WEBVTT - Bayonets! Joshua Chamberlain’s Famous Stand at Gettysburg 0:00:17.101 --> 0:00:28.141 Pushkin. The men of the twentieth Main were out of ammunition. 0:00:29.141 --> 0:00:33.620 It was a boiling hot afternoon in the Pennsylvania countryside. 0:00:33.701 --> 0:00:36.661 The soldiers were standing on a rocky hill. It was 0:00:36.741 --> 0:00:40.101 dotted with boulders and pine trees, and it marked the 0:00:40.181 --> 0:00:44.100 far end of the Union army line. The date was 0:00:44.181 --> 0:00:47.420 July second, eighteen sixty three, and they were at the 0:00:47.421 --> 0:00:51.541 Battle of Gettysburg, facing a company of Confederate soldiers who 0:00:51.620 --> 0:00:55.981 were about to run them down. The twentieth Main was 0:00:56.060 --> 0:01:00.101 led by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. He was tall, with side 0:01:00.141 --> 0:01:06.860 swept hair and a truly giant mustache, I mean huge. 0:01:07.141 --> 0:01:10.181 Joshua Chamberlain had never planned to be a soldier. He 0:01:10.301 --> 0:01:13.381 was going to be a man or a teacher. He 0:01:13.461 --> 0:01:16.981 was quiet and mild mannered. He loved music and literature. 0:01:18.261 --> 0:01:20.940 But the choice he made in that moment on a 0:01:21.021 --> 0:01:23.700 hill called Little Roundtop would make him one of the 0:01:23.741 --> 0:01:28.740 most famous fighters in the whole Civil War. In front 0:01:28.780 --> 0:01:32.340 of him, Joshua could see dozens of wounded and dead 0:01:32.741 --> 0:01:36.661 soldiers from both sides, and beside him he could see 0:01:36.700 --> 0:01:40.140 his men, the fear in their eyes as they fired 0:01:40.181 --> 0:01:44.981 the last shots in their rifles. Joshua looked down towards 0:01:44.981 --> 0:01:47.380 the bottom of the hill where the enemy was waiting, 0:01:48.181 --> 0:01:50.660 and he knew it was only minutes until the Confederate 0:01:50.741 --> 0:01:55.421 soldiers came. He had no cards left to play, so 0:01:55.461 --> 0:02:04.741 he screamed down the line, Mayonnets, I'm j R. Martinez 0:02:04.941 --> 0:02:09.181 and this is Medal of Honor, Stories of Courage. The 0:02:09.181 --> 0:02:12.301 Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the 0:02:12.421 --> 0:02:16.381 United States. It's awarded for gallantry and bravery and combat 0:02:16.701 --> 0:02:19.501 at the risk of life, above and beyond the call 0:02:19.541 --> 0:02:23.261 of duty. Each candidate must be approved all the way 0:02:23.301 --> 0:02:26.221 up the chain of command, from the supervisory officer in 0:02:26.261 --> 0:02:29.501 the field to the White House. This show is about 0:02:29.501 --> 0:02:33.141 those heroes, what they did, what it meant, and what 0:02:33.181 --> 0:02:36.701 their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. 0:02:38.061 --> 0:02:40.461 If you're a Civil War buff, and I'm guessing some 0:02:40.541 --> 0:02:45.341 of you are, you've probably heard the name Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. 0:02:45.981 --> 0:02:48.621 There has been a lot, and I mean a lot 0:02:48.821 --> 0:02:52.821 written about Joshua. Have you seen the movie Gettysburg. Jeff 0:02:52.901 --> 0:03:00.821 Daniels played him extra large mustache, and all every book 0:03:00.941 --> 0:03:04.941 or movie about Joshua talks about those bayonets they made 0:03:05.061 --> 0:03:08.141 him famous, and he received a Medal of Honor for 0:03:08.221 --> 0:03:12.021 that action on Little Roundtime. And while the bayonet moment 0:03:12.181 --> 0:03:15.981 is pretty epic, I think what makes Joshua really special 0:03:16.461 --> 0:03:22.581 is something entirely different. His empathy, his compassion. Because he 0:03:22.661 --> 0:03:25.621 wasn't just a brilliant leader. He thought a lot about 0:03:25.741 --> 0:03:29.421 why and how he should lead, how he should treat 0:03:29.541 --> 0:03:33.821 his men and the enemy. And he was fighting for 0:03:33.941 --> 0:03:37.021 the idea of America. And he didn't want to just 0:03:37.021 --> 0:03:39.781 stay at home with his good job and his wife 0:03:39.781 --> 0:03:43.061 and his kids, even though he could have, even though 0:03:43.181 --> 0:03:47.421 everyone expected him to. He wanted to set an example, 0:03:47.941 --> 0:03:51.821 not just a bravery, but of kindness. And he was 0:03:51.941 --> 0:03:56.741 driven by the hope that a broken country commended itself. 