However, the battle was not going as well on the right, where Law’s men were pushing up the west slope of Little Round Top. The 44th New York and 83rd Pennsylvania in the center stood firm against repeated attacks, but on the right, part of the 16th Michigan fell back. When Vincent saw signs of faltering by the 16th Michigan, he rushed forward and, while encouraging his men, fell, mortally wounded. He died five days later.

It appeared that the Confederate drive might succeed despite the heroic defense by the 20th Maine. Warren, on the crest of Little Round Top, received a call for immediate help. He searched for reinforcements and found Colonel Patrick H. O’Rorke and the 140th New York Regiment in the rear. These 526 men, dressed in jaunty new Zouave uniforms, scrambled up the hill. Without taking time to align ranks, O’Rorke yelled, “Down this way, boys!” and led them down the western slope. His men drove back the Confederate troops, but O’Rorke fell with the first volley, fatally hit in the neck by a Minie bullet.

By the time the Confederates could regroup, more Union reinforcements had poured into position. This discouraged further attempts by the Southerners to take Little Round Top. The golden opportunity to turn the Union left was gone. Little Round Top had been saved for the Union, and in saving Little Round Top, its courageous defenders had saved the left end of the Union line, the Battle of Gettysburg, and perhaps the entire Union.

Oates said later, “General Lee was never so close to victory as that day on Little Round Top.” And he summed it up: “There was no better regiment in the Confederate Army than the 15th Alabama, and if it failed to carry any point against which it was thrown, no other single regiment need try it. It fought hard and persistently. The other regiments of the brigade did their duty at Gettysburg, but the 15th struck the hardest knot. There never were harder fighters than the 20th Maine and their gallant Colonel. His skill and persistence 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.”

Perhaps because of his showing at Gettysburg, Oates was never officially confirmed a colonel by the Confederate Congress. Instead, his command was taken over by another officer in the regiment, Major Alexander A. Lowther, who managed to formally receive his colonelcy ahead of Oates. Reduced to major, Oates was transferred to the 48th Georgia Regiment, and while leading it he was shot in the right arm in June 1864 during the Wilderness Campaign. The limb was amputated and Oates subsequently left the service. After the war he served seven terms as an Alabama congressman and one term as governor. He later served, improbably, as a brigadier general during the Spanish-American War.

As for Chamberlain, the college professor-turned-warrior survived two wounds at Little Round Top and a more serious wound 11 months later at Petersburg, where commanding general Ulysses S. Grant, thinking Chamberlain was about to die, promoted him to brigadier general on the field. Chamberlain survived that wound, as well, and had the signal honor of receiving the formal surrender of Robert E. Lee’s army at Appomattox Court House in April 1865.

Like Oates, his young opponent that memorable day, Chamberlain entered politics after the war, serving four terms as governor of Maine before returning to Bowdoin College as its president. In a sense, Chamberlain had made it full circle. A grateful Congress bestowed him with the Medal of Honor in 1893, exactly 30 years after his quick thinking and gallant action saved Little Round Top–and the Union.

---

Like Joshua Chamberlain, author David Cross is an “Up East” Yankee, residing in Rutland, Vt. Further reading: Harry W. Pfanz’s Gettysburg: The Second Day, or William Oates’ firsthand account, The War Between the Union and the Confederacy.

[ Top | Cover Page ]

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5