Conceived in Liberty: Joshua Chamberlain, William Oates & the American Civil War

by Mark Perry

At the center of this absorbing dual biography lies the legendary conflict at Little Round Top--"the single most important struggle" of the Civil War. Little Round Top decided the Battle of Gettysburg, opened the door to Northern victory, and brought together the disparate lives of two important Joshua Chamberlain, an academic from Maine who proved to be a brilliant military strategist, and William Oates, an Alabama maverick who fought heroically throughout the war. Both were self-educated men whose military success propelled them to the governorship of their respective states. By drawing on a vast mine of documents, Mark Perry brings these men vividly to life, and affords a fascinating look at nearly seventy years of American history. As a compelling portrait of two fabled men and an evocative account of the most crucial period in our nation's past, "Conceived in Liberty shows how history should be written" (Joseph Persico, author of My Enemy, My Brother).

Genres: History, Civil War, Biography, American History, Military Fiction, American, Civil War History

Paperback

First published December 1, 1997

About the author

Mark^Perry. From Wikipedia:

Mark Perry (1950 – 8 August 2021) was an American author specializing in military, intelligence, and foreign affairs analysis.[1][2]

He authored nine books: Four Stars,[3] Eclipse: The Last Days of the CIA,[4] A Fire In Zion: Inside the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process,[5] Conceived in Liberty,[6] Lift Up Thy Voice,[7] Grant and Twain,[8] Partners In Command,[9] Talking To Terrorists,[10] and The Most Dangerous Man in America: The Making of Douglas MacArthur.[11]

Perry’s articles have been featured in a number of publications including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, Newsday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Christian Science Monitor, and The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio).

Background
Perry was a graduate of Northwestern Military and Naval Academy and of Boston University.

Career
Perry was the former co-Director of the Washington, D.C., London, and Beirut-based Conflicts Forum,[12] which specializes in engaging with Islamist movements in the Levant in dialogue with the West. Perry served as co-Director for over five years. A detailed five-part series on this experience was published by the Asia Times in March and in July 2006.[13] Perry served as an unofficial advisor to PLO Chairman and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from 1989 to 2004.[14][15]

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Mark Perry: author of Grant and Twain: The Story of an American Friendship

Mark^^Perry: author of War of Darkness (Role Aids/Advanced Dungeons and Dragons)

Mark^^^Perry: author of A Dress for Mona

Mark^^^^Perry: author of Dead Ringers: The Television Series

Mark^^^^^Perry: Illustrator

Mark^^^^^^Perry: author of The Climb: First Steps

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars
The first that William Oates knew a battle was raging somewhere off to the east was on the early afternoon of July 1, 1863, when his regiment of Alabama soldiers was on picket duty outside the small Pennsylvania mountain hamlet of New Guildford. The men from Alabama could tell that the distant contest was serious …




… on that early July morning … some sixty miles to the east, the 20th Maine, commanded by an unassuming professor by the name of Joshua Chamberlain, was also marching toward Gettysburg. Like the 15th Alabama, the 20th Maine had made the march north from Virginia in nearly record time.




(Quotes from Mark Perry’s Prologue.)


Joshua Chamberlain

Chamberlain was born in 1828 in Brewer Maine. From his Wiki article:

He entered Bowdoin College in Brunswick Maine in 1848 … at Bowdoin he met many people who would influence his life, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, the wife of Bowdoin professor Calvin Stowe. Chamberlain would often go to listen to her read passages from what would later become her celebrated novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin .. graduated in 1852 …
studied for three additional years at Bangor Theological Seminary in Bangor, Maine, returned to Bowdoin, and began a career in education as a professor of rhetoric. He eventually went on to teach every subject in the curriculum with the exception of science and mathematics. In 1861 he was appointed Professor of Modern Languages. He was fluent in nine languages other than English: Greek, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac.

