The FReeper Foxhole Revisits Little Round Top - Gettysburg (7/2/1863) - June 24th, 2005

military.com ^ | James R. Brann

[snippy_about_it]

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The FReeper Foxhole Revisits

The Defense of Little Round Top

Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain has long been lauded as the hero of Gettysburg's Little Round Top. But does Chamberlain deserve all the credit, or did he have some unheralded help?

Late in the afternoon of July 2, 1863, on a boulder-strewn hillside in southern Pennsylvania, Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain dashed headlong into history, leading his 20th Maine Regiment in perhaps the most famous counterattack of the Civil War. The regiment's sudden, desperate bayonet charge blunted the Confederate assault on Little Round Top and has been credited with saving Major General George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac, winning the Battle of Gettysburg and setting the South on a long, irreversible path to defeat.


20th Maine on the Taneytown Road

For many years, historians and writers have given the lion's share of the credit for the 20th's dramatic action on Little Round Top to Chamberlain. Numerous books and even the popular movie Gettysburg have helped fuel adulation for the Union officer. But did Chamberlain really deserve the credit he received? Or, to put it another way, did he deserve all the credit? Answering that question adequately requires taking another look at the Battle of Gettysburg and the hell-raising fighting that occurred among the scattered stones of Little Round Top.

On June 3, 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee began the Army of Northern Virginia's second invasion of the North. Lee's main objective was to move across the Potomac River and try to separate the Union forces from Washington. When the Army of the Potomac's commander, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, belatedly became aware of the Confederates' movement, he began to force-march his army north, trying to keep Lee to the west and screen Washington from the Rebel troops. On June 28, as the bulk of the Federal troops enjoyed a brief respite near Frederick, Md., Meade replaced Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac.


Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

Meade faced a daunting task. By June 30 Lee's forces, including those of corps commanders Lt. Gens. James "Pete" Longstreet and Ambrose P. Hill, were marching on the Chambersburg Road in southern Pennsylvania, while Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell was leading his corps westward from York. Major General J.E.B. Stuart, directing Lee's cavalry, had not returned to the main Southern column from his screening mission around the Union forces. In fact, Stuart would not return until July 2, a crucial error in judgment.

Lacking adequate intelligence from his scouting forces, Lee directed his army to gather at Gettysburg. The general did not want to fight at Gettysburg, but alert Union horsemen had reached the area -- a fact that would put a wrinkle in Lee's plans. When Confederate Brig. Gen. James J. Pettigrew approached the town leading a 2,584-man brigade that was part of Maj. Gen. Henry Heth's division, he became aware of the Union cavalry force positioned there. Pettigrew withdrew his troops and then reported back to Heth. The next day, July 1, Heth headed toward Gettysburg with four brigades of infantry to drive off the reported Union troopers and secure the town.


Little Round Top from the northwest.
Brady photograph.

To Heth's surprise, waiting for him was Union Brig. Gen. John Buford, who had dismounted and deployed his cavalry on McPherson's Ridge, west of Gettysburg. Buford's forces fired first, temporarily halting Heth's force and starting the Battle of Gettysburg. Both sides sent dispatches to inform their superiors of the confrontation. Meade reinforced his Union position with the I Corps, which was now led by Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday since Maj. Gen. John Reynolds had been mortally wounded earlier that day. Additional Union reinforcements came from Maj. Gens. Henry W. Slocum's XII Corps and Daniel Sickles' III Corps. Throughout the morning, Confederate pressure continued to build against the Union line.


Signals From Little Round Top

Although spread thinly, the Union troopers held their ground with repeating carbines. As the fighting intensified, both sides added more infantry divisions to the battle. The Confederates managed to exploit weaknesses in the Federals' deployment, and their attacks caused heavy losses to the Union troops, who were forced to retreat. Confederate General Ewell's failure to carry out his orders and attack Cemetery Hill on the afternoon of July 1 wasted a golden opportunity for a quick, decisive victory. The Union had lost 4,000 men by that time -- and the town of Gettysburg itself -- but Meade quickly moved reinforcing divisions onto the high ground south of Gettysburg. The two armies spent a restless night.



The Union defensive line on aptly named Cemetery Ridge resembled an inverted fishhook, extending from Culp's Hill on the north, down Cemetery Ridge and southward toward Big and Little Round Tops. Although the 650-foot-high Little Round Top was overshadowed by its larger neighbor, its position was more important because much of the hill was cleared of trees and it could better accommodate troops. Strategically, Little Round Top held the key to the developing battle. If the Southern troops could take and hold the hill, they could theoretically roll up the entire Union line.



