147 Years Ago Today

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

I wonder about the men who fought at Gettysburg 147 years ago, and if they were thinking about Independence Day.

Survival was probably foremost on their minds, but the idea (on both sides) of the meaning of The Fourth of July must have been in their thoughts as well.

Our country was not so far removed then from 1776, when a group of men -- knowing their signatures on the Declaration of Independence would mean certain death if their cause failed -- signed it anyway. The last line of the document said it all: "And for the support of this Declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

But 87 years later (or, "four score and seven years"), the struggle was a different one. It was not to throw off the chains of tyranny placed there by a king, but the chains of slavery and for the preservation of the Union.

The "peculiar institution" of slavery and how to justify it, or abolish it, was debated at the time the Declaration was signed during the American Revolution. Many of our Founding Fathers owned slaves, yet some hated the idea.

That might have been on the minds of those at Gettysburg, too.

One of those men was Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain - perhaps the most unlikely military hero our nation ever had. He was a peaceful man - a professor at Bowdoin College in Maine who could speak ten languages. Until he volunteered for duty in the Civil War, he had no military training.

Yet his actions 147 years ago today, July 3, 1863, on a Gettysburg's Little Round Top, might have singlehandedly saved the Union. There are some who believe, if Chamberlain had faltered, the Confederates could have poured through the hole in the left flank and devastated the Union's undefended cities. Beyond Chamberlain and the 20th Maine Regiment lay virtually nothing to stop the Army of Northern Virginia, whch likely would have sacked Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. That, in turn, could have forced Abraham Lincoln to sue for peace.

I wonder what the world would be like today if, below the Mason-Dixon Line, there was a Confederate States of America? Thanks, perhaps, to a peaceful college professor from Maine, the answer is only conjecture.

At Little Round Top 147 years ago on this very day, Chamberlain and his men were almost out of ammunition. They barely repelled attack after attack. Then Chamberlain ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge into the enemy lines. It was a last-ditch effort. Nobody could have faulted Chamberlain and his men for pulling back instead. It's happened many times in war, but retreat at that moment would have been devastating.

Chamberlain's Maine men won the day. More hard fighting still lay ahead, but the Confederates were not able to exploit what turned out to be the weakest spot in the Union line.

Chamberlain survived 20 battles during the Civil War.  He was cited for bravery four times, had six horses shot from under him, and was wounded six times. But it was his actions at Little Round Top that earned him the highest military award this nation can bestow: The Medal of Honor. In the last official act of the worst period in our history, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was chosen to accept the surrender of Confederate infantry at Appomattox Court House.

After the war, Chamberlain was elected four times as Governor of Maine, and he eventually became president of Bowdoin College. In 1898, at the age of 70 and in pain from old injuries, he volunteered to serve in the Spanish-American War, but was rejected. He called it one of the great disappointments of his life.

He finally died in 1914, finally succumbing to the many wounds he received in the Civil War, a half-century earlier.

I have always found it amazing that Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a peaceful and brilliant man, also is one of our country's greatest military heroes. He was the perfect example of the citizen soldier who was a peace-lover at heart, but fought when necessary.

And I hope our military service members today - every one of them a citizen soldier who was not drafted, but volunteered - are able to take a moment to reflect on what happened 234 years ago tomorrow, when imperfect men risked it all just by signing their names.

Just a few days ago, President Obama said: "... I reject the notion that the Afghan people don't want some of the basic things that everybody wants -- basic rule of law, a voice in governance, economic opportunity, basic physical security, electricity, roads, an ability to get a harvest to market and get a fair price for it without having to pay too many bribes in between. And I think we can make a difference, and the coalition can make a difference, in them meeting those aspirations ..."

Substitute "Iraqi," "Panamanian," "Vietnamese," "Korean," "German," Italian," or "Japanese," for "Afghan," and similar words could have been uttered by several other U.S. Presidents.

Our enemies today are no less dedicated to the destruction of the United States than those of 1776, 1863, or 1941.

Make no mistake. Our country has survived, and will, because of people like Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain who serve the cause of peace, but are willing to fight -- not to conquer -- but to bring about a better world.

Happy Independence Day.