Joshua Chamberlain: A Leader Without Fear

Joshua Chamberlain: A Leader Without Fear Joshua Chamberlain was born Sep. 8 1828 in Brewer, Maine. He was the oldest of 5 siblings. He attended Bowdoin College and eventually became a professor of rhetoric there. His ancestors had a history with the US military as he would become the 4th generation to serve consecutively as it began with his great grandfather. When the Civil War broke out Chamberlain was a strong supporter of the Union cause though it was an unpopular opinion where he worked. He requested to leave and it was granted and he enlisted in the Union army. He was offered the position of Colonel but turned it down in favor of acquiring experience at a lower rank. He was instead given the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the 20th Maine …show more content…
July 2, 1863, One month after taking command of the regiment Col. Chamberlain and his regiment found themselves defending the far left flank of the Army of the Potomac in the bloodiest battle of the Civil War Gettysburg. Col. Chamberlain's force had been reduced down to 266 men but had absorbed the 2nd of maine which had been disbanded and now had a total of 386 men. Col. Chamberlain and his men due to miscommunication were the far left flank of the union force and if Col. Chamberlains lines were to break than the entire Union line could collapse. Robert E. Lee seeing this weak point sent 2 full regiments, The 15th and 47th Alabama, towards Chamberlain's position. The 20th of Maine faced a force of over 1000 men, despite being outnumbered 3 to 1 and taking heavy casualties Col. Chamberlain spurred his men to hold the line and repelled several attacks by the much larger force. Col. Chamberlain seeing that his force was nearly out of ammunition he spurred his men to bayonet charge the much larger force he is then said to have charged in front of the colors towards the approaching regiments. This broke the southern lines and guaranteed the holding of the extreme left flank which if fallen would have certainly …show more content…
Chamberlain was wounded in the Second Battle of Petersburg he was shot through the groin. The Union lines were faltering and surely seeing the fall of the famous colonel would have broke them. He could have easily left his current leadership style of coaching his men and just delegated the duties out to those below him, but knowing the troops morale was beginning to shift towards retreat he maintained coaching his men by using his sword as a cane and leading them until he passed out due to blood loss. This transformational leadership gave the troops just another thing to fight for and was key to their success at petersburg. He then recovered from his wounds and returned to lead his men. Due to his actions he had been promoted to brigadier

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