Chamberlain New Joshua L. Chamberlain Forum and Host!

Wonderful. I've been re-reading my Shelby Foote, published long before he became famous via Ken Burns, who in turn, made Chamberlain famous. In Vol 2, pp 501 ff, Foote writes about the attempt to take LRT. I don't want to type in the whole thing, but Foote spends most of his time on Col. William Oates, CSA and mentions O'Rourke, Warren, Strong Vincent, on others for the Union side. Joshua Chamberlain is mentioned once. In Foote's analysis Oates 15th Alabama was already retreating when the Maine regiment launched its bayonet attack. Foote uses Oates quote: "we ran like a herd of wild cattle..."

I am trying to pull together my reactions to Shelby Foote's magnum opus on this re-reading, the first in more than 15 years. I note particularly in this description of the battle on LRT he uses Oates' account extensively and doesn't quote Chamberlain at all.

There are a number of other examples like this. Foote has often been characterized as pro-Confederate, but this kind of sourcing, IMHO, lends a whole new level of credence to this characterization...

By the way, Oates and Chamberlain had quite a correspondence in the 1890's. Both shared a lot in common, including their severe wounds. Both are fascinating men.
 
...couldn't have picked a better person. :thumbsup:
Congrats Suze!!! I'm coming after you and that hack Chamberlain on your little forum. Kidding of course. I look forward to some fun and informative discussions.
 
Wonderful. I've been re-reading my Shelby Foote, published long before he became famous via Ken Burns, who in turn, made Chamberlain famous. In Vol 2, pp 501 ff, Foote writes about the attempt to take LRT. I don't want to type in the whole thing, but Foote spends most of his time on Col. William Oates, CSA and mentions O'Rourke, Warren, Strong Vincent, on others for the Union side. Joshua Chamberlain is mentioned once. In Foote's analysis Oates 15th Alabama was already retreating when the Maine regiment launched its bayonet attack. Foote uses Oates quote: "we ran like a herd of wild cattle..."

I am trying to pull together my reactions to Shelby Foote's magnum opus on this re-reading, the first in more than 15 years. I note particularly in this description of the battle on LRT he uses Oates' account extensively and doesn't quote Chamberlain at all.

There are a number of other examples like this. Foote has often been characterized as pro-Confederate, but this kind of sourcing, IMHO, lends a whole new level of credence to this characterization...

By the way, Oates and Chamberlain had quite a correspondence in the 1890's. Both shared a lot in common, including their severe wounds. Both are fascinating men.
I don't have Foote in front of me right now as I am traveling, but if memory serves didn't Foote say that Vincent was shot through the heart and died on the spot?
I wrote a note on my site to that effect: http://www.joshualawrencechamberlain.com/historyofthearmy.php
 
I don't have Foote in front of me right now as I am traveling, but if memory serves didn't Foote say that Vincent was shot through the heart and died on the spot?
I wrote a note on my site to that effect: http://www.joshualawrencechamberlain.com/historyofthearmy.php

Yep. Page 504....

But from wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_Vincent

One of Vincent's regiments, the 20th Maine, led by Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, has received most of the fame for the defense of Little Round Top, but there is little doubt that the efforts and bravery of Vincent were instrumental in the eventual Union victory. Vincent impressed upon Chamberlain the importance of his position on the brigade's left flank and then he left to attend to the brigade's right flank. There, the 16th Michigan Infantry was starting to yield to enemy pressure. Mounting a large boulder, Vincent brandished a riding crop given to him by his wife and shouted to his men "Don't give an inch!" A bullet struck him through the thigh and the groin and he fell. Due to the determination of the 20th Maine, the 44th New York, the 83rd Pennsylvania and the 16th Michigan Infantry Regiments, the Union line held against the Confederate onslaught. Vincent was carried from the hill to a nearby farm, where he lay dying for the next five days, unable to be transported home due to the severity of his injury.

Makes one wonder about Shelby Foote don't it?

What was the cop show where the tag line was "Be careful out there."? Maybe that should be the motto of this whole blog when consulting secondary sources....
 
Wonderful that we now got this new forum and that suzenatale agreed to host it. I'm looking forward to the new finds she will bring back from Bowdoin College.

As a German I was surprised to find this letter of 1870 in which JLC offers his service to King William of Prussia in the Franco/Prussian War of 1870/71.
http://learn.bowdoin.edu/joshua-lawrence-chamberlain/documents/1870-07-20.html
One should think that he had had his share of bullets and wounds from the American Civil War but it seems to me as if he could not quit. Obviously, beneath all the pain and the longing for peace at least a small part of him must have enjoyed the display of manly honor on the battlefield. Maybe he enjoyed leading men into battle, having his orders carried out ( a thing he seemingly did not experience too often at home ...) and living on adrenaline day by day.
 
I was also fascinated and perplexed at the same time by JLC's letter to King William. Fascinated because JLC so obviously wants to go back to the thrill of battle, perplexed because, even tho JLC was fluent in German, the letter was written in English.
 
I was also fascinated and perplexed at the same time by JLC's letter to King William. Fascinated because JLC so obviously wants to go back to the thrill of battle, perplexed because, even tho JLC was fluent in German, the letter was written in English.
This is just from my memory, but I do believe he wrote it in German and made a translation in English to keep in his own records.

PS. ah, yes, look at the upper left corner of the document http://learn.bowdoin.edu/joshua-lawrence-chamberlain/documents/1870-07-20.html
 
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