Customer Reviews

Conceived In Liberty: William Oates, Joshua Chamberlain, and the American Civil War

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One cannot gain an understanding of the American Civil War, (as well as the periods preceding it and following it), unless one eventually learns to see it through the eyes of the people who lived it. This book is presents the reader with just such an opportunity.

The author follows the lives of two men from two completely different societies, through their youth, their adolescence and young adulthood, through the War and to the time where their paths cross in the battle on Little Round Top in July 1863, through the remainder of the war and its aftermath, right into old age. Each is affected by the society which surrounds him, each man embodies the best and the worst of those societies and each is motivated to fight in their defense. There's no hero worship here; each man is presented as being quite human. Yet, each man remains quite likeable in his own way.

There's some surprises as well. Chamberlain was played by Jeff Daniels in the movie "Gettysburg". In that movie Chamberlain gives an impassioned speech to his troops about being "...an army out to set other men free..." The real Chamberlain wasn't a friend of slavery but he was no abolitionist either. Oates, for his part, (and much to my surpise), was one of the first officers to officially lobby the Confederate Congress for the enlistment of slaves early in 1863. (He was unsuccessful in his attempt).

If I haven't given the book 5 stars it's because the author's writing style is a bit on the ponderous side. Nonetheless, this is the kind of book that you'll need to have in your library if your interest in the period is a serious one. Go experience it for yourself!

An excellent work by an author who obviously has a tremendous love and fascination for American history. The book starts slowly with the family histories of the two main characters - Chamberlain and Oates. He does an excellent job of introducing the reader to two completely different character with completely different backgrounds without taking sides or displaying predjudices. Chamberlain, the hard working, devout, formally educated New Englander projected against the self educated rambler from Alabama. He then shows how the paths these men take lead them both to that infamous day on Little Round Top. The author also does a good job of setting the stage so the reader understands how easily the course could have taken another direction - Longstreet's counter-march and delayed attack allowing the Union to reinforce the critical position and maintain control of the good ground setting the stage for the ill-fated Pickett's Charge. I think that the only area lacking in the book is the Post Civil War period in the South. While Perry spends time explaining the obvious differences between the Democrats and the reconstructionist Republicans, I do not think enough effort was given to Oates' wavering political positions and how he was influenced. All in all, one of the best works on a very demanding and focused subject.

The Civil War was, in some ways, our own clash of cultures that ended up with us having a stronger, and more philisophically harmonic country than we had then. After the war we no longer were "Those United States" but "These United States".

While it took longer (and still has not taken root) for some Southern areas to accept that they have changed because of the war, this book outlines in a fascinating fashion why the American Dream was won in 1865.

Joshua Chamberlain and William Oates are both opposing personalities. Chamberlain was a professor, Oates a laborer. Chamberlain was a respected fellow before the war. Oates was much less.. even going into hiding at one point from the law.

What they had in common was a belief that they had gone as far as they could in their lives before the war. Chamberlain was forever going to be a professor. Oates forever a laborer.

Both faced each other in Gettysburg. While Chamberlain was the hero of Little Top in that battle, Oates eventually had a longer and more productive politcal life than Chamberlain.

Neither of these men won their positions by birth, wealth, or by the inner workings of a political machine. They won their positions by hard work, and the admiration of their men in battle and the people they fought for.

While it may have been possible prior to the Civil War for these men to have done so (Abraham Lincoln is a prime example) the fact is that the Southern philosophy was beaten in 1865, and the Northern philosophy of hard work, and position by trust and admiration rather than birth, and wealth won out and both sides reaped benefits and still are from that day.

So many books have been written about the Civil War that Conceived In Liberty might seem to be more of the same. But the book clears new ground on Joshua Chamberlain, by noting that this "marble man" of the North had blemishes of his own -- as did his counterpart, Col. William Oates of Alabama (the other subject of this first-rate dual biography.

I have read a number of books on Joshua Chamberlain and have always thought that there was another side to the man: that he was not simply a great hero, but also a soldier who was thoughtful, and deeply disturbed by the conflict. Perry adds the balance that is so desperately needed to our knowledge of Joshua Chamberlain, then completes the portrait by counterposing his life with that of William Oates.