0:04:10.221 --> 0:04:14.021 In eighteen sixty one, when the Civil War began, Joshua 0:04:14.101 --> 0:04:18.621 Chamberlain was living a quiet, scholarly life way up north 0:04:18.741 --> 0:04:21.700 in Brunswick, Maine. He was a professor at a small 0:04:21.741 --> 0:04:25.621 college called Boden. He was a thin, shy guy with 0:04:25.701 --> 0:04:29.021 the stutter. He had overcome it by learning different languages, 0:04:29.421 --> 0:04:33.461 and pretty soon he spoke nine of them, and he 0:04:33.501 --> 0:04:37.101 was super religious. In fact, his original plan was to 0:04:37.141 --> 0:04:40.341 become a minister or a missionary. He had gone to 0:04:40.381 --> 0:04:43.701 the seminary, but he was also in love with the 0:04:43.821 --> 0:04:48.741 girl named Fanny. They were both obsessed with music. They 0:04:48.821 --> 0:04:52.421 met when he led her church choir. Now we don't 0:04:52.421 --> 0:04:55.461 have recordings of Joshua's voice, of course, but we have 0:04:55.621 --> 0:05:00.621 lots and lots of his letters, articles and speeches. So 0:05:00.621 --> 0:05:03.301 we're going to have our old friend Ben NADAFH Hoffrey 0:05:03.741 --> 0:05:06.940 read his words for us. Here. Here's a line from 0:05:06.981 --> 0:05:09.541 one of the love letters he wrote Fanny early on. 0:05:10.901 --> 0:05:12.820 They seem foolish for me to tell you again that 0:05:12.901 --> 0:05:15.380 I love you more and more every day, But it 0:05:15.461 --> 0:05:18.661 is becoming so much more true every day that it 0:05:18.701 --> 0:05:19.461 is really new. 0:05:20.901 --> 0:05:23.981 Fanny didn't want to be a minister's wife, so Joshua 0:05:24.021 --> 0:05:27.141 took a job at Boden. He and Fanny got married 0:05:27.181 --> 0:05:31.421 and had two kids, Daisy, a girl, and Willis a boy. 0:05:32.261 --> 0:05:36.021 Their life was quiet and calm, filled with music and 0:05:36.221 --> 0:05:40.781 art and prayer. Then in April of eighteen sixty one, 0:05:41.181 --> 0:05:44.821 shots were fired on Fort Sumter, and Joshua's students at 0:05:44.861 --> 0:05:49.141 Boden started to join the fight. He noticed the empty chairs, 0:05:49.541 --> 0:05:53.941 the familiar faces missing from his classroom, and he supported 0:05:53.941 --> 0:05:57.101 the war. He believed deeply in what the founding fathers 0:05:57.141 --> 0:06:00.301 had fought for a nation undivided. 0:06:01.381 --> 0:06:03.781 I feel that we are fighting for our country, for 0:06:03.941 --> 0:06:07.581 our flag, not as so many stars and stripes, but 0:06:07.661 --> 0:06:10.741 as the emblem of a great and good and powerful nation, 0:06:11.381 --> 0:06:13.621 fighting to settle the question of whether we are a 0:06:13.701 --> 0:06:16.861 nation or only a basket of chips. 0:06:17.701 --> 0:06:20.421 I'm not quite sure what a basket of chips means, 0:06:21.021 --> 0:06:25.101 but I like it. By then, Joshua was thirty two, 0:06:25.181 --> 0:06:29.221 almost ten years older than the average Union soldier. He 0:06:29.261 --> 0:06:32.541 had a family. Nobody would have judged him for staying 0:06:32.581 --> 0:06:35.061 at home, but he felt that he had a duty 0:06:35.141 --> 0:06:38.301 to serve, so in the summer of eighteen sixty two 0:06:38.661 --> 0:06:41.181 he wrote to the governor of Maine and asked to 0:06:41.261 --> 0:06:42.020 join the army. 0:06:42.981 --> 0:06:46.741 I fear this war, so costly of blood and treasure, 0:06:47.021 --> 0:06:49.301 will not cease until the men of the North are 0:06:49.341 --> 0:06:54.700 willing to leave good positions and sacrifice the dearest personal interests. 