On the morning of July 2, Little Round Top proper held perhaps just a handful of Federal soldiers. Pennsylvania native Brig. Gen. John W. Geary's division was aligned just north of the hill and was the largest Union force in the immediate area. Geary was ordered to rejoin the rest of his XII Corps at Culp's Hill after elements of Sickles' III Corps took his place. In the confusion of shifting troops, however, Geary pulled his men out too soon, before Sickles' men had moved to replace them. Little Round Top was left uncovered. Later, when Sickles' infantry did arrive, the controversial general moved his men, without orders, westward toward the Emmitsburg Road. Once again Little Round Top went wanting for protectors in blue.


Gouverneur Kemble. Warren
During the battle of Gettysburg, General Warren is credited with the discovery of the Confederate troop movements attempting to attack the area known as "Little Round Top". His subsequent action is reported to have saved the entire left flank of the Union Army.

Robert E. Lee, with his eerie sense of a battlefield, was hastily assembling a force to attack the Union left, but it would take him the greater part of the day to get his men ready to strike. Meanwhile, Meade also sensed something significant about the two adjacent hills to his left. That afternoon he sent his chief of engineers, Brig. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, to assess the situation. To his utter chagrin, Warren found Little Round Top completely undefended. He hastily sent messengers to Meade and Sickles, requesting immediate assistance. Sickles, by that time hotly engaged with el-ements of Longstreet's corps, had none to spare. But Colonel Strong Vincent, who commanded the 3rd Brigade of Brig. Gen. Charles Griffin's 1st Division of the V Corps, received word from a harried courier about the threat to Little Round Top and led his men to the hill at the double-quick. Vincent's brigade included the 44th New York, 16th Michigan, 83rd Pennsylvania and the 358-man 20th Maine under Joshua L. Chamberlain.


The 20th Maine & the 15th Alabama
At Little Round Top, Gettysburg, Pa

The 34-year-old Chamberlain was one of the most interesting figures in the Civil War. A highly cultured, somewhat sedentary professor of modern languages at Maine's exclusive Bowdoin College, he had sat out the first year of the war on Bowdoin's stately campus. But in July 1862, sensing perhaps that the war was going to last a good deal longer than he had first believed, Chamberlain offered his services to the Union cause. "I have always been interested in military matters," he informed Maine Governor Israel Washburn, "and what I do not know in that line, I know how to learn." He was given command of the newly formed 20th Maine, a unit comprised of extra men left over from other new regiments. It was not, Chamberlain noted, one of the state's favorite fighting units -- "No county claimed it; no city gave it a flag; and there was no send-off at the station."


Union breastworks. Interior view of breastworks on Little Round Top, Gettysburg

The 20th Maine had been organized under President Abraham Lincoln's second call for troops on July 2, 1862. The regiment initially fielded a total complement of 1,621 men, but by the time of the Battle of Gettysburg the stress of campaigning had reduced the regiment's ranks to some 266 soldiers, and the 20th was considered a weak link in Vincent's brigade. Fortune, however, was to smile on Chamberlain's regiment in the form of unexpected reinforcements.

On May 23, 1863, 120 three-year enlistees from the 2nd Maine Infantry were marched under guard into the regimental area of the 20th Maine. The 2nd Maine men were in a state of mutiny and refused to fight, angry because the bulk of the regiment -- men with only two-year enlistments -- had been discharged and sent home, and the regiment had been disbanded. The mutineers claimed they had only enlisted to fight under the 2nd Maine flag, and if their flag went home, so should they. By law, however, the men still owed the Army another year of service.



Chamberlain had orders to shoot the mutineers if they refused duty. Fortunately for the men of the 2nd Maine, Chamberlain was born and grew up in Brewer, the twin city to Bangor across the Penobscot River where the 2nd Maine regiment was recruited. The mutineers were not just soldiers but also Chamberlain's childhood neighbors. Instead of shooting them, Chamberlain wisely distributed the 2nd Maine veterans evenly to fill out the 20th Maine's ranks and integrate experienced soldiers among the untested 20th Maine. He sympathized with the mutineers and wrote to Maine Governor Abner Coburn, asking that he write to the men personally about the mix-up in three-year versus two-year contracts they had signed. On Little Round Top the 120 experienced combat veterans from the 2nd Maine brought the 20th's ranks up to 386 infantrymen and helped hold Chamberlain's wobbling line together.

