Joshua L. Chamberlain's Charge: The Turning Point Of War

“On the afternoon of July 2,1863, the second day at Gettysburg, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain led the 20th Regiment Maine Volunteers, fewer than 500 officers and men, up the steep slope of Little Round Top and into the pages of history.” ( Longacre ) . In May 1863, Gettysburg began with General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia's second invasion of the North. On its second day, Lee ordered an attack on the Union army just south of Gettysburg. By the third day, the Confederate army was forced to retreat back as a result of a failed Pickett’s Charge. The Union was saved and peace was eventually restored because of Joshua L. Chamberlain’s short period of defense at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863.

Joshua Chamberlain was

An infantry assault by 12,000 Confederate soldiers against the Union army was executed, well , attempted, known as Pickett’s Charge. “ The charge was repulsed by Union rifle and artillery fire, resulting in great losses to the Confederate army. Lee led his army back to Virginia and as many as 51,000 soldiers from both armies were killed, wounded, captured or missing. Four months after the battle, President Lincoln used the dedication ceremony for Gettysburg's Soldiers National Cemetery to honor the fallen Union soldiers, and to redefine the purpose of the war in his historic Gettysburg Address.” ( “Gettysburg” ) All because of one failed charge, Lee surrendered. That should kind of gave a tell sign that Lee was already weakened and ready to retreat back to

Had the Confederacy won, the country would have been split into two separate parts. There wouldn’t have been this saying in the Pledge, “One nation, under God.” “ This small town of only 2,400 was left with a total (from both sides) of over 51,000 casualties. Lee would never again attempt an offensive operation of such proportions. The war was to rage for two more terrible and tormenting years but the Confederacy never recovered from the losses of Gettysburg. And through the deepening twilight of Confederate military might, all who had been to Gettysburg would remember.” ( “The Battle of Gettysburg”