Chamberlain’s Charge

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was a professor of rhetoric at Bowdoin College when the Civil War broke out. In 1862, Chamberlain accepted a commission in the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment of the Union Army. After only a little over a year in the war, he had climbed to the rank of Colonel. On July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg, Chamberlain and his regiment were stationed at the extreme left flank of the Union forces, on a hill called “Little Round-Top.” When the Confederate attack came, they were all that was left between the Union Army and disaster: if they gave way, the entire army could be…