0:06:55.181 --> 0:06:59.581 Well it worked. He became a lieutenant colonel with the 0:06:59.621 --> 0:07:03.581 newly formed twentieth Main Regiment, and this nerdy guy who 0:07:03.621 --> 0:07:07.541 wore little glasses and didn't drink and wouldn't hunt, learned 0:07:07.541 --> 0:07:10.461 how to fight. He got really close to his men. 0:07:10.941 --> 0:07:17.261 They were farmers, lumberjacks, sailors, and merchants. They'd all volunteered 0:07:17.341 --> 0:07:20.741 to leave their homes across the state of Maine. The 0:07:20.821 --> 0:07:23.861 regiment started with more than nine hundred and seventy men. 0:07:24.341 --> 0:07:29.821 One year later they had fewer than four hundred. Joshua 0:07:29.901 --> 0:07:33.221 led his men in the bloody Battle of Fredericksburg. He 0:07:33.301 --> 0:07:36.821 watched as they were wounded and killed, and later as 0:07:36.861 --> 0:07:41.101 they called smallpox or died from sunstroke. Then came the 0:07:41.221 --> 0:07:45.901 night of July first, eighteen sixty three. The twentieth main 0:07:45.981 --> 0:07:49.261 were marching through the darkened streets of a little Pennsylvania town. 0:07:50.021 --> 0:07:53.861 They had been going since early morning, traveling nearly thirty 0:07:53.941 --> 0:07:57.581 miles on foot in the sweltering heat, carrying packs that 0:07:57.621 --> 0:08:01.421 weighed more than fifty pounds, drinking the last water from 0:08:01.461 --> 0:08:06.381 their canteens. Some men had collapsed from exhaustion, and now 0:08:06.581 --> 0:08:10.501 the unit was marching under a moonlit sky. People came 0:08:10.541 --> 0:08:13.181 out of the houses to watch as they passed. Women 0:08:13.261 --> 0:08:17.141 brought the soldiers food and water. Young girls gave them flowers. 0:08:17.781 --> 0:08:22.341 They sang them patriotic songs. Years later, Joshua wrote about 0:08:22.341 --> 0:08:24.421 how it felt to be heading into this battle. 0:08:25.861 --> 0:08:28.181 We knew that a great battle was soon to be fought, 0:08:28.701 --> 0:08:32.780 a desperate and momentous one. But what impressed my mind 0:08:32.901 --> 0:08:36.901 was the great calm, the uncertainty, and seeming lack of 0:08:37.061 --> 0:08:41.021 tactical plan. We were aware that other troops were coming 0:08:41.101 --> 0:08:43.940 up on one side and the other, but we had 0:08:43.981 --> 0:08:46.700 no means of knowing or judging which side would take 0:08:46.700 --> 0:08:50.661 the offensive, in which the defensive, or where the battle 0:08:50.700 --> 0:08:51.181 would begin. 0:08:52.780 --> 0:08:55.701 Finally, the men settled down for the night. It was 0:08:55.741 --> 0:08:58.901 around one in the morning. Joshua could have asked for 0:08:58.940 --> 0:09:01.861 a house to stay in, after all, he was an officer, 0:09:02.381 --> 0:09:05.100 but that wasn't his style. He just slept on the 0:09:05.141 --> 0:09:07.941 ground with his guys. As he put it in a 0:09:08.021 --> 0:09:10.141 letter he wrote his wife, I. 0:09:10.180 --> 0:09:12.181 Hate to see a man always on the spring to 0:09:12.180 --> 0:09:14.981 get the best of everything for himself. I prefer to 0:09:15.021 --> 0:09:17.341 take things as they come, and I am as well 0:09:17.381 --> 0:09:20.420 and comfortable as anybody, and no one's the worst for it. 0:09:21.501 --> 0:09:25.221 That kind of sum Joshua up. Maybe it's the main thing, 0:09:25.780 --> 0:09:28.060 but I think it's more about who he was as 0:09:28.101 --> 0:09:32.660 a person. As the men tried to fall asleep, they 0:09:32.741 --> 0:09:35.381 must have been terrified about what was waiting for them. 0:09:35.820 --> 0:09:38.421 The battle had already begun, and it was only a 0:09:38.460 --> 0:09:42.700 few miles away in a little town named Gettysburg. They 0:09:42.700 --> 0:09:45.981 had passed broken carts and dead horses. They heard the 0:09:46.141 --> 0:09:50.461 artillery booming. It was the sound of two armies converging. 0:09:51.621 --> 0:09:55.461 The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia had seventy five thousand men. 0:09:56.261 --> 0:10:00.621 They were confident after two victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. 