Episode Details

Ronald White, guest author, recounts how, in June 1864, Chamberlain led a perilous frontal assault at Petersburg, where he was struck by a minié ball that traveled through his hips, shattering internal blood vessels and his bladder. Surgeons gave him only a 10% chance of survival, and he wrote a heart-wrenching final farewell to Fanny from his hospital bed. Defying medical expectations, he survived the infection-riddled environment and returned to the field to command a brigade during the final pursuit of Lee's army. At Appomattox, General Grant chose him to preside over the formal surrender ceremony of the Confederate infantry. During this event, Chamberlain sparked decades of controversy by ordering a "marching salute" to the defeated Southern soldiers to honor their courage. This act of reconciliation underscored his belief that the war's end required bringing both sides back together as one nation despite the deep scars of conflict. On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (4)
1864