"Rations were scarcely issued, and the men about preparing supper, when rumors that the enemy had been encountered that day near Gettysburg absorbed every other interest, and very soon orders came to march forthwith to Gettysburg." - Joshua L. Chamberlain, Lieutenant Colonel, 20th Maine Regiment, United States Army.
On November 21st, 2016, I went to visit the hallowed ground of the Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania, where over the course of three days would become home to the bloodiest battle ever fought in US history. As one who has a particular partiality to Civil War history, this visit would indeed become very emotional for me. From Little Round on top on the extreme left of the Army of the Potomac to the fields surrounding Cemetery Hill, each step I took was taken in the utmost reverence for these grounds.
Never before have I been so struck by a sight of history. And indeed, this battlefield would decide the fate of one of the most crucial conflicts in our history as a nation. I wept as I sat on the hedges of the ruined stone walls of Little Round Top, and remembering the heroic bravery of the famed 20th Maine Regiment under Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, whose victorious defense against Confederate General John Bell Hood's division after repeated assaults would cement them into the history books as being the deciding factor of the Gettysburg Campaign for the Union Army. Moreover, I wept for this generation, who travail these grounds like common dirt and mud, and continually neglect the pride we must take as Americans in the cost that was paid in blood so that ALL men can be free.
Everything I was taught about this conflict that lasted four gory years suddenly sprung to life as I reimagined the 3-day conflict at Gettysburg, beginning with General J.N.O. Buford's valiant calvary stance against Confederate General Henry Heth's Division near Seminary Ridge on July 1st, 1863 and ending with traveling the fields where Confederate Division Commander George Pickett led the disastrous advance on cemetery hill against Union Corps Commander Winfield Hancock on July 3rd, 1863, which led to thousands of troops being slaughtered over a mile of open ground, thereby forever branding the incident as "Pickett's Charge".
Disastrous as it was, the Pickett's men must indeed be given their credit as they lumbered across the fields to Cemetery Hill knowing that this was probably a suicide mission. As I traveled across the field myself, I was stunned to see the distance to Cemetery Hill; imagining the barrage from long-range artillery fire from the Union cannons.
Confederate General Robert E. Lee, perhaps the most respected and beloved commanding officer in the Civil War, looked on in dismay as he ordered his second-in-command 1st Corps Commander James Longstreet to mobilize his divisions under the leadership of General Johnston Pettigrew, General Isaac Trimble, and General George Pickett himself, to unleash the "sea of gray" across the battlefield against the "sea of blue" that occupied Cemetery Hill.As I traveled across where the Confederate army marched, it was as if through some trick of the mind that I was able to sense the aroma of a lingering cloud of gun power; as if the massacre that happened that day could still be sensed after 150 years. The sight of this laid a heaviness on me, as if I was there myself as a witness.
Indeed, the men of both sides of the conflict were valiant fighters warring for what they believed in, but it was our glorious Union that took up the mantle to fight so that all men can indeed be free.
What made this conflict even more astounding was the bravado that pervaded the morale of the fighting men. Seeming to hold no fear of death, they were willing to spit in its face for the sake of fighting for their cause.
The entire battle yielded 51,112 casualties; approximately one-third of all forces engaged that day.
I ponder if anyone in my generation knows of how much blood needed to be spilt before we can truly enjoy the freedoms we cherish so dearly today; moreover, if anyone in my generation knows about what happens when a nation is divided against itself.
We are so willing today to be ignorant about the freedoms we enjoy today and the incredible cost that had to be paid in blood. During Gettysburg, both sides of the conflict were fighting to shape the course of our country's history and were willing to make any sacrifice to see their mission accomplished.
I can indeed say that I will never again be the same after walking on this hallowed ground. It is one thing to read and study about our war history in the classroom, but its a completely different experience to actually be there and witness the field upon which liberty won in a gory victory.
As renowned author Jeff Shaara once asserted,
" If you go to Gettysburg and take the time, maybe take a tour, maybe just drive around, read some of the monuments, read some of the plaques, you will come away changed."