0:10:00.700 --> 0:10:03.941 They were led by Robert Eedley, who seemed unable to 0:10:03.981 --> 0:10:08.381 lose a battle. On the Union side. Joshua's side was 0:10:08.420 --> 0:10:11.180 the Army of the Potomac. It was a hunt than 0:10:11.221 --> 0:10:14.461 twelve thousand men strong, and it was led by General 0:10:14.540 --> 0:10:18.261 George Meade, and they would all face off at Gettysburg, 0:10:18.901 --> 0:10:22.540 a town of twenty four hundred residents surrounded by gently 0:10:22.700 --> 0:10:26.821 rolling fields and rocky hills. Think of a postcard of 0:10:26.861 --> 0:10:30.701 a perfect farming town. It would be the site of 0:10:30.780 --> 0:10:52.181 the biggest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere. On 0:10:52.300 --> 0:10:56.741 July second, eighteen sixty three. The Union lines at Gettysburg 0:10:56.780 --> 0:10:59.340 were set up in a configuration that kind of looked 0:10:59.381 --> 0:11:03.540 like a large, upside down fish hook. The points started 0:11:03.621 --> 0:11:07.221 in the southeast, and then it went north briefly before 0:11:07.300 --> 0:11:11.500 hooking down and going straight south. The very end of 0:11:11.540 --> 0:11:14.381 the Union line was about two miles south of town, 0:11:14.901 --> 0:11:19.780 a hill that locals called Little Roundtop. Union leaders felt 0:11:19.780 --> 0:11:22.701 good about this setup, but when their chief engineer looked 0:11:22.741 --> 0:11:26.141 at Little Roundtop through his binoculars, he realized there weren't 0:11:26.180 --> 0:11:31.660 any Union soldiers actually on the hill. It's a huge problem. 0:11:32.180 --> 0:11:35.540 If the Confederates took Little Roundtop first and put their 0:11:35.660 --> 0:11:38.580 artillery on top of it, they could blast away at 0:11:38.580 --> 0:11:42.541 the whole Union line. Then he spotted light glinting off 0:11:42.580 --> 0:11:46.300 the Confederate guns. The assault on the Union's left flank 0:11:46.420 --> 0:11:50.861 was about to begin. Joshua, Chamberlain and the twentieth Maine 0:11:50.981 --> 0:11:54.141 were ordered to go to Little Roundtop as fast as 0:11:54.180 --> 0:11:55.261 they possibly could. 0:11:56.300 --> 0:11:59.940 The bugle sounded to the left at utmost speed down. 0:12:00.021 --> 0:12:03.100 We pushed at the double quick straight for the strife, 0:12:03.141 --> 0:12:06.821 not seeking roads or minding roughness of ground, thorn hedges, 0:12:06.820 --> 0:12:11.980 stone fences, or myrie swamps. The earth was quaking, sky ablaze. 0:12:12.341 --> 0:12:14.820 The fight was desperate already. 0:12:15.660 --> 0:12:19.180 Joshua's two younger brothers were riding with him. Tom had 0:12:19.261 --> 0:12:22.580 enlisted in the twentieth Maine at the age of twenty one. 0:12:22.700 --> 0:12:25.700 John was there too, but not as a fighter. He 0:12:25.741 --> 0:12:29.220 was a member of the Christian Commission, which supported soldiers. 0:12:29.820 --> 0:12:31.981 They got to the south side of Little Round Top 0:12:32.180 --> 0:12:33.301 and headed up the hill. 0:12:34.021 --> 0:12:37.780 It had a rough forbidding face, wrinkled with jagged ledges, 0:12:37.820 --> 0:12:41.741 bearded with mighty boulders, strewn with fragments of rock like 0:12:41.780 --> 0:12:43.261 the Battleground of Giants. 0:12:44.180 --> 0:12:46.741 They were midway to the top when the Confederates fired. 0:12:47.580 --> 0:12:52.141 Shells burst overhead and brought down treetops. As hissing fragments fell, 0:12:52.621 --> 0:12:54.581 shots swept close above our heads. 