“On the afternoon of July 2,1863, the second day at Gettysburg, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain led the 20th Maine Volunteers, fewer than 500 officers and men, up the steep slope of Little Round Top and into the pages of history.” ( Longacre, Civil War Times: “Chamberlain and the Facts”) . In May 1863, the turning point of the Civil War, Gettysburg, had begun with General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia's second invasion of the North. On its second day, Lee ordered an attack on Union forces dug in just south of town. His men, fresh off a first day of fighting, stormed the Union army’s left flank, but they were repelled as a result Chamberlain’s famous bayonet charge down Little Round Top. Therefore, 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. …show more content…
Also, in the same year he married Frances Caroline, daughter of Ashur Adams of Boston and Emily Adams of Hartford. In spring 1856, Joshua was elected professor of rhetoric and oratory at Bowdoin. By 1861, he was elected to the chair of modern languages for being fluent in nine languages: Greek, Latin, etc. In 1862 he was granted leave of absence for study abroad, but, abandoning the plan in spite of the protest of the college faculty, he enlisted as lieutenant-colonel of the 20th Maine Infantry, becoming colonel in May 1863, and continuing in active service until the end of the Civil War. ( U.S. History in Context: “Joshua Lawrence