These two men not only met at Gettysburg, but they are symbols of the larger issues that consumed our nation in the nineteenth century. Filled with information and anecdotal accounts of the lives of both men (incidents that appear in no other work on either Chamberlain or Oates) Conceived In Liberty is not only well-researched it is a fantastic read. This book is long overdue.

Yes, Conceived In Liberty is controversial, but that is its value. Perry is a courageous writer and a first-rate historian.

On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, the left end of the Union line came under attack by the right end of the Confederate line. On the slope of Little Round Top, the very last Union regiment in the line, the 20th Maine, commanded by Joshua Chamberlain, desperately fought off repeated assaults by the 15th Alabama regiment, commanded by William Oates. It is quite likely the Gettysburg battle could have been won for General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia if the Alabama troops had successfully flanked the Union position and gotten into the rear of General Meade's Army of the Potomac. For the Federals, it was a close run thing. The 20th Maine prevailed only when, after running out of ammunition, Chamberlain ordered the famous bayonet charge that finally routed the exhausted Southern troops - a feat of arms thrillingly depicted in the 1993 film "Gettysburg".

CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY is a double biography of both Oates and Chamberlain painted in broad brushstrokes. For each, it spans the time from birth, through the formative period of young manhood, then the army career, concluding with the post-war years of public service, and finally death. Interestingly enough, Chamberlain and Oates faced off only once during the Civil War conflict, and only twice in life. The second instance, when both were old men, involved a squabble over where the 15th Alabama's regimental marker could properly be placed on the Gettysburg Battlefield Monument. Chamberlain won that round also, as the marker was never erected.

For the Civil War buff seeking detailed accounts of the major battles, this is not the book to read. Only those major engagements at which Chamberlain and/or Oates were present are described, and then only to the degree that establishes the "big picture", or otherwise provides the details of each man's participation in the larger conflict. For example, the author, Mark Perry, gives a reasonably detailed 7-page overview of Gettysburg's first day, then provides an 11-page narrative summary of the Little Round Top confrontation between our two heroes. Pickett's Charge is relegated to four paragraphs over two pages, and the battle for Culp's Hill is mentioned not at all - the latter rarely is, it seems.

This volume is extensively researched, clearly written, and straightforwardly told. Maybe too straightforwardly told. You'll not find herein any of the wry wit exhibited by Shelby Foote in his marvelous Civil War trilogy. (I could continue reading Foote forever. I've had my fill of Perry with this one, relatively short book.) Nevertheless, this is a sober, balanced accounting of both men's careers that does not become overly slavish in its admiration of either. A solid "thumbs up" achievement

This unusual history tells the stories of two unlikely soldiers whose lives collided in the fight for Little Round Top, on July 2, 1863, during the Battle of Gettysburg.

One of those soldiers - Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain - is now very much entrenched in the History Wing of our modern Celebrity Culture. Before the Civil War, Chamberlain had considered the ministry and then became a professor at Bowdoin College in Maine. He had a remarkable Civil War career, which culminated when he was chosen by Grant to command the formal surrender of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia on April 12, 1865. Earlier, during the Siege of Petersburg in 1864, he was seriously wounded by a bullet through the abdomen. Death was believed imminent and his commanding officer asked Grant to give Chamberlain the satisfaction of a promotion to brigadier general before he died; Grant agreed and promoted him on the spot, the only such immediate promotion Grant bestowed during the entire war. After the war Chamberlain was elected to four one-year terms as Governor of Maine and then he served for twelve years as the president of Bowdoin College. He died in 1914. The consensus is that he died from complications of the bullet wound he had suffered at Petersburg, making him the last known Civil War veteran to die as the result of wounds suffered during the war.