0:12:55.621 --> 0:12:58.381 Joshua immediately sent Tom to the back of the line 0:12:58.501 --> 0:13:01.221 and john Ford to help him with the wounded. He 0:13:01.300 --> 0:13:03.861 knew that if they all died together, it would be 0:13:03.981 --> 0:13:07.461 too hard for his mother to take. Then it got 0:13:07.501 --> 0:13:13.061 weirdly silent. The thunder of Confederate artillery had stopped. Joshua 0:13:13.101 --> 0:13:16.501 knew this could only mean one thing. The enemy was 0:13:16.540 --> 0:13:19.941 about to attack Little Round Top, and their artillery men 0:13:20.060 --> 0:13:24.540 didn't want to risk hitting their own troops. Soldiers in 0:13:24.621 --> 0:13:27.540 gray uniforms suddenly began appearing below them. 0:13:27.940 --> 0:13:31.300 Joshua tried to get a better look. I sprang forward, 0:13:31.420 --> 0:13:34.421 mounted a great rock. Thick groups in gray were pushing 0:13:34.501 --> 0:13:37.180 up to gain our left flank. There was no mistaking this. 0:13:37.981 --> 0:13:39.901 How many were coming we could not know. 0:13:41.060 --> 0:13:43.981 Joshua had been told to hold the hill at all costs, 0:13:44.540 --> 0:13:49.021 because the men from Maine were protecting the entire Union line. 0:13:49.101 --> 0:13:51.901 If a strong force should gain our rear, our brigade 0:13:51.940 --> 0:13:54.381 would be caught, as if by a mighty shear's blade, 0:13:54.580 --> 0:13:57.980 and be cut and crushed. That front had to be held, 0:13:58.341 --> 0:14:01.580 and that rear covered. Something must be done quickly. 0:14:02.621 --> 0:14:04.780 He couldn't have known it, but they were fighting, the 0:14:04.820 --> 0:14:09.901 fifteenth Alabama Regiment, led by Colonel William Oates. They were 0:14:09.940 --> 0:14:14.340 seasoned fighters, They were fierce, and to Joshua it looked 0:14:14.341 --> 0:14:16.861 like they had twice as many men as he did. 0:14:17.901 --> 0:14:21.340 The fierce assault lasted with increasing fury, for an intense hour. 0:14:21.861 --> 0:14:25.541 The edge of conflict swayed to and fro. At times 0:14:25.580 --> 0:14:27.701 I saw around me more of the enemy than of 0:14:27.741 --> 0:14:32.021 my own men. All around was a strange mingled roar, 0:14:32.541 --> 0:14:38.141 shouts of defiance, rally and desperation, And underneath stifled moans, 0:14:39.021 --> 0:14:44.101 gasping prayers, and whispers of loved names. Everywhere men were 0:14:44.141 --> 0:14:46.101 torn and broken, staggering. 0:14:47.421 --> 0:14:51.501 The twentieth Maine hit back with concentrated firepower. For a moment, 0:14:51.901 --> 0:14:52.421 it worked. 0:14:53.381 --> 0:14:56.861 We had held the ground at all costs. But now 0:14:56.941 --> 0:14:59.781 that the smoke dissolved, we saw our dead and wounded 0:14:59.901 --> 0:15:02.221 all out in front of us, mingled with more of 0:15:02.261 --> 0:15:05.421 the enemy. They were scattered all the way down to 0:15:05.501 --> 0:15:08.980 the very feet of the hostile line, now rallying in 0:15:09.021 --> 0:15:12.421 the low shrubbery for a nuance at They knew our 0:15:12.460 --> 0:15:14.901 weakness now, and they were gathering force. 0:15:16.101 --> 0:15:18.221 And then the Confederates came. 0:15:19.301 --> 0:15:21.941 We were enveloped in fire and sure to be overwhelmed 0:15:21.941 --> 0:15:25.021 when the great surge struck us. Already I could see 0:15:25.061 --> 0:15:27.580 the bold flankers on their right darting out and creeping 0:15:27.621 --> 0:15:29.821 and crawling under the smoke to gain our left. 0:15:31.021 --> 0:15:34.341 In those days, someone always held the flag of the regiment, 0:15:34.781 --> 0:15:37.541 and this was no different. The color sergeant for the 0:15:37.580 --> 0:15:40.181 twentieth Man held their flag in one hand and his 0:15:40.341 --> 0:15:44.340 rifle in the other. As bullets snapped the arrow around him. 0:15:44.981 --> 0:15:48.661 The regiment's ammunition began to run low. Men grabbed bullets 0:15:48.661 --> 0:15:51.661 from the boxes of fallen friends or even enemies. 0:15:52.460 --> 0:15:55.341 Our fire was slackening, our last rounds of shot had 0:15:55.341 --> 0:15:57.901 been fired, and what I had sent for could not 0:15:58.061 --> 0:16:01.261 get to us. I saw the faces of my men, 0:16:01.381 --> 0:16:04.460 one after another when they had fired their last cartridge, 0:16:04.861 --> 0:16:08.941 turn anxiously toward mine for a moment, then square to 0:16:08.981 --> 0:16:12.941 the front, again to the front of them laid deaf. 0:16:14.421 --> 0:16:17.221 There are conflicting reports about the actual size of the 0:16:17.301 --> 0:16:20.941 Alabama regiment. At the time, it was believed that they 0:16:20.941 --> 0:16:24.741 had roughly six hundred and fifty men, twice the size 0:16:24.821 --> 0:16:28.901 of the twentieth Main. Later William Mote said he had 0:16:28.981 --> 0:16:32.821 fewer than four hundred. I don't think it really matters. 