As he arrived on Little Round Top, Colonel Vincent chose a line of defense that started on the west slope of the hill. When the first regiments reached the rocky outcrops in that area, Vincent put them into line. The 16th Michigan took up a position on the right flank, and the 44th New York and 83rd Pennsylvania held the center. Later in life, Chamberlain wrote that his regiment was the first in line, but it actually took up its position last, curving its line back around to the east and forming the Union Army's extreme left flank.


"Colonel Strong Vincent"

The last thing Vincent told Chamberlain was: "This is the left of the Union line. You are to hold this ground at all costs!" Chamberlain ordered the regiment to go on line by file. He deployed Company B, recruited from Piscataquis County and commanded by level-headed Captain Walter G. Morrill of Williamsburg, forward to the regiment's left front flank as skirmishers. Company B, with its 44 men, was subsequently cut off by a flanking attack by the enemy, leaving the 20th with only 314 armed men on the main regimental line.

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[snippy_about_it]

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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.

[snippy_about_it]

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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
The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Little Round Top - Gettysburg (7/2/1863) - Nov 6th, 2003

[snippy_about_it]

'There never were harder fighters than the 20th Maine men and their gallant Colonel. His skill and persistency and the great bravery of his men saved Little Round Top and the Army of the Potomac from defeat. Great events sometimes turn on comparatively small affairs.'

Colonel William Calvin Oates
15th Alabama Volunteer Infantry

[snippy_about_it]

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[A Jovial Cad]

Good morning snippy. Excellent thread regarding one of the most important engagements of our saddest war.

I believe I read once that at the gates to a park or cemetery at Gettysburg where heavy fighting raged a sign was posted that stated "All persons found to be using firearms on these premises will prosecuted with the utmost vigor of the law." Assuming it's not an apocryphal story, ironic humor among the carnage. Brave men on both sides fighting for what they believed in--American vs. American; brother against brother.

Truly our saddest war.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the foxhole.

[E.G.C.]

Folks, be sure to click on my screename and then "In Forum to read my observation on the latest US Supreme Court ruling on "Eminent Domain".

[GailA]

Good morning ALL

[clamper1797]

BTT

[alfa6]

Friday Greetings Bump for the Freeper Foxhole

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alfa6 ;>}

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone!
TGIF!

This is bad for the Bird Biz!

[Darksheare]

Morning!

[The Mayor]

June 24, 2005

Inadequate Treatment

Read:
Jeremiah 6:10-19

They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, "Peace, peace!" when there is no peace. —Jeremiah 6:14

Bible In One Year: 2 Kings 7-10

A sprained ankle, so common during summer activities, can cause lingering problems if not properly treated. Minor sprains respond well to RICE: rest, ice, compression, and elevation. But people who ignore a serious sprain and keep going in spite of the pain run the risk of a greater injury.

A podiatric surgeon says we often get used to sprains and put up with them, but "even minor sprains should be rehabilitated so they don't happen again." And, of course, a major injury always requires proper treatment.

When Jeremiah spoke the Lord's message against the corrupt spiritual leaders of Judah, he said: "They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, 'Peace, peace!' when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:14). He repeated the accusation of inadequate treatment for serious spiritual injury in 8:11, then asked, "Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there . . . for the health of the daughter of my people?" (v.22).

Jeremiah's searching question inspired an old spiritual that proclaims the message of hope and forgiveness we still need today: "There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole; there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul."

That balm is the healing power of Jesus for our deep wound of sin. Have you applied His balm? —David McCasland

Sometimes I feel discouraged, and think my work's in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again.
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul. —Trad.

The Great Physician always has the right remedy.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
The Assurance Of Salvation
What If It's True?