Despite that distinguished record, Chamberlain was a decidedly minor historical figure through much of the 20th century. What catapulted him to fame were Michael Shaara's novel "The Killer Angels", Ken Burns's film "The Civil War", and the movie "Gettysburg" (in which the six-foot-three-inch Jeff Daniels played the five-foot-seven-inch Chamberlain). All three of those works of popular media portrayed the fight for Little Round Top as the critical juncture of the entire Battle of Gettysburg (and by implication, then, the Civil War). In that fight, the 20th Maine regiment, commanded by Chamberlain, anchored the left flank of the Union army and successfully resisted - against what sort of odds depends on who's telling the story - repeated assaults by the 15th Alabama regiment. [For an account of the fight that argues (pretty convincingly) that the popular version of "The Killer Angels" and the films is somewhat mythical, as well as for an explanation of how that myth came to be, see Chapter 7 of Thomas A. Desjardin's excellent book, "These Honored Dead: How the Story of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory".]

The 15th Alabama was commanded by William Oates. Oates remains little known, but to me he is as interesting, if not more so, than Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Oates was born into a dirt-poor farming family in southeastern Alabama. He left home at age seventeen and for a while he led the rough and ready life of a drifter and ne'er-do-well. Once he settled down he pursued an education with remarkable tenacity and drive, and he became a lawyer. He too was seriously wounded during the Civil War. In a battle in August 1864, he was shot in the upper arm, splintering the humerus. The only treatment for the wound was a battlefield amputation. When an orderly appeared with Oates's arm and asked him what to do with it, Oates told him "that I did not care, as it was no longer of any service to me, but that he had better dig a hole and bury it. He did so, just on the opposite side of the tree under which I lay." After the war Oates became a prominent political figure in Alabama, eventually serving seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two years as the Governor of Alabama. He also wrote what author Perry calls "perhaps the finest first-person account of the [Civil War] ever written."

In CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY, Mark Perry gives us intertwined biographies of Chamberlain and Oates. They are a fascinating pair, with many similarities and a few marked differences. The most basic difference was that Chamberlain believed that the Union would prevail - and did prevail - because God was on its side. Oates, on the other hand, was much more modern in his thinking. He later wrote, "I do not worship a God who takes sides in battle * * *. I am an unwavering believer in God as the Creator of all things. I believe that He * * * endowed men with the power of acting for themselves and with responsibilities for their acts. When we went to war it was a matter of business, of difference among men about their temporal affairs. God had nothing to do with it."

In addition to Gettysburg, either Chamberlain or Oates or both fought in many of the other major battles of the Civil War, including Winchester, Cross Keys and Port Republic, the Seven Days' Battle, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chickamauga, Brown's Ferry, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, and Five Forks. Consequently, in this dual biography, Perry inevitably covers much of the fighting of the Civil War, and he does so very ably. He also sets his juxtaposed lives against a broader historical backdrop of the United States in the decades leading up to the Civil War and those following it. At times I felt this background history was more than I wanted or needed, but Perry does discuss a number of interesting issues. All in all, despite a few nits and quibbles, I found CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY to be a fascinating work of biography/history, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and William Oates, commanders of the 20th Maine and the 15th Alabama respectively, were involved in multiple battles during the American Civil War. They were warriors of the first order. But no contest they engaged in had more riding on their efforts than their July 2, 1863 battle at Little Round Top when they faced each other during the Gettysburg Campaign. The 15th Alabama had never before been defeated in battle. Some say the 20th Maine's victory saved the Union, making their fight the most important single unit engagement of the war. One thing is for certain. Chamberlain's final bayonet charge swept the 15th before it and saved those critical heights for the Union. The final brigade on the Union left had held, setting the stage for the third and final day of those three days of battle.

Mark Perry has written a very engaging book, a double biography that traces each man's life against the backdrop of the Civil War and its aftermath. Both were engaged in too many battles to keep track of. For Oates his major engagements included the Valley Campaign, Cross Keys, Gaines's Mill, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Second Bull Run, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Knoxville, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and finally Petersburg. Losing an arm south of Drewry's Bluff he would survive the war. War's end would find him a one armed volunteer for Joe Johnston's Carolina forces just prior to the Battle of Benton. For Chamberlain, his record is similar to include the aftermath of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg (where he had "a hole shot clean through him" sideways, from hip to hip), the Weldon Railroad, Five Forks, Sailor's Creek and Appomattox. Appointed by Grant, he received the surrender of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox by Confederate General John B. Gordon in a ceremony Chamberlain ensured was marked with distinct respect for his defeated countrymen.