0:16:33.460 --> 0:16:36.021 Joshua and his men were out of bullets, and the 0:16:36.061 --> 0:16:41.141 Confederates just kept on coming. So Joshua, in an instant, 0:16:41.541 --> 0:16:42.981 made a crazy decision. 0:16:43.901 --> 0:16:46.901 Desperate as the chances were, there was nothing for it 0:16:46.941 --> 0:16:50.021 but to take the offensive. The men turned towards me. 0:16:50.781 --> 0:16:55.501 One word was enough bayonet. It caught like fire and 0:16:55.661 --> 0:16:56.981 swept along the ranks. 0:16:58.221 --> 0:17:01.661 Civil War bayonets were sharpened steel blades that fit over 0:17:01.701 --> 0:17:05.661 the end of a rifle. Soldiers rarely used them unless 0:17:05.701 --> 0:17:10.221 they were desperate. Well, they were desperate now. I remember 0:17:10.221 --> 0:17:12.901 when I was an Ira we had bayonets on our guns, 0:17:13.341 --> 0:17:16.181 and let me tell you the idea of having to 0:17:16.341 --> 0:17:20.661 use them, or having to stab someone, is way different 0:17:20.741 --> 0:17:26.061 than shooting at them. It's more personal, more daunting. But 0:17:26.141 --> 0:17:30.701 that's exactly what Joshua ordered his men to do. Using 0:17:30.741 --> 0:17:34.021 their bayonets, they pushed the Confederates back down that hill. 0:17:35.101 --> 0:17:38.941 Some of the enemy fled, more surrendered. The Battle of 0:17:39.061 --> 0:17:44.741 Little Round Top was over. Years later, Joshua was humble 0:17:44.781 --> 0:17:47.461 about his victory and complimented his foes. 0:17:48.341 --> 0:17:51.221 Had we not used up our ammunition, and had we 0:17:51.261 --> 0:17:54.621 continued to meet the enemy musket to musket, this give 0:17:54.661 --> 0:17:57.141 and take would soon have finished us by reason of 0:17:57.181 --> 0:18:02.061 the enemy's superior numbers. It was a psychological success, a 0:18:02.181 --> 0:18:07.781 miracle in the scheme of military science. Those brave Alabama fellows, 0:18:08.101 --> 0:18:12.061 none braver or better in either army, were victims of 0:18:12.101 --> 0:18:12.661 a surprise. 0:18:14.261 --> 0:18:19.461 I think surprise is right because Chamberlain basically brought a 0:18:19.541 --> 0:18:25.421 knife to a gunfight and it worked. Any celebration was brief. 0:18:26.101 --> 0:18:30.341 The dead and the wounded were scattered everywhere. The twentieth 0:18:30.381 --> 0:18:33.941 Main suffered one hundred and thirty casualties, about one third 0:18:34.061 --> 0:18:39.541 of the regiment. Amazingly, Joshua's brothers Tom and John both survived. 0:18:40.541 --> 0:18:42.981 Joshua wrote to Fanny, what. 0:18:43.181 --> 0:18:47.381 Fighting that was? A thousand dead horses lay on fields 0:18:47.421 --> 0:18:51.341 torn by shells, and half as many men. I left 0:18:51.421 --> 0:18:55.821 thirty two noble fellows dead. Gathered them all and laid 0:18:55.861 --> 0:18:57.461 them side by side in the grave. 0:18:59.381 --> 0:19:02.301 Joshua would go down in history for a little roundtop, 0:19:03.061 --> 0:19:06.821 but the bravery that came next was every bit as heroic, 0:19:07.581 --> 0:19:27.501 and honestly, maybe even harder. After Gettysburg, Joshua Chamberlain was 0:19:27.541 --> 0:19:32.981 broken down physically and mentally. He wrote to his army doctor. 0:19:33.541 --> 0:19:36.581 I am convinced that I can no longer continue these 0:19:36.661 --> 0:19:39.661 duties without the most serious consequences. 0:19:40.381 --> 0:19:43.380 He went home to his family and recovered, and then 0:19:43.421 --> 0:19:46.261 he raced back to the front. He just couldn't stay 0:19:46.261 --> 0:19:49.781 away from the battlefield. But three months after he returned 0:19:49.781 --> 0:19:54.261 to action, he was out again. This time he had malaria. 