Battle of Gettysburg: Hidden History & Battlefield Travel

<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>Welcome to Talk With History.</p>
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<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>I am your host Scott, and this week I am bringing you a test project</p>
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<p>that never quite made the airways.</p>
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<p>Life has been busy for Jen and I, so our episode on Shiloh</p>
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<p>will be coming out next week.</p>
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<p>So for now, I want to bring you a short episode from the Battle of Gettysburg.</p>
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<p>During our occasional breaks I like to experiment with new formats and try</p>
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<p>things out and this episode was just that.</p>
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<p>You may recognize some things that we've taken from that experiment, the</p>
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<p>short story style vignettes that I've been including in our regular episodes.</p>
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<p>It's been refreshing and fun to work with sound effects in a more</p>
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<p>scripted format to try and bring listeners deeper into the story.</p>
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<p>I hope you enjoy the story from a small town in Pennsylvania in July of 1863.</p>
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<p>Jen walked into the third Gettysburg souvenir store in the past hour.</p>
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<p>She was on the hunt for a very specific shirt with a very</p>
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<p>specific historical figure on it.</p>
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<p>We had been to the battlefield earlier in the day, walked</p>
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<p>Devil's Den, no ghosts this time.</p>
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<p>Ask me more about that another time.</p>
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<p>We'd driven up to Big Round Top and Little Round Top and seen</p>
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<p>the statue of General Warren.</p>
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<p>The view as picturesque as you could ask for.</p>
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<p>With summer in motion, the trees were green and full, much like they</p>
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<p>would have been in July of 1863.</p>
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<p>We could almost hear the musket shots echoing from our left, the</p>
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<p>orders being barked to Joshua Chamberlain to hold that flank.</p>
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<p>Funny that the man who gave Chamberlain those orders is not really known.</p>
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<p>Sure, he's in the history books and he even made it into the movie,</p>
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<p>starring Jeff Daniels as Chamberlain.</p>
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<p>But Jen and I have the perspective of Navy officers.</p>
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<p>She a veteran and myself still currently serving.</p>
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<p>Leadership matters in battle, a lot.</p>
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<p>Why do you think Stonewall Jackson was such an icon?</p>
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<p>Because he was an amazing leader for the Confederacy in battle.</p>
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<p>His presence and direction alone often dictated a win or loss for the South.</p>
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<p>But this Northern leader?</p>
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<p>Well, I don't want to spoil it, but there's a reason Colonel Strong Vincent's</p>
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<p>name didn't make the victory circuit.</p>
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<p>The throbbing in my leg is a dull counterpoint to the symphony</p>
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<p>of moans and prayers around me.</p>
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<p>We lie here, a tapestry of blue uniforms, beneath the watchful</p>
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<p>gaze of the wheat field.</p>
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<p>Little round top, they call it.</p>
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<p>A cruel joke, considering the storm that raged here.</p>
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<p>Just days ago, it was my lawyer's mind that surveyed this very ground.</p>
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<p>No grand strategy, just the gnawing worry that this rise, seemingly insignificant,</p>
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<p>might hold the key to battle.</p>
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<p>And maybe the war itself.</p>
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<p>There were no orders, just a spark of conviction, a whisper in my gut.</p>
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<p>We scrambled up the rocky incline of my brigade.</p>
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<p>A mishmash of regiments, some green, some bloodied veterans.</p>
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<p>Their faces etched with the same confusion I felt.</p>
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<p>Then came the thunder.</p>
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<p>Not the cannons, but the Confederate charge.</p>
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<p>A tide of gray washing over the crest.</p>
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<p>On 20th May, young Joshua Chamberlain, leading them with a professor's</p>
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<p>fervor, held firm on the right.</p>
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<p>But the center of the 16th Michigan, they wavered.</p>
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<p>Panic, a disease, spreading fast.</p>
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<p>I remember screaming the words hoarse in my throat, don't give him an</p>
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<p>inch boys, don't give him an inch.</p>
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<p>It wasn't a grand speech, but a desperate plea, a dam against the rising tide.</p>
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<p>Heat, the smoke, the clang of metal on metal.</p>
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<p>Time doesn't feel the same in battle.</p>
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<p>I saw men fall, comrades and foes alike, their faces contorted in</p>
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<p>grotesque tableau of fear and fury.</p>
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<p>A searing pain split my leg, the world tilting on its axis.</p>
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<p>And darkness.</p>