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on June 24:
1542 Juan de la Cruz, [de Yepes], Spanish Carmelet/poet/saint
1771 E I Du Pont France, chemist/scientist (Du Pont)
1797 John Hughes archbishop, founded Fordham University in the Bronx
1811 John Archibald Campbell, Asst Secy War (Confederacy), died in 1889
1813 Henry Ward Beecher Litchfield Ct, clergyman/orator (The Independent)
1820 Henry Rootes Jackson, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1898
1822 Birkett Davenport Fry, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1891
1832 Edward Harland, Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1915
1839 Gustavus Franklin Swift founded Swift & Co
1842 Ambrose Bierce US, satirist (Devil's Dictionary)
1850 Horatio Herbert Kitchener England, original Order of Merit member
1895 Jack Dempsey heavyweight boxing champion (1919-26) (Manassa Mauler)
1899 Chief Dan George, actor (Harry and Tonto, Little Big Man.)
1903 Phil Harris singer/actor ("Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette", Voice of Baloo the bear in Disney's "The Jungle Book)
1912 Norman Cousins editor (Saturday Review)
1915 Sir Fred Hoyle cosmologist, proposed steady-state universe theory
1919 Al Molinaro Kenosha Wisc, actor (Odd Couple, Happy Days)
1923 Jack Carter Bkln NY, comedian/actor (Amazing Dobermans, Octagon)
1932 David McTaggart cofounded Greenpeace
1935 Pete Hamill journalist (NY Post)
1942 Michele Lee LA Calif, actress/singer (Karen-Knots Landing, Love Bug)
1942 Mick Fleetwood drummer (Fleetwood Mac) (or 1947)
1944 Jeff Beck Surrey England, singer/songwriter (Jeff Beck Group)
1945 George E Pataki, Peekskill NY, (Gov-R-NY, 1995- )
1946 Ellison S Onizuka Hawaii, Mjr USAF/ast (STS 51C, 51L-Chal disaster)
1946 Robert B. ReiiiiichchA, US Sec of Labor (Clinton)
1947 Peter Weller actor (Robocop)
1950 Nancy Allen NYC, actress (Carrie, 1941, Robocop, Dress to Kill)
1951 Ivar Formo Norway, 50K cross country skier (Olympic-gold-1976)
1956 Joe Penny actor (Jake & the Fatman)
1958 Victor M Gerena NYC, security guard robbed $7 million (FBI wanted)
1961 Natalya Shaposhnikova USSR, sidehorse vaulter (Olympic-gold-1980)
1980 Kelly Dutra, Miss Rhode Island Teen USA (1996)
1993 Primera, an Andean condor, hatched at Cleve Zoo, 5th born in captivity

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Deaths which occurred on June 24:
1519 Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander, dies at 39
1803 Matthew Thornton, Irish/US physician/signer (Decl of Ind), dies at 88
1817 Thomas McKean, US attorney/signer (Decl of Independence), dies at 83
1908 Grover Cleveland 22nd & 24th Pres, dies in Princeton, at 71
1922 Dr Walter Rathenau German foreign minister killed by anti-semites
1971 Kenneth Washington actor (Sgt Baker-Hogan's Heroes), dies at 53
1987 Jackie Gleason actor (Honeymooners), dies at 71 in Fort Lauderdale (Alice baby, You're the greatest!)
1997 Brian Keith, actor (Family Affair, The Wind And The Lion), commits suicide at 75
2002 Pierre Werner (88), Luxembourg Prime Minister dies (father of the euro)

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GWOT Casualties

Iraq
24-Jun-2003 7 | US: 1 | UK: 6 | Other: 0
US Specialist Cedric Lamont Lennon Baghdad Non-hostile - not reported
UK Lance Corporal Thomas Richard Keys Majar al-Kabir Hostile - hostile fire
UK Sergeant Simon A. Hamilton-Jewell Majar al-Kabir Hostile - hostile fire
UK Corporal Russell Aston Majar al-Kabir Hostile - hostile fire
UK Corporal Paul Graham Long Majar al-Kabir Hostile - hostile fire
UK Corporal Simon Miller Majar al-Kabir Hostile - hostile fire
UK Lance Corporal Benjamin John M. Hyde Majar al-Kabir Hostile - hostile fire

24-Jun-2004 3 | US: 3 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Captain Christopher S. Cash Ba’qubah Hostile - hostile fire - ambush
US Specialist Daniel A. Desens Ba’qubah Hostile - hostile fire - ambush
US Staff Sergeant Charles A. Kiser Mosul (western part) Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb


Afghanistan
06/24/04 Thacker, Juston Tyler Lance Corporal 21 Marine 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division Hostile - hostile fire - ambush Barikowt (near), Kunar Province Bluefield West Virginia
06/24/04 McClenney, Daniel B. Private 1st Class 19 Marine 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division Hostile - hostile fire - ambush Barikowt (near), Kunar Province Shelbyville Tennessee


http://icasualties.org/oif/
Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White