0:19:55.061 --> 0:19:58.860 He was lucky to survive. During the war, malaria caused 0:19:58.901 --> 0:20:03.621 ten thousand deaths. Once again, Joshua got back to combat 0:20:03.661 --> 0:20:08.221 as quickly as he could. On June eighteenth, he was 0:20:08.341 --> 0:20:12.221 leading his men at the Battle of Petersburg outside of Richmond, Virginia, 0:20:12.621 --> 0:20:16.261 and he was shot at first, he wasn't quite sure 0:20:16.341 --> 0:20:17.261 where he was hit. 0:20:18.301 --> 0:20:21.261 In the hiss and roar and blinding flying earth, I 0:20:21.261 --> 0:20:24.821 felt a sharp, hot flush that seemed to cut the 0:20:24.861 --> 0:20:28.221 spinal narrow out of my backbone. My thought was that 0:20:28.301 --> 0:20:30.661 I had been shot in the back, and the shame 0:20:30.741 --> 0:20:33.461 of it was worse than death. To be shot in 0:20:33.501 --> 0:20:36.461 the back in the face of the enemy, this was 0:20:36.541 --> 0:20:41.261 worse than refusing to attack. I was lost, dead or alive, 0:20:41.341 --> 0:20:43.101 and better dead. 0:20:44.661 --> 0:20:47.421 To be clear, the way he viewed it, if he 0:20:47.541 --> 0:20:50.541 was shot in the back, people might have thought he 0:20:50.581 --> 0:20:54.701 was running away, so he tried to stay upright, bracing 0:20:54.821 --> 0:20:58.261 himself on his sword. He watched as his men went 0:20:58.381 --> 0:21:00.701 past him, looking at him with pity. 0:21:01.461 --> 0:21:04.501 But then I looked down for the first time I 0:21:04.501 --> 0:21:06.821 saw the blood spurting out of my right hip side, 0:21:07.581 --> 0:21:10.061 not shot in the back. Then I do not think 0:21:10.101 --> 0:21:12.781 I was ever so happy in my life. 0:21:12.861 --> 0:21:14.941 He lay on the ground in a pool of blood. 0:21:15.701 --> 0:21:17.581 When one of his men tried to pull him out 0:21:17.581 --> 0:21:20.781 of danger, Joshua refused. He didn't want to take a 0:21:20.821 --> 0:21:22.781 single soldier off the battlefield. 0:21:23.461 --> 0:21:25.541 I would not let him try to get me away. 0:21:25.821 --> 0:21:28.421 It would not be worth the cost. I told them 0:21:28.461 --> 0:21:32.541 it was no good. I was not worth it. Begging pardon, 0:21:32.781 --> 0:21:35.301 they said, but you are not in command now. 0:21:36.581 --> 0:21:39.141 When they finally got him off the field, the surgeon 0:21:39.181 --> 0:21:42.501 told Joshua that he would die. He rode to Fanny 0:21:42.541 --> 0:21:47.301 and his kids to say, goodbye. 0:21:45.701 --> 0:21:49.981 My darling wife. I am lying mortally wounded, the doctors think, 0:21:50.221 --> 0:21:54.741 but my mind and heart are at peace. God bless 0:21:54.781 --> 0:21:58.140 and keep and comfort you, precious one. You have been 0:21:58.181 --> 0:22:01.100 a precious wife to me. To know and love you 0:22:01.261 --> 0:22:05.181 makes life it in death beautiful. Cherish the darlings, and 0:22:05.861 --> 0:22:09.541 do not grieve too much for me. Live for the children. 0:22:11.661 --> 0:22:15.781 Doesn't that just make you melt? The bullet had done 0:22:15.821 --> 0:22:21.421 major internal damage, and yet somehow Joshua lived. In those 0:22:21.501 --> 0:22:25.221 days before antiseptics and antibiotics. It was pretty much a miracle. 0:22:25.981 --> 0:22:28.580 And what did a miracle signify to a man of 0:22:28.621 --> 0:22:32.741 God that he should go back to war? Of course, 0:22:34.061 --> 0:22:38.461 by November, just five months after he was wounded, Joshua 0:22:38.581 --> 0:22:41.421 was at the front. He couldn't even get on a 0:22:41.501 --> 0:22:45.861 horse or walk one hundred yards. Nobody would have expected 0:22:45.941 --> 0:22:48.461 him to be there, but he felt it was his duty. 0:22:49.181 --> 0:22:52.701 He had to show bravery and honor. Given how brave 0:22:52.781 --> 0:22:56.181 and honorable his men had been. He wrote to his 0:22:56.261 --> 0:22:57.701 parents to try to explain it. 0:22:58.541 --> 0:23:01.781 I owe the country three years service. It is a 0:23:01.781 --> 0:23:05.061 time when every man should stand by his guns, and 0:23:05.101 --> 0:23:07.501 I am not scared or hurt enough yet to be 0:23:07.581 --> 0:23:10.901 willing to face the rear when other men are marked 0:23:11.141 --> 0:23:11.661 to the front. 