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<p>A blessed oblivion.</p>
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<p>Now.</p>
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<p>The symphony returns, a chorus of pain punctuated by occasional cough or rattle.</p>
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<p>I see faces, blurry and concerned, the young surgeon with his</p>
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<p>worried brow, the griveled private offering canteen of lukewarm water.</p>
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<p>There's regret, a sliver of it, mixed with the dull ache in my leg.</p>
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<p>Regret for the life I left behind.</p>
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<p>The courtroom debates, the quiet evenings with Sarah.</p>
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<p>But mostly there's a strange calm.</p>
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<p>A sense of purpose fulfilled.</p>
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<p>The little round top had held.</p>
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<p>A foothold clawed from the jaws of defeat.</p>
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<p>My vision swam again.</p>
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<p>The symphony fades.</p>
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<p>Perhaps it's the morphine.</p>
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<p>Or maybe it's just the tide finally turning.</p>
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<p>Was that George Meade that stopped by?</p>
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<p>Or was that about Brigadier General?</p>
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<p>Whatever it was, I closed my eyes and the image of Little Round Top bathed in the</p>
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<p>golden light of dawn rises in my mind.</p>
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<p>A small hill, yes, but on that hill a stand was made.</p>
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<p>And for that, I have no regrets.</p>
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<p>Fed up with the constant searching, Jen finally asked the older gentleman</p>
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<p>behind the counter, Do you have any shirts with Strong Vincent on them?</p>
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<p>Now I could tell this guy knew his history by his response.</p>
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<p>No.</p>
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<p>But we should.</p>
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<p>The lawyer from Erie, Pennsylvania, led soldiers across many miles,</p>
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<p>fought in numerous battles, and when he saw the general's aide lost and</p>
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<p>unsure of orders just as the Battle of Gettysburg kicked off, Strong Vincent</p>
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<p>took it upon himself to position his troops to defend Little Round Top.</p>
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<p>Vincent impressed upon Chamberlain's importance of his position on</p>
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<p>the brigade's left flank, and then Vincent left to attend</p>
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<p>to the brigade's right flank.</p>
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<p>There, the 16th Michigan Infantry was starting to yield to enemy pressure.</p>
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<p>Mounting a large boulder, Vincent brandished a writing crop given to</p>
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<p>him by his wife and shouted to his men, Don't give him an inch, boys.</p>
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<p>Don't give him an inch.</p>
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<p>A bullet struck him through the thigh and the groin and he fell.</p>
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<p>Due to his leadership and the determination of the 20th Maine, the 44th</p>
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<p>New York, the 83rd Pennsylvania, and the 16th Michigan Infantry, the Union line</p>
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<p>held against the Confederate onslaught.</p>
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<p>Vincent was carried from the hill to a nearby farm where he lay</p>
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<p>dying for the next five days.</p>
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<p>Unable to be transported home due to the severity of his injury.</p>
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<p>Major General George G.</p>
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<p>Meade recommended Vincent for promotion to Brigadier General</p>
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<p>on the evening of July 2nd.</p>
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<p>The promotion was dated July 3rd, 1863.</p>
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<p>Now it's doubtful that Vincent knew about the honor before he had died, but</p>
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<p>according to letters of Private Oliver Norton, his commission as a Brigadier</p>
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<p>General was read to him on his deathbed.</p>
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<p>Jen and I left Gettysburg.</p>
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<p>With echoes of Vincent on our minds, sometimes the heroes of history get</p>
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<p>lost in the shadows of those who lived.</p>
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<p>Colonel Strong Vincent's leadership and bravery on Little Round Top secured a</p>
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<p>pivotal point in the Battle of Gettysburg.</p>
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<p>And while his name doesn't grace the gift shop t shirts, perhaps it should.</p>
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<p>So what did you think?</p>
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<p>Did you recognize some of what we've been adding to Top With History?</p>
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<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>I just want to thank our loyal listeners for all the</p>
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<p>feedback, support, and reviews.</p>
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<p>Without all of that, this would be a lot less fun.</p>
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<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>Please continue to reach out and support or chat with us</p>
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<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>over at thehistoryroadtrip.</p>
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<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>com where you can engage on each episode and find other ways to show your support.</p>
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<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>Thank you, and I'll talk to you next time.</p>
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