20th Maine Infantry Regiment

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This article is about the Civil War regiment. For the 1979 board wargame simulating this regiment's most famous battle, see The 20th Maine.
20th Maine Infantry Regiment
Flag of the 20th Maine
ActiveAugust 29, 1862 – July 16, 1865
Country United States
AllegianceUnion/Federal/North
BranchInfantry
TypeRegiment
EngagementsAmerican Civil War (1861–1865)
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Maine U.S. Volunteer Infantry Regiments 1861–1865
Previous Next
19th Maine Infantry Regiment 21st Maine Infantry Regiment
Joshua L. Chamberlain
, the officer who commanded them in battle, is seated at center right, bracketed by the Maltese Cross banner of the V Corps (5th) and the unit's regimental flag. Left is a monument to the unit recently erected by its veterans.

The 20th Maine Infantry Regiment was a volunteer regiment of the United States Army (Union Army) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), most famous for its defense of Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 1–3, 1863. The 133rd Engineer Battalion of the Maine Army National Guard and the United States Army today carries on the lineage and traditions of the 20th Maine.

Organization

The 20th Maine was organized in the state of Maine and mustered into federal service on August 29, 1862, with

44th New York
, 83rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry regiments, and a Michigan company of sharpshooters.

Combat history

Prior to their notable actions at Gettysburg in July 1863, the regiment was held in reserve at

Joshua L. Chamberlain,[2] who had been offered and declined leadership of the unit at the time it was formed.[3]

Gettysburg and Little Round Top

The 20th Maine's left flank marker on the Gettysburg battlefield
Regimental monument at the center of their lines on Little Round Top hill

The most notable battle was the regiment's decisive role on July 2, 1863, in the

15th and 47th Alabama regiments (part of the division led by Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood), the 20th Maine ran low on ammunition after one and a half hours of continuous fighting; it responded to the sight of rebel infantry forming again for yet another push up the slope at them by instead suddenly charging downhill with fixed bayonets, surprising and scattering the Confederates, thus ending the attack on the hill and the attempt to flank the hill position and move around the south end of the Federal "fishhook". The 20th Maine and the adjacent 83rd Pennsylvania together captured many men from both Alabama regiments (including Lt. Col. Michael Bulger, commander of the 47th),[4]
as well as several other men of the 4th Alabama and 4th and 5th Texas regiments of the same division. Had the 20th Maine retreated from the hill, the entire Union line would have been flanked, endangering and hurting other Union regiments in the vicinity.

Later war

Later actions in which the regiment participated included

Appomattox Court House
.

Disbandment

The 20th Maine marched from Appomattox, Virginia, on May 2, reaching the national capital at Washington, D.C., on May 12, where the remaining original members were mustered out of service on June 4, 1865, with the remainder of the regiment leaving the federal service on July 16. The heritage of the 20th Maine is carried on today by the 133rd Engineer Battalion, Maine Army National Guard.[5][6]

Casualties

  • 1,621 enrollment (soldiers assigned to the regiment)
  • 147 killed or died of wounds
  • 381 wounded
  • 146 died of disease
  • 15 in Confederate prisons[7]

Cultural references

The participation of the 20th Maine in the Battle of Fredericksburg is depicted in the 2003 feature film "Gods And Generals" (prequel movie to 1993's Gettysburg based on Michael Shaara's son Jeff Shaara's historical novel of the same name).[citation needed]

The regiment's downhill charge during the Battle of Gettysburg is depicted in the 1974 historical novels The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (winner of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize in fiction) and Courage on Little Round Top, and was subsequently an important scene in the feature movie made 18 years later, Gettysburg in 1993.

The 2012 music video for the pop song "Some Nights" performed by Fun includes American Civil War Union soldiers serving in the regiment. The regiment is victorious in a fictional battle that portrays a young Union soldier who has left his love in Maine to serve in the regiment. During the battle, he brutally kills a Confederate soldier in hand-to-hand combat.[citation needed]

The 20th Maine and its color-bearer Andrew Tozier are the subjects of "Ballad of the 20th Maine", a song by the Maine band The Ghost of Paul Revere; it is the official state ballad of Maine.[8][9] The song "Dixieland" by Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band is also about the 20th Maine.[10]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Desjardin, p. 3.
  2. ^ Trulock, p. 114
  3. ^ Trulock, p. 12
  4. ^ Trulock, p.149
  5. ^ "The Twentieth Maine". The Twentieth Maine. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  6. ^ "133d Engineer Battalion | Lineage and Honors". U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH). Archived from the original on 2016-07-01. Retrieved 2016-05-25.
  7. ^ "Twentieth Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry". Maine State Archives. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  8. ^ "New Maine State Ballad Commemorates Civil War Unit". 8 June 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  9. ^ Tipping, Mike (7 June 2019). "New state ballad honors 20th Maine, despite pro-Confederate objections". Maine Beacon.
  10. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Ballad of the 20th Maine". YouTube.

References

Further reading

External links
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