0:23:13.221 --> 0:23:15.620 He fought in the battles of Five Forks and at 0:23:15.701 --> 0:23:19.661 Quaker Road. The Union troops were victorious in both, and 0:23:19.781 --> 0:23:23.221 the end of the war was coming. All the while, 0:23:23.541 --> 0:23:28.100 reporters were there watching Joshua ride in about his heroism 0:23:28.661 --> 0:23:32.901 in the North. He was becoming a household name. And finally, 0:23:33.221 --> 0:23:38.101 on April ninth, eighteen sixty five, Robert ed Lee surrendered 0:23:38.141 --> 0:23:41.941 at Appomattox. Joshua was there, and he was asked to 0:23:42.021 --> 0:23:45.741 lead the surrender ceremonies. Even though he had fought the 0:23:45.741 --> 0:23:49.140 Confederate forces for so long and lost so many of 0:23:49.181 --> 0:23:52.661 his men and friends, he was determined to make the 0:23:52.701 --> 0:23:59.221 ceremonies honorable, respectful, even kind. The two armies met on 0:23:59.301 --> 0:24:03.061 the battlefield one last time. Joshua was at the front 0:24:03.061 --> 0:24:06.341 of the Union troops. The men of the twentieth Main 0:24:06.461 --> 0:24:10.461 were beside him, and then the Confederate units came one 0:24:10.501 --> 0:24:14.861 by one and laid down their arms. Joshua looked at 0:24:14.901 --> 0:24:18.101 the ragged Southern troops and his heart went out to them. 0:24:18.421 --> 0:24:22.941 He saw their humanity, so he had his soldiers salute them. 0:24:23.781 --> 0:24:27.181 The first Confederate general to approach realize what Joshua's men 0:24:27.221 --> 0:24:30.621 were doing, and he dipped his sword in a bow of. 0:24:30.541 --> 0:24:34.421 Things on our part, not a sound of trumpet more, 0:24:34.901 --> 0:24:38.541 nor a roll of drum, not a cheer, but an 0:24:38.541 --> 0:24:42.181 odd stillness and breath holding, as if it were the 0:24:42.221 --> 0:24:43.181 passing of the dead. 0:24:45.461 --> 0:24:48.901 Accepting their surrender with empathy was the only way he 0:24:49.021 --> 0:24:52.821 knew how to act. Towards the end, Joshua heard a 0:24:52.821 --> 0:24:57.741 Confederate general shouting at his troops. Joshua approached him, hoping 0:24:57.861 --> 0:25:01.981 to say something supportive, but that general said, quote, you 0:25:02.101 --> 0:25:06.501 may forgive us, but we won't be forgiven. We hate you, sir. 0:25:07.581 --> 0:25:10.901 Joshua was stunned, because that's not how we thought about it. 0:25:11.701 --> 0:25:14.821 He saw past the fighting to what they were fighting for, 0:25:15.741 --> 0:25:18.901 and he hoped that all of the bloodshed could lead 0:25:18.981 --> 0:25:22.141 to something better for everyone. 0:25:22.381 --> 0:25:25.661 The whole country will be drawn together under the law 0:25:25.741 --> 0:25:32.421 of its larger life, its deepest convictions, its highest aims. 0:25:33.461 --> 0:25:37.501 After the war, Joshua Chamberlain returned to Maine. He was 0:25:37.541 --> 0:25:41.100 thirty six, and he was famous. He thought about the 0:25:41.101 --> 0:25:44.620 war all the time. He covered his house with Civil 0:25:44.621 --> 0:25:48.821 War memorabilia. He went on speaking engagements across the country 0:25:48.861 --> 0:25:52.861 talking about his experiences. He loved being with Fanny and 0:25:52.901 --> 0:25:56.701 the kids, but he struggled with depression, in part because 0:25:56.701 --> 0:25:59.781 he was in constant pain from his bullet wound. He 0:25:59.861 --> 0:26:02.141 had more surgeries to try to fix it, but the 0:26:02.221 --> 0:26:06.941 damage would never fully heal. As a Civil War hero, 0:26:07.261 --> 0:26:12.101 he became a symbol of patriotism and leadership. Eighteen sixty six, 0:26:12.381 --> 0:26:15.541 he was elected governor of Maine, even though he had 0:26:15.581 --> 0:26:19.661