WASHINGTON, D.C. – In remarks on the Senate floor yesterday, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) commemorated the 150^th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg by paying tribute to General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who led the 20^th Maine regiment in defense of Little Round Top. Chamberlain, who prior to enlisting served as professor of modern languages at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, had “no history in the military, but decided that he had a vision of America and he wanted to serve his country.” Senator King accredited Chamberlain’s victory at Little Round Top to his unwavering courage and creativity as leader. After the Civil War, General Chamberlain was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and later served as Governor of the State Maine. Senator King has always considered Chamberlain a personal hero and one of Maine’s greatest sons.

“I tell the story because it’s a story of our country, and it’s the story of how a single person’s actions and bravery can have enormous impact. Historians argue about whether this was really the key turning point, was there something else, was it some other regiment in some other place, but an argument can made that this college professor from Maine saved the United States. The defining moment for our country was that hot afternoon in Pennsylvania, July 2, 1863. I believe it’s one of the great stories of American history and in fact the story of Chamberlain and Little Round Top is taught in Army manuals to this day as a story of leadership, of creativity, of perseverance, of courage, and of devotion to God and country,” Senator King said.

A complete transcript of his remarks is included below:

“Mr. President, we all know that next Thursday, a week from tomorrow is our nation’s most important anniversary, July 4th, 1776, the birthday of the country. But Tuesday, July 2, is also one of our most important anniversaries. Because July 1, 2, and 3 are the days that the battle of Gettysburg occurred. Probably the defining event in the history of this country. And it’s especially important this year because it’s the 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg and what I’d like to do is share just a few moments about one particular aspect of that battle but it does indeed involve Maine and Alabama. And it involves a man from Maine named Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who in 1862 was a professor of modern languages at Bowdoin College in Maine. Wasn’t a soldier, had no history in the military, but decided that he had a vision of America and he wanted to serve his country.

“He joined a volunteer regiment organized in Maine in August of 1862 called the 20th Maine Regiment. They came down the east coast, up the Potomac to Washington, and were immediately deployed to Antietam in September of 1862, the bloodiest day in American history. Fortunately for the 20th Maine they were held in reserve that day. They did see action over the course of the fall and early winter at the battle of Fredericksburg, and then along with two great armies they headed north into the state of Pennsylvania.

“Mr. President, you’re going to have to bear with my cartographical skills here. But it’s helpful I think if we can see what happened. It’s easy to draw Virginia because it’s a big triangle. So this is Virginia, here’s the Maryland-Pennsylvania border, and in the early summer of 1863, two great armies snaked north out of Virginia. Lee’s army of northern Virginia came up the west side of the foothills of the Appalachians into Pennsylvania, shadowed by Meade’s army of the Potomac, both 90,000 men. And Lee was leading the way into Pennsylvania without a particular destination, but a desire to engage the Federal army in one climactic battle which he thought, correctly, could have ended the Civil War. Nobody knows exactly why on July 1 of 1863 those two armies collided in the little town of Gettysburg.

“There’s a rumor there was a shoe factory there and that the southern army were going to go and requisition those shoes. But for whatever reason the two armies met in this little town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. And one of the interesting things about the battle was that Lee’s army had already gotten almost to Harrisburg and came down into Gettysburg. The Union army was coming up the Taneytown road from Washington and from the south, and they came in from this direction. And so at the battle of Gettysburg, Mr. President, the southern army came in from the north and the northern army came in from the south.

“On the first day of the battle it was a stand-off. They met almost by accident in this town. There was fierce fighting in the streets of Gettysburg and south of the town, and it was essentially a draw. And at the end of the day on July 1st — and the word flashed back to both armies that this was it — this was the confrontation. And reinforcements came in from around from both lines of march to meet at this little town. And what happened on the second day was, on the morning of the second day the union troops, again if this is the town up here, the union troops ended up on a hill called Culp’s Hill. And then in a long line to the south along an area that was an old place where they buried people. Of course, that’s Seminary Ridge. On the other side the Confederates — and interestingly enough throughout American history, red markers represent the Confederates and blue the Federals — the Confederates ended up on a long ridge that went down in this way with about a mile apart. And over here was a place where they trained people to be preachers. And that, of course, is Cemetery Ridge. So generations of sixth graders have been — Seminary Ridge over here, Cemetery Ridge here, generations of sixth graders have been confused by this, but it’s Cemetery where the Union, and Seminary where the Confederate troops were.

“About the middle of the second day of the battle, a Union General noticed that there was a small hill down at the bottom of the entire line of the Union troops that was unoccupied by either side. He also immediately realized this could be the most important piece of property in the entire battlefield. Because it had an elevation that looked up the entire Federal line, and it anchored the Federal line. The Union General grabbed the nearest officer near him and said we have to occupy that hill immediately. The fellow’s name was Strong Vincent was the officer from New York. And Vincent grabbed two other regiments, New York and Pennsylvania, and then Maine, the 20th Maine regiment, and they went to the top of this hill.