In 1862 Chamberlain enlisted in the Federal Army while on a leave of absence from Bowdoin, supposedly to study languages for two years in Europe. He was subsequently appointed lieutenant colonel in the 20th Maine Regiment.

After the war Chamberlain returned to Maine.

Due to his immense popularity, he served as Governor of Maine for four one-year terms … After leaving political office, he returned to Bowdoin College. In 1871, he was appointed president of Bowdoin and remained in that position until 1883, when he was forced to resign because of ill health from his war wounds [suffered in 1864 at Petersburg] … [practiced law in New York City] … traveled to the West Coast to work on railroad building and public improvements … In 1893, 30 years after the battle that made the 20th Maine famous, Chamberlain was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Gettysburg … In 1898, at the age of 70, still in pain from his wounds, he volunteered for duty as an officer in the Spanish-American War. Rejected for duty, he called it one of the major disappointments of his life … Chamberlain was active in the Grand Army of the Republic … made many return visits to Gettysburg and delivered speeches at soldiers' reunions. He made his last known visit on May 16 and 17, 1913, while involved in planning the 50th anniversary reunion … Chamberlain died of his lingering wartime wounds in 1914 at Portland, Maine, at the age of eighty-five … Beside him as he died was Dr. Abner O. Shaw of Portland, one of the two surgeons who had operated on him in Petersburg 50 years previously.

William Oates

William Oates was born in Pike Country Alabama in 1835, to a poor farming family.

At the age of 17, he believed that he had killed a man in a violent brawl and left home for Florida. Oates became a drifter, settling in Texas for a couple of years before returning to Alabama … He studied law and passed the bar examination, then opened a practice in Abbeville … Oates joined the Confederate States Army in 1861 and eventually became the commander of the 15th Alabama infantry regiment in the spring of 1863 … (after the war) Oates resumed his law practice … From 1870 to 1872, he was a member of the Alabama House of Representatives. In 1880, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served seven consecutive terms … Oates was elected governor of Alabama in 1894 in a bitter campaign. Two years later, he unsuccessfully tried to secure his party's nomination as a candidate for the United States Senate. President William McKinley commissioned Oates as a brigadier general in 1898 and he served in the Spanish American War.

William Oates died in Montgomery Alabama in 1910.


The book

The description of Mark Perry’s book on its GR page is both good and accurate.

I think the book is best seen as a dual biography, with an additional historical component concerning the American Civil War. The war affected irrevocably the future life paths of the two “protagonists” (as indeed it either affected, or ended, the life paths of many – most? – all? - of those who fought in that war).

Somewhere I got the rather remarkable idea that if one drew on a map a line connecting the birthplace of Joshua Chamberlain (Brewer, Maine) and the birthplace of William Oates (Pike County, Alabama), one would then find that the midpoint of this line was almost exactly at the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In fact I got the idea from this book, at the start of chapter 10, where Perry mentions that this “odd symmetry” of the struggle for Little Round Top was noted by Shelby Foot in The Civil War: A Narrative

Perry’s book naturally includes much more detailed information about the lives of these two men than is indicated above. Of greatest interest, to me, is the half way point of the book. In chapter 9 “Men Standing Bright As Golden Grain”, Perry offers his narrative of the campaign and battle of Gettysburg. Robert E. Lee had brought his Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River into Maryland in June 1863, with the objective of bringing the fight to the Northern forces in both Maryland and Pennsylvania, and possibly even capturing Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania. After a couple weeks maneuvering in the dark by both sides, the fates decreed that Lee’s army and the Union Army of the Potomac, under the recently appointed command of George G. Meade, would meet at the crossroads town of Gettysburg Pennsylvania on the first of July.

The events of this campaign and battle not only form the mid-point of this book and the defining moments in the lives of Chamberlain and Oates, but also the entire historical setting of the magnificent Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Killer Angels.


Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg took place over three days – the first, second and third of July 1863. This review is not the place to attempt anything like a description of the battle, instead I’ll just provide a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_o...

However, in brief.

