Gettysburg gets me going

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Welcome to Talk With History.

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I am your host Scott, and this week I am bringing you a test project

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that never quite made the airways.

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Life has been busy for Jen and I, so our episode on Shiloh

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will be coming out next week.

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So for now, I want to bring you a short episode from the Battle of Gettysburg.

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During our occasional breaks I like to experiment with new formats and try

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things out and this episode was just that.

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You may recognize some things that we've taken from that experiment, the

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short story style vignettes that I've been including in our regular episodes.

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It's been refreshing and fun to work with sound effects in a more

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scripted format to try and bring listeners deeper into the story.

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I hope you enjoy the story from a small town in Pennsylvania in July of 1863.

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Jen walked into the third Gettysburg souvenir store in the past hour.

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She was on the hunt for a very specific shirt with a very

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specific historical figure on it.

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We had been to the battlefield earlier in the day, walked

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Devil's Den, no ghosts this time.

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Ask me more about that another time.

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We'd driven up to Big Round Top and Little Round Top and seen

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the statue of General Warren.

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The view as picturesque as you could ask for.

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With summer in motion, the trees were green and full, much like they

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would have been in July of 1863.

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We could almost hear the musket shots echoing from our left, the

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orders being barked to Joshua Chamberlain to hold that flank.

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Funny that the man who gave Chamberlain those orders is not really known.

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Sure, he's in the history books and he even made it into the movie,

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starring Jeff Daniels as Chamberlain.

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But Jen and I have the perspective of Navy officers.

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She a veteran and myself still currently serving.

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Leadership matters in battle, a lot.

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Why do you think Stonewall Jackson was such an icon?

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Because he was an amazing leader for the Confederacy in battle.

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His presence and direction alone often dictated a win or loss for the South.

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But this Northern leader?

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Well, I don't want to spoil it, but there's a reason Colonel Strong Vincent's

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name didn't make the victory circuit.

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The throbbing in my leg is a dull counterpoint to the symphony

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of moans and prayers around me.

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We lie here, a tapestry of blue uniforms, beneath the watchful

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gaze of the wheat field.

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Little round top, they call it.

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A cruel joke, considering the storm that raged here.

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Just days ago, it was my lawyer's mind that surveyed this very ground.

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No grand strategy, just the gnawing worry that this rise, seemingly insignificant,

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might hold the key to battle.

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And maybe the war itself.

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There were no orders, just a spark of conviction, a whisper in my gut.

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We scrambled up the rocky incline of my brigade.

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A mishmash of regiments, some green, some bloodied veterans.

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Their faces etched with the same confusion I felt.

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Then came the thunder.

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Not the cannons, but the Confederate charge.

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A tide of gray washing over the crest.

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On 20th May, young Joshua Chamberlain, leading them with a professor's

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fervor, held firm on the right.

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But the center of the 16th Michigan, they wavered.

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Panic, a disease, spreading fast.

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I remember screaming the words hoarse in my throat, don't give him an

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inch boys, don't give him an inch.

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It wasn't a grand speech, but a desperate plea, a dam against the rising tide.

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Heat, the smoke, the clang of metal on metal.

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Time doesn't feel the same in battle.

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I saw men fall, comrades and foes alike, their faces contorted in

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grotesque tableau of fear and fury.

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A searing pain split my leg, the world tilting on its axis.

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And darkness.

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A blessed oblivion.

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Now.

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The symphony returns, a chorus of pain punctuated by occasional cough or rattle.

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I see faces, blurry and concerned, the young surgeon with his

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worried brow, the griveled private offering canteen of lukewarm water.

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There's regret, a sliver of it, mixed with the dull ache in my leg.

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Regret for the life I left behind.

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The courtroom debates, the quiet evenings with Sarah.

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But mostly there's a strange calm.

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A sense of purpose fulfilled.

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The little round top had held.

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A foothold clawed from the jaws of defeat.

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My vision swam again.

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The symphony fades.

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Perhaps it's the morphine.

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Or maybe it's just the tide finally turning.

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Was that George Meade that stopped by?

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Or was that about Brigadier General?

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Whatever it was, I closed my eyes and the image of Little Round Top bathed in the

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golden light of dawn rises in my mind.

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A small hill, yes, but on that hill a stand was made.

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And for that, I have no regrets.

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Fed up with the constant searching, Jen finally asked the older gentleman

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behind the counter, Do you have any shirts with Strong Vincent on them?

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Now I could tell this guy knew his history by his response.

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No.

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But we should.

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The lawyer from Erie, Pennsylvania, led soldiers across many miles,

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fought in numerous battles, and when he saw the general's aide lost and

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unsure of orders just as the Battle of Gettysburg kicked off, Strong Vincent

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took it upon himself to position his troops to defend Little Round Top.

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Vincent impressed upon Chamberlain's importance of his position on

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the brigade's left flank, and then Vincent left to attend

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to the brigade's right flank.

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There, the 16th Michigan Infantry was starting to yield to enemy pressure.

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Mounting a large boulder, Vincent brandished a writing crop given to

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him by his wife and shouted to his men, Don't give him an inch, boys.

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Don't give him an inch.

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A bullet struck him through the thigh and the groin and he fell.

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Due to his leadership and the determination of the 20th Maine, the 44th

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New York, the 83rd Pennsylvania, and the 16th Michigan Infantry, the Union line

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held against the Confederate onslaught.

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Vincent was carried from the hill to a nearby farm where he lay

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dying for the next five days.

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Unable to be transported home due to the severity of his injury.

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Major General George G.

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Meade recommended Vincent for promotion to Brigadier General

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on the evening of July 2nd.

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The promotion was dated July 3rd, 1863.

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Now it's doubtful that Vincent knew about the honor before he had died, but

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according to letters of Private Oliver Norton, his commission as a Brigadier

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General was read to him on his deathbed.

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Jen and I left Gettysburg.

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With echoes of Vincent on our minds, sometimes the heroes of history get

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lost in the shadows of those who lived.

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Colonel Strong Vincent's leadership and bravery on Little Round Top secured a

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pivotal point in the Battle of Gettysburg.

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And while his name doesn't grace the gift shop t shirts, perhaps it should.

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So what did you think?

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Did you recognize some of what we've been adding to Top With History?

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I just want to thank our loyal listeners for all the

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feedback, support, and reviews.

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Without all of that, this would be a lot less fun.

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Please continue to reach out and support or chat with us

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over at thehistoryroadtrip.

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com where you can engage on each episode and find other ways to show your support.

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Thank you, and I'll talk to you next time.