“Now, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain had only been the Colonel of the 20th Maine for about a month. He was in charge of 358 men, and Vincent took him to the extreme left flank of the Union army, of this little hill, which is called Little Round Top. We had Pennsylvania, New York, and Maine. And Vincent took Lawrence — Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain — to this point and here were his orders: ‘This is the extreme left flank of the entire Union army. You are to hold this ground at all hazards.’ At all hazards. That means to the death. Almost immediately upon getting to the top of the hill, up came the 15th Alabama, one of the crack regiments in Lee’ army, up the hill to try to dislodge the 20th Maine. Now, if you haven’t been to Gettysburg, Little Round Top, if God was going to build a fortress it would look like Little Round Top. It’s steep, rocky, with lots of places to be behind and indeed, Chamberlain took maximum advantage of that as the charge came they were able to repel it. A half hour later or so the Alabamans came again. They were pushed back. They came again, and were pushed back. And each time they got closer and closer to the top of the hill because of the nature of guns in the civil war.

“A good shooter in the civil war, a good handler of a rifle, could get off four shots a minute. So I want you to think of yourself, Mr. President, at the top of that hill with the 15th Alabama coming up and you take aim with your rifle and shoot. Bang!

“You’re now prepared to shoot a second time. That period that sounded like an eternity was 15 seconds. That’s how long it would take to reload and get another shot. So that’s why in this situation the charge came closer and closer, and by the third and fourth charge, it became hand-to-hand combat.

“I should say, by the way, as I mentioned that Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was not a soldier by trade. He was a professor at a little college. He spoke ten languages in 1856. But he had a deep vision for the meaning of America, and he had a deep concern about the issue of slavery. When he was a student at Bowdoin in the early 1850’s, a young professor’s wife was writing a book, and he sat in the living room of this professor and listened to her read excerpts from this book. And the book turned out to probably be the most influential book ever published in America. It was called "Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and it described for people in the country the evils of slavery. And indeed when Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe and shook her hand, he said “I’m shaking the hand that started the Civil War.” Because it lit the fuse that led to the pressure that ultimately led to the abolition of slavery.

“So in any case, four and then five charges, each time the 15th Alabama was repulsed, but then they were gathering at the bottom of the hill for the final assault. Late in the day, a hot afternoon, July 2nd, 1863. The problem was for Chamberlain, his men were out of ammunition. They each had been issued 60 cartridges at the beginning of the battle, they’d all been fired during those five assaults. He then had a choice to make as a leader. He had three options. One was to retreat, which is a perfectly honorable thing to do in a military situation, but his orders were to hold the ground at all hazards. At all hazards. Because if he hadn’t, if the Confederates had gotten around little Roundtop, the entire rear of the Union army was exposed. His other option was to stand and fight until overwhelmed. That wouldn’t have worked very well, because it would have only delayed them for a few minutes. Instead, he chose an extraordinary option that was very unusual even at the time, and he uttered one word, and the word was ‘Bayonets.’ There’s a dispute in history whether he also said “Charge” and what his actual order was, but everybody agrees that he order uttered the word "Bayonets" and his soldiers knew what that meant, and down the hill into the face of the final Confederate charge came 200 crazy guys from Maine. The 15th Alabama for the first and only time in the Civil War was so shocked by this technique that they turned and ran. And the 200 boys from Maine — and I say 200 because at the beginning of this action there were over 300, they’d lost a hundred to casualties and death — captured 4 or 500 Confederates with no bullets in their guns. Chamberlain tried to call his men back. They said ‘Hell no General, we’re on our way to Richmond.

“Now, I tell this story because it’s a story of extraordinary bravery. By the way, Chamberlain received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery and creativity that afternoon on that little hill in Pennsylvania. But I tell the story because it’s a story of our country, and it’s the story of how a single person’s actions and bravery can have enormous impact. Historians argue about whether this was really the key turning point, was there something else, was it some other regiment in some other place, but an argument can made that this college professor from Maine saved the United States. The defining moment for our country was that hot afternoon in Pennsylvania, July 2, 1863. I believe it’s one of the great stories of American history and in fact the story of Chamberlain and Little Round Top is taught in Army manuals to this day as a story of leadership, of creativity, of perseverance, of courage, and of devotion to God and country.

“Mr. President, I hope all Americans will think about these moments and thousands more like them as we celebrate not only the birth of our country next week, but also the rebirth of our country in the three days prior to July 4th. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.”

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