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On this day...
0451 10th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
0843 Vikings destroy Nantes
1128 Afonso I of Portugal defeats army of his mother Theresa
1298 Rindfleish Persecutions-Jews of Ifhauben Austria massacred
1314 Battle of Bannockburn; Scotland regains independence from England
1322 Jews are expelled from France
1340 In the Hundred Years War, British fleet destroys French at Sluys
1441 Eton College founded by Henry VI
1497 John Cabot claims eastern Canada for England
1509 Henry VIII crowned King of England
1527 Gustaaf I begins Reformation in Sweden, taking RC possessions
1535 Anabaptists Protestants conquerered & disbanded
1540 Henry VIII divorces his 4th wife, Anne of Cleves
1648 Cossacks slaughter 2,000 Jews and 600 Polish Catholics in Ukraine
1778 David Rittenhouse observes a total solar eclipse in Philadelphia
1793 1st republican constitution in France adopted
1795 US and Great Britain sign Jay Treaty, 1st US extradition treaty
1812 Napoleon crosses the Nieman (Nemunas) River [in Lithuania] and invades Russia
1813 Battle of Beaver Dam-British & Indian forces defeat US forces


1817 1st coffee planted in Hawaii on Kona coast


1821 Battle of Carabobo; Bolivar defeats royalists outside of Caracas
1841 Fordham University (then St John's College), opens in the Bronx
1859 Battle of Solferino, also known as the Battle of the Three Sovereigns, the French army led by Napoleon III defeats the Austrian army under Franz Joseph I in northern Italy
1861 Tennessee becomes 11th (& last) state to secede from US
1861 Federal gunboats attack Confederate batteries at Mathias Point, Virginia
1862 U.S. intervention saved the British and French at the Dagu forts in China.
1863 Planning an invasion of Pennsylvania, Lee's army crossed the Potomac
1881 200 drown as train runs off bridge near Cuautla Mexico
1882 NL expells umpire Richard Higham for dishonesty
1884 John Lynch is 1st black elected chairman of Republican convention
1885 Samuel David Ferguson becomes 1st US black bishop
1894 Decision to begin modern Olympics every 4 years
1897 Hail injures 26 in Topeka Kansas
1898 American troops, drive Spanish forces from La Guasimas Cuba
1901 Jewish National Fund starts
1908 A Kopff discovers asteroids #663 Gerlinde & #664 Judith
1908 Yanks replace Clark Griffith with Kid Elberfeld as manager who is destined to have worse won-lost pct of any Yankee mgr 27-71 (.276)
1910 Japanese army invade Korea
1915 800 die as excursion steamer Eastland capsizes in Chicago
1922 AFPA changes name to NFL, Chicago Staleys become Chicago Bears
1930 1st radar detection of planes, Anacostia DC
1932 Coup ends absolute monarchy in Thailand
1939 Pan Am's 1st US to England flight
1940 France signs an armistice with Italy during WW II
1941 Entire Jewish male population of Gorzhdy Lithuania, exterminated
1941 German army advance into Russia and take Vilnius, Brest-Litovsk and Kaunas
1943 Allies began a 10-day fire bombing of Hamburg
1946 29.77 cm (11.72") of rainfall, Mellen, Wisc. (state 24-hr record)
1947 Flying saucers sighted over Mount Rainier by pilot Ken Arnold (and so an industry was born)
1948 Republican Natl Convention in Phila nominates NY gov Thomas Dewey