Chamberlain was a farmer, who conquered stuttering to become a language Professor at Bowdoin College. After the war Chamberlain became Governor of Maine, President of Bowdoin College, was hyper active in veterans affairs and assisted both Gouverneur Warren and FitzJohn Porter in redressing war time wrongs suffered by each. He supported Radical Republicanism and women's suffrage but was outspoken against the temperance movement. He favored denying Freedmen the right to vote. He sought to reenter the army to fight in the war with Spain but was rejected. Unfulfilled was his desire to serve Maine in the US Senate.

Oates was a self made man, a vagabond throughout the Coastal South and Texas frontier in his early life, who became an influential Alabama lawyer prior to the breakout of hostilities. After the war he, too, was active in veteran's affairs and entered politics, fighting reconstruction while serving in the Alabama legislature. Elected to Congress he served multiple terms, resigning to become Governor of Alabama. He served as Brigadier General of Pennsylvania troops during the war with Spain but never saw combat. Like Chamberlain his desire to serve Alabama in the US Senate went unfulfilled. At the end of his career he fought Alabama's enforced segregation laws but lost.

Strangely, these antagonists, who both went on to become Governors of their respective States, who led such similar lives after the war and who had so very many friends in common, never met. With the passage of time they logically should have had a chance at the subsequent friendship that marked the relationships of so many of the other former antagonists. That would not be the case. Their last exchange via letter was harsh, revolving around where on Little Round Top the monument to the 15th Alabama should be placed. Oates wanted the monument placed closer to the crest, the high point of the 15th's repeated charges as he remembered them. Chamberlain noted the monument's placement would indicate his lines were pierced and strenuously disagreed.

Amazingly, after almost 40 years neither man had changed the fundamental positions they carried into battle July 2, 1863. There would be no softening, no conciliation and no compromise. Oates was an unreconstructed rebel, strongly outspoken, who believed the South correct in their right to leave the Union. He made numerous speeches and statements to that effect, most notably at the dedication of the Chattanooga and Chickamauga National Battlefield. For his part, Chamberlain believed the war was fought to end treason. To him it would always be that simple.

Chamberlain won their second engagement as well. There is no monument to the 15th Alabama on Little Round Top.

Excellent in-depth study of two officers, whose actions on one day in their lives, during the fury of face-to-face combat, impacted the outcome of a war.

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and William Oates clashed on the extreme flank of Little Round Top at Gettysburg. The Author traces the development of these young men turned military leaders and their post-Civil War lives in an excellent portrait of perhaps prototypical Southern and Northern patriots and the mindsets they brought to battle.

Neither man was trained for the military before the war, though Chamberlain was attracted to the army life. Trained for the ministry, Chamberlain became a leading professor at Bowdoin College in Maine. Oates was a neer-do-well, spending much of his late adolescence moving one step ahead of the law for a crime he committed in Alabama. Oates was able to clear himself and get home and remarkably bootstrap himself to the position of educated man, school teacher and lawyer on the rise.

When the War broke out, both Chamberlain and Oates were enthusiastic champions of their regions. Oates was able to act on his military desires from the outset, while Chamberlain had to sneak into the army by pretending to take a sabbatical from a college reluctant to lose a star professor to the cause.

Both serious students of war and engaged commanders, Oates and Chamberlain met on what may be the penultimate part of perhaps the War's most significant battle. Upon fierce engagement with barely 600 total men hung the fait of armies numbering almost 200,000 and a nation of millions.

This book gives an excellent telling of the battle at Little Round Top. The fighting will of course be familiar to the Civil War student. What also fascinates is the well drawn in-depth dual portraits of two men who embodied the mind of warriors for their respective causes.

I was impressed by this book. Although not a civil war buff, I have always been curious about the war, but never able to appreciate the huge sweep of events. This book does two things. It makes understandable the battle of Gettysburg and its precedents, and it reminds us that the men who fought there and survived continued to live for many years, with other lives than four years of war. It does one other thing. It shows us that man fought man, one winning, one losing, but together. I'm both saddened and heartened by their stories, now far away and long ago.