The speech that rekindled loyalty and arguably won the US Civil War... Was not the Gettysburg address, it was the speech that Colonel Chamberlain gave to a large group of deserters that had been given to him the day before the biggest battle of the entire war. He desperately needed them to join his Northern Maine regiment for the upcoming battle. ...in that battle many historians agree that it was Colonel Chamberlain’s holding of Little Round Top that won the day, and was the turning point in the whole war, in favor of the North. Colonel Chamberlain approached all of the deserters just after they arrived, and spoke to them together, as a group: "I’ve been ordered to take you men with me, I’m told that if you (laughs quietly) don’t come I can shoot you. Well, you know I won’t do that. Maybe somebody else will, but I won’t, so that’s that. Here’s the situation, the Whole Reb army is up that road aways waiting for us, so this is no time for an argument like this, I tell you. We could surely use you fellas, we’re now well below half strength. Whether you fight or not, that’s up to you, whether you come along is... well, your coming. You know who we are and what we are doing here, but if you are going to fight alongside us there are a few things I want you to know. This regiment was formed last summer, in Maine. There were a thousand of us then, there are less than 300 of us now. All of us volunteered to fight for the Union, just as you have Some came mainly because we were bored at home, thought this looked like it might be fun Some came because we were ashamed not to Many of came because it was the right thing to do And all of us have seen men die This is a different kind of army If you look back through history you will see men fighting for pay, for women, for some other kind of loot They fight for land, power, because a king leads them, or just because they like killing But we are here for something new, this has not happened much, in the history of the world We are an army out to set other men free America should be free ground, all of it, not divided by a line between slave states and free – all the way from here to the Pacific Ocean No man has to bow. No man born to royalty Here we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was Here you can be something Here is the place to build a home But it’s not the land, there’s always more land It’s the idea that we all have value – you and me What we are fighting for, in the end, we’re fighting for each other Sorry, I didn’t mean to preach You go ahead and you talk for awhile If you choose to join us and you want your muskets back you can have them – nothing more will be said by anyone anywhere If you choose not to join us well then you can come along under guard and when this is all over I will do what I can to ensure you get a fair trial, but for now we’re moving out Gentlemen, I think if we lose this fight we lose the war, so if you choose to join us I will be personally very grateful." 114 out of 120 deserters joined with the regiment immediately, with another 4 joined up later." Within every organization there are personal leaders that can bring an significant impact on the operations and performance of personnel at the right time and place. As a teacher I believe that I am a personal leader in my organization who works collaboratively with others to improve learning for all students.
This summer I had the opportunity to study leadership at the Army War College walk the battlefield of Gettysburg to study leadership and I was part of the Colonel Chamberlain Group. I walked the hills of the little round tree and stood on the same terrain defended by the Maine regiment. As an African American with maybe an understandable right to hate Confederate statues this trip and analysis of leadership realizes that it was the events of this war good and bad that remains in the history books as lessons learned that helped train thousands of Army and Marine officers for hundreds of years.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Dr. Jordan B smith jr.I attended the U. S. Naval Academy from 1972-1976 earning a B.S. in Mathematics. Served 20 years both active and reserve in the US Marines. Veteran of the Desert Shield/Storm. I earned a MAED and Ed D. specializing in curriculum and instruction from the University of Phoenix in 2015. I graduated from CBC High School in Clayton, MO in 1972. Archives
July 2020
Categories
All
|