1948 Soviet Union begins Berlin Blockade, so Berlin Airlift begins

1949 "Hopalong Cassidy" becomes 1st network western (NBC)
1949 Cargo airlines 1st licensed by US Civil Aeronautics Board
1950 M Itzigsohn discovers asteroid #1821 Aconcagua
1950 NY Giant Wes Westrum hits 3 HRs & a triple
1955 Harmon Killebrew hits his 1st HR (off Billy Hoeff)
1955 Soviet MIG’s down a U.S. Navy patrol plane over the Bering Strait.
1957 "I Love Lucy," last airs on CBS-TV
1961 Iraq demanded dominion over Kuwait.
1963 1st demonstration of home video recorder, at BBC Studios, London
1963 Zanzibar granted internal self-government by Britain
1966 Period of "relative" peace following WW II exceeds that following WW I
1967 Pope Paul VI published his encyclical Sacerdotalis coelibatus (priestly celibacy).
1968 Deadline for redeeming silver certificate dollars for silver bullion
1968 Jim Northrup hits 2 grand-slammers to help Tigers beat Cleve 14-3
1968 Joe Frazier TKOs Manda Ramos for world heavyweight boxing title
1970 Bobby Murcer ties record of 4 consecutive HRs
1970 Senate votes overwhelmingly to repeal Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
1973 Marlene Raymond (15), limboes under a flaming bar at 6 1/8"
1975 113 killed in Eastern Boeing 727 crash at JFK
1977 IRS reveals Jimmy Carter paid no taxes in 1976
1980 Affirmed wins $500,000 Hollywood Cup, 1st horse to win $2 million
1982 Equal Rights Amendment goes down to defeat
1982 Supreme Court rules pres can't be sued for actions in office
1982 Jean-Loup Chretien, 1st spacionaut, 2 others, lift off (Soyuz T-16)
1983 Don Sutton becomes 8th pitcher to strikeout 3,000 batters
1986 Guy Hunt elected 1st Republican governor of Alabama in 112 years
1986 US Senate approves "tax reform"
1988 Cleve pitcher Doug Jones sets record of 14 consecutive saves
1992 John Gotti begins life sentence in jail
1993 Arab terror group plans bombing of Holland/Lincoln Tunnels caught
1997 USAF reports Roswell 'space aliens' were dummies (Gee ya think?)
1997 It was reported that a man from Rio Vista, Ca., was doing a good business selling the moon’s real estate. Dennis Hope was charging $15.99 for 1,777 acres of lunar land plus tax and shipping.
1998 Turkish constitutional court ruled that adultery was no longer a crime for women.
2002 Pres. Bush outlined his blueprint for peace in the Middle East. His statement included a call on Palestinians to replace Yasser Arafat with leaders "not compromised by terror" and adopt democratic reforms that could produce an independent state within three years
2004 Western advisers completed their handover Iraq’s remaining government ministries. The final 11 of 25 were handed over 6 days before the official end of coalition occupation. HELLO, Teddy. Anyone home? HELLO!

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

Azores : Feriado Municipal Augra
Canada, PR : St John the Baptist/St Jean Baptiste Day/San Juan Day
Europe : Midsummer Day
Peru : Countryman's Day/Day of the Indian/Dia del Indio
Scotland : Bannockburn Day (1314)
Venezuala : Army Day/Carabobo Day (1821)
Zaire : Constitution Day
National Sheriff's Week (Day 5)
Middle Children's Day.
Mid Summer Day
Swim a Lap Day
Fiction is Fun Month

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Religious Observances
Ang, RC, Luth, Cong : Solemnity of the Nativity of St John the Baptist

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Religious History
1519 Birth of Theodore Beza, French-born Swiss theological reformer. Beza became the acknowledged leader of the Swiss Calvinists, following John Calvin's death in 1564.
1527 King Gustavus of Sweden assembled the Diet of Wester's, for the purpose of carrying through the Protestant Reformation in Sweden.
1803 Birth of George J. Webb, American church organist. He compiled several collections of sacred music during his lifetime, and also composed the melody to the hymn, 'Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.'
1917 Death of Orville J. Nave (born 1841), U.S. Armed Services chaplain and compiler of the popular 'Nave's Topical Bible.'
1941 The two-day Constitutional Assembly of the Nippon Kirisuto Kyodan opened, during which was formed the United Church of Christ in Japan.

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

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Some Residents Of Hitler Road Want Street Name Changed

CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio -- It's not hard to remember Jim White's address.
He's one of the people who lives on Hitler Road in Circleville, Ohio.

The folks in the area are used to questions and strange looks about the street name. Hitler Road predates the Nazi dictator. Long before Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, the Pickaway County Hitlers were well-known farmers in Circleville and have three roads named after them.

Some residents would like the street names changed. But not White. He's a World War II infantry veteran and said at least the Hitler street is one of a kind.

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Thought for the day :
"Here’s my proposal, which is based on the TV show Survivor: We put the entire Congress on an island. All the food on this island is locked inside a vault, which can be opened only by an ordinary American taxpayer named Bob. Every day, the congresspersons are given a section of the Tax Code, which they must rewrite so that Bob can understand it. If he can, he lets them eat that day; if he can’t, he doesn’t."

[Valin]

Very good post. Really fleshs out the battle.

[w_over_w]

Morning Glory Folks~

Wonderful read about one of the greatest battles in American history. Next to Hancock, Chamberlain is one of the few Union officers that captured my interest. A regular guy and a quick learner; it was his undaunted courage that earmarked him.

Many of you have vowed to visit Gettysburg someday, I cannot emphasize enough the impact it will have on you.

Breastworks of the 44th New York Infantry then . . .

. . . and today.

Thanks sweets!

[Valin]

Ever read about the friendship between Hancock & Armistead?
Even after all these years I still get a lump in my throat.

[w_over_w]

Ever read about the friendship between Hancock & Armistead?

Not in great detail. It is alluded to in many general CW books and the movie "Gettysburg". Sounds like it would make for a good read.