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🗓️ 11 January 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Guest: Ronald White. Returning to duty, Chamberlain led a frontal assault at Petersburg in 1864, where he suffered a catastrophic wound through the hips that surgeons deemed fatal. Believing he was dying, he wrote a farewell letter to Fanny, yet miraculously survived due to his brother Tom's help and sheer will. Later, at the Battle of Five Forks, he defended General Warren against General Sheridan's dismissal. At the war's end, Chamberlain was selected to receive the Confederate surrender at Appomattox. In a controversial but defining gesture, he ordered a marching salute to honor the courage of the defeated Southern soldiers.
1863 GETTYSBURG
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| 0:34.4 | with Indeed. I'm John bachelors with ronle white new book is the life of chamberlain |
| 0:43.8 | on great fields the life and unlikely heroism of joshua lawrence chamberlain he's just had the |
| 0:48.7 | moment of moments here we hear all these decades later we still talk about what happened that day, the second |
| 0:55.3 | day of Gettysburg, July 2nd, 1863. But there is a life to live. And yet, Chamberlain takes the |
| 1:02.8 | risk of going back to war. There was plenty of opportunity for him to rotate behind the lines. |
| 1:08.0 | He chose none of it. He went back to war and he's given a brigade. |
| 1:12.3 | We're now at Petersburg. It is the summer of, I believe it's the summer of 64. Chamberlain is |
| 1:21.0 | ordered a direct frontal assault. He hesitates. Why, Ron? He realizes that this is catastrophic that this could result in literally all of |
| 1:31.5 | his men being killed. They're marching into an incredible defensive position of the Confederates at |
| 1:37.8 | Petersburg. Yes, and he asks for the orders to be written. Doesn't he do that? He asked for written |
| 1:43.6 | orders. He does. He's |
| 1:45.3 | not quite sure of the veracity of the order that he's been given, or if the person giving the |
| 1:50.7 | order understands fully the situation. This is Fifth Corps and told to advance in a line against the |
| 1:59.3 | Confederate position, which is dug in. |
| 2:02.5 | They have breastworks here, and so they're firing from a very good defensive position, |
| 2:07.3 | mass gunfire, and Chamberlain is leading his men. |
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