Indeed, not only did I leave the sacred site changed, but I also left in bitter anger as I reflected on the current state of the Union and how the socialists and uneducated millennials that have risen to power have succeeded in stripping freedom away from the people and dividing this country through rubbish, spitting on the graves of every man that gave up his life in battle over the years to ensure that the people of this great nation shall always remain free.
In the Summer of 1863, 120 U.S. troops from Maine's Second Regiment engaged in a mutinous act by refusing to fight any longer in the war after the regiment was disbanded. Foolishly signing 3-year papers of service, they still had one more year of service left, to which they fiercely objected. Newly selected Commander of the Army of the Potomac George Meade had the men sent over to Lieutenant Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain's 20th Maine Regiment, giving him the option of either shooting them for dereliction of duty of persuading them to join the upcoming conflict at Gettysburg.
In a speech to the mutineers, Colonel Chamberlain would deliver one of the most inspiring speeches ever recorded in history. Encapsulating the the mission of the Union initiative, Chamberlain would answer the question that highlighted the "fork in the road" our country faced. Do we become a nation of limited freedom, or do we uphold the original vision of the Framers of the Constitution in that we become a nation where ALL men are truly free? Chamberlain fiercely believed in the latter and outlined the American patriotism that drives our nation's inhabitants to pick up the sword whenever liberty is being threatened.
Thus spoke Colonel Chamberlain to the men in an account given by renowned author Michael Shaara's novel "The Killer Angels",
“I’ve been ordered to take you men with me, I’m told that if you (laughs quietly) don’t come I can shoot you. Well, you know I won’t do that. Maybe somebody else will, but I won’t, so that’s that. Here’s the situation, the Whole Reb army is up that road aways waiting for us, so this is no time for an argument like this, I tell you. We could surely use you fellahs, we’re now well below half strength. Whether you fight or not, that’s up to you, whether you come along is... well, your coming. You know who we are and what we are doing here, but if you are going to fight alongside us there are a few things I want you to know. This regiment was formed last summer, in Maine. There were a thousand of us then, there are less than 300 of us now. All of us volunteered to fight for the Union, just as you have. Some came mainly because we were bored at home, thought this looked like it might be fun. Some came because we were ashamed not to. Many of came because it was the right thing to do. And all of us have seen men die. This is a different kind of army. If you look back through history you will see men fighting for pay, for women, for some other kind of loot. They fight for land, power, because a king leads them, or just because they like killing. But we are here for something new, this has not happened much, in the history of the world. We are an army out to set other men free. America should be free ground, all of it, not divided by a line between slave states and free – all the way from here to the Pacific Ocean. No man has to bow. No man born to royalty. Here we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was. Here you can be something. Here is the place to build a home. But it’s not the land, there’s always more land. It’s the idea that we all have value – you and me. What we are fighting for, in the end, we’re fighting for each other."
In the aftermath of his speech, 114 out of the 120 men voted to pick up the musket and fight with the regiment. Little did Chamberlain know, that just a few days later on July 2nd, he would be commissioned with the 20th Maine to defend the extreme left of the Union line on Little Round Top in Gettysburg, where he would make history by successfully fending off four attempted Confederate assaults to flank the Union from behind and would be later acclaimed as "The Hero of Little Round Top". The Union's victory here would set the pace for a victory against the Confederate campaign on Cemetery Hill and would ultimately be the turning point that would win the Federal Army the Civil War.
As I stood at the peak Little Round top and surveyed the entire battlefield of Gettysburg, I was reminded again of the cost of liberty and the thousands upon thousands of men and women who gave up their lives so that I and my comrades today can be free. This Thanksgiving, remember Gettysburg and the Judgment that took place, when the men in Blue and the men in Gray that fought fiercely to change the course of history and how all Americans today are reaping the blessings of liberty through the tremendous sacrifice that was made on this hallowed ground. As a nation we are stronger when we are united under the common purpose of freedom. I made an oath that day as I stood where my historical hero Colonel Chamberlain made his stand on Little Round Top, that I will forever defend liberty, and will only see it cease with my death. God bless Freedom, God Bless Gettysburg God bless our men and women in arms and God bless our eternal Union.
- Joseph Vazquez III
