The Battle of Little Round Top – Gettysburg (3/11)

List item

More Americans were killed at the Battle of Gettysburg than during the entire Vietnam War. The film Gettysburg is the longest Hollywood film ever made at nearly four and a half hours, and depicts the entire battle from both the Union and Confederate sides. But the real standout of the film is when a force of less than 1,000 Union troops led by Colonel Joshua Chamberlain were forced to hold the flank of the Union line against wave after wave of nearly 6,000 Confederate troops.

The Union took heavy losses but managed to hold the line until they ran of ammunition. Knowing that remaining where they were would be suicidal and falling back would cause the entire Union formations to collapse, they fixed bayonets and charged down the hill. The Confederates were caught completely off guard and were routed. The Battle of Little Round Top arguably won the entire Battle of Gettysburg for the Union, as the Confederate assault upon the Union center the next day (Pickett’s Charge) was a disaster and forced them to retreat.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Loading…

0

Comments

0 comments

Written by Nicholas