the friends who stand around us here, what would have happened had this little line - this thin, keen edge of Damascus steel been broken down from its guard. All can see what would have become of our Brigade; swallowed up, of Weed's struck in the rear; of Hazlett's guns, taken in the flank and turned to launch their thunderbolts upon our troops, already sore pressed in the gorge at our feet, and the fields upon the great front and right. Round Top lost - the day lost Gettysburg lost - who can tell or dream what for loss thence would follow!  Chamberlain commissioned to have this bracelet made it 1865. The bracelet lists the names of 24 battles in which Chamberlain participated I do not know whether any friends who stand here on this calm and sunny day, comprehend how the weight of such responsibility presses upon the spirit. We were young then. We do not count ourselves old yet; and these things were done more than twenty-six years ago. We believe we could do them now; but we wonder how we could have done them. Doubtless the spring and elasticity of youth helped us to bear the burden and recover from the shock. But something more than youthful ardor and dash was demanded for such a test. And that was yours. In thought, in habit, in experience, in discipline, you were veterans. It was a matter, as I have said, of character. it was the soul of youth suddenly springing into the flush and flower of manhood. It was the force of the characters you had formed in the silent and peaceful years by the mother's knee and by the father's side, which you stood in such stead in the day of trial. And so it is.  Chamberlain received the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1893 for his efforts at Gettysburg. We know not of the future, and cannot plan for it much. But we can hold our spirits and our bodies so pure and high, we may cherish such thoughts and such ideals, and dream such dreams of lofty purpose, that we can determine and know what manner of men we will be whenever and wherever the hour strikes, that calls to noble action, this predestination God has given us in charge. No man becomes suddenly different from his habit and cherished thought. We carry our accustomed manners with us. And it was the boyhood you brought from your homes which made you men; which braced your hearts, which shone upon your foreheads, which held you steadfast in mind and body, and lifted these heights of Gettysburg to immortal glory."  The inscription on the back of the medal reads: The Congress to Bvt. Maj. Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain U.S. Vols. Gettysburg July 2, 1863 |