July 1 was a day in which cavalry forces did most of the fighting, and the fighting was somewhat tentative and exploratory. At the start of the fighting on this day nowhere near the full contingents of either army were present, though more and more forces arrived throughout the day on each side. At day’s end the Union forces occupied two hills to the south of the town, Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill, and Cemetery Ridge which ran south for almost three miles from Cemetery Hill. At the southern end of the ridge was a prominence called Little Round Top. The Confederate forces were arrayed in an arc from the north to the southwest of these positions.

Throughout the night additional forces filtered into the two sides’ positions, particularly Union forces. Stealing a quote from another review, this is from Bruce Catton's Glory Road, chapter 3, "White Road in the Moonlight". It describes, at the very end of the chapter, Colonel Strong Vincent leading a brigade of the V Corps up into Pennsylvania towards Gettysburg on the night of June 30, still a day and a half shy of arriving on the night of July 1-2. On that latter night of 1863 there was a full moon.

There was a bright moon that night, and most of the army kept to the road long after the sun had gone down ... there was a stir in the air, and the first faint tug had been felt from the line that had been thrown into Gettysburg, a quiet hint that something was apt to pull the whole army together on those long ridges and wooded hills ... Vincent ... took his men through a little town, where the moonlight lay bright in the street, and in every doorway there were girls waving flags and cheering ... as the colors went by (Vincent) took off his hat, and he sat there quietly, watching the flags moving on in the silver light ... To an aid ... the Colonel mused aloud: "There could be worse fates that to die fighting here in Pennsylvania, with that flag waving overhead". There was the long white road in the moonlight, with the small town girls laughing and crying in the shadows, and the swaying ranks of the young men waving to them and moving on past them. To these girls who had been nowhere and who had all their lives before them this was the first of all the roads of the earth, and to many of the young men who marched off under the moon it was the last of all the roads ...

July 2 really decided the outcome of the battle. It was the day that the destinies of Joshua Chamberlain and William Oates, their long life paths, met. When they once again diverged two days later they had both been forever altered. Joshua Chamberlain’s 20th Maine Regiment occupied the summit of Little Round Top, on the extreme left flank of the Union lines. Below them that day the battle raged in the Wheat Field and around Devil’s Den. In the afternoon Oates was one of the commanding officers who led an assault on the hill by hundreds of Alabama men. At the height of the desperate struggle for the position, Chamberlain led the hard pressed defenders in a bayonet charge down the hill, capturing many of the besiegers, and ending the assault.




The significance of Little Round Top is indicated in this quote from the start of Perry’s next chapter.

Little Round Top, where 800 men from Alabama and Maine fought to decide the fate of the Union, was soon viewed as a microcosm of the war – and one of its most enduring symbols. Gettysburg is now viewed as the single most important battle of America’s most important and bloodiest war – and the fight for Little Round Top is almost universally viewed as the single most important struggle of the battle.

The last day of the battle, July 3, featured the famous Picket’s Charge by the southern forces, a doomed and desperate attempt to break though the center of the Federal lines at the top of Cemetery Ridge. Several hundred Confederates managed to just break through at a protruding corner called The Angle. They were repulsed by a Union counterattack, most either killed or captured. The struggle at The Angle became known as the “Highwater Mark of the Confederacy”. The battle of Gettysburg was over. Lee led his army away in the night.


The author




Wiki:

Mark Perry (born 1950) is an American author specializing in military, intelligence, and foreign affairs analysis … Perry is the former co-Director of the Washington, D.C., London, and Beirut-based Conflicts Forum, which specializes in engaging with Islamist movements in the Levant in dialogue with the West … served as an unofficial advisor to PLO Chairman and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from 1989 to 2004 … a frequent guest commentator and expert on Al-Jazeera television, has appeared regularly on CNN’s The International Hour and on Special Assignment … [has served as editor] of the Veteran, the largest circulation newspaper for veterans. Perry was also Washington correspondent for The Palestine Report, and is currently a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center … was a senior foreign policy analyst for Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation … a leading international humanitarian organization. [VVAF] co-founded the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Perry served as the political director for the VVAF’s Campaign for a Landmine Free World.

Besides this book, Perry has authored eight books:
Four Stars
Eclipse The Last Days of the CIA
A Fire In Zion Inside the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
Lift Up Thy Voice The Sarah and Angelina Grimké Family s Journey from Slaveholders to Civil Rights Leaders
Grant and Twain
Partners in Command George Marshall Dwight Eisenhower in War Peace
Talking to Terrorists Why America Must Engage with its Enemies and
The Most Dangerous Man in America The Making of Douglas MacArthur.


Conceived in Liberty is easily obtained from used book dealers.



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[David Medders · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating and balanced narrative of the two commanders who led their respective men in the pivotal struggle at Little Round Top during the battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863. Beginning with their humble beginnings, remarkable achievements, and the unlikely journey that led to both becoming heroes in this historic fight, the author, Mark Perry, also weaves many helpful insights into the political and economic issues of the day, bringing a depth of understanding to who these men were and what they represented during the Civil War. The grasp of detail is refreshing, illuminating their character development, worldview, leadership abilities, and crucial decisions. Readers will find the similarities remarkable - both men from obscure backgrounds, overcoming significant challenges, rising to military leadership, later serving as governors of Maine and Alabama respectively. I found his description of the post-war period most enlightening, both for southern reconstruction and northern political shifts following the assassination of Lincoln. An enjoy and enlightening read.

[Chad Malkamaki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Civil War book that I struggled to get through at times, what really drew me in was the contrasting and comparisons of these two officers that eventually went toe to toe at the Battle of Little Big Horn. At times the author gets off topic and sermonizes about the Civil War and gets away from the two biographies of the fighters, but the real strength is his coverage of the Battle of Gettysburg and the final chapter that talks about these two men's struggles later in and their battle of monuments at Gettysburg National Battlefield.

[Roberto Galindo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unbelievable amount of detail, especially relating to top military strategies used by these battalions. . Mossy tones is too much to follow, so though to comprehend. As with mossy of there's historical narratives, there's vesey little devotion to describing the natural surroundings and that robs from the pleasure of reading. Very impressed otherwise.

[Patrick Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author focuses on two commanders who fought against each other at Gettysburg: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the Union and William Oates of the Confederacy. The book follows their careers and their belief systems that bring them to Little Round Top. A very interesting read about two men in hat many consider the turning point of the Civil War.

[Greg Girard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stuff of legend!
Two men, one in blue the other grey, meet in a pivotal moment as their armies clash to determine the fate of a nation.
In the aftermath of that encounter they are forever linked in history!

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. It was very readable and kept my interest the entire time. This is not just a joint biography of these two men, it is a study of the country through their experiences.

[Rick Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perry tells the stories of a Union general and a Confederate colonel whose troops faced each other at Little Round Top. Each went on to become governor of his home state -- Joshua Chamberlain of Maine, and William Oates of Alabama. Oates, sad to say, was a key player in squeezing former slaves out of the electorate and forging a white supremacist Democratic Party. Of personal interest is that Oates was wartime commanding officer of three of my great-great uncles, and in his own memoir of the "recent unpleasantness" included brief biographies of each of them. He was particularly critical of the one who was a player in Alabama's Populist Party which in the 1890's almost succeeded in defeating the racist Democratic party's monopoly of power.

[John Baxter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is readable and enjoyable, but it assumes a fairly high level of knowledge about civil war tactics and history. If I weren't already familiar with many of the battles and historical events, I think I would have had a hard time following a lot of the narrative.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well researched. Unique because it looks at two very different generals. Also contains a pretty good overview of significant battles of the war.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this piece of Civil War history because it deals with one of my heroes, Joshua Chamberlin. It's a fresh perspective on the lore that makes him the hero he is today.