The Killer Angels

Joshua Chamberlain looked down from Little Round Top. He could see the butternut clad forces of Lee’s Army drawing together for a charge. Their tattered battle standards whipped in the wind as the Rebs checked the loads in their rifles and readied their battered footgear for the fight ahead. His brother Tom came to stand beside him. “Sure is a lot of Johnnie Rebs coming this way Josh. Did the General tell you what we should do when you went up the hill?”
Kilrain spit out a gob from his chaw. “I doubt old Meade has a plan. He dithers like an old woman. I think he left us out here on the sharp end of the stick Colonel darling.”
Chamberlain looked over the battlefield. “We are here to do our duty Tom. It is a noble cause we are engaged in. A fight to set men free.”
"Do you think people will remember this Josh a hundred years from now?”
Kilrain spit. “Not hardly. Man is quick to forget a good turn. The only thing they will husband is a grudge. This is a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.”
“No I don’t think that’s right Buster. I think people will long remember what we do here. Our comrades have laid down their lives to set men free. That will never be forgotten.”
“It is a fine man you are Colonel darling but you couldn’t be more wrong.”

The Killer Angels.

 

 

 

Joshua Chamberlin looked over his men. They were tired. Bone tired. It had been a long walk after another defeat. Now they were in Pennsylvania.  It was hard to conceive that things would be better.

“Where are we Josh” asked Tom. Back from dashing to the back of the column to the front again.  Hard to remember when he had that much energy.
“In  Pennsylvania.  Close to Harrisburg I think.  Tom remember you should call me Colonel when other people can hear.”
“Sorry Colonel.”
Ellis Spear walked up. “I think we are close to a small town called Gettysburg. I heard it from a Calvary captain who was passing by. He was with Buford. Said they are holding the high ground.”
“Aye and what else did you hear Captain” asked Buster Kilrean.  “Who is in command? Hooker? Pope?  I pray that it is Hancock.”
“No he declined. I hear that General Meade is in command.”
“Then we are well and truly damned Colonel Darling. Well and truly damned.”

The Killer Angels

Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain: Tell me something, Buster. What do you think of Negroes?
Pvt. Buster Kilrain: Well, if you mean the race, I don't really know. This is not a thing to be ashamed of. The thing is, you cannot judge a race. Any man who judges by the group is a pea-wit. You take men one at a time.
Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain: To me, there was never any difference.
Pvt. Buster Kilrain: None at all?
Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain: None at all. Of course, I haven't known that many freed men, but those I knew in Bangor, Portland, you look in the eye, there was a man. There was a "divine spark," as my mother used to call it. That is all there is to it. Races are men. "What a piece of work is man. How infinite in faculties, in form and moving. How express and admirable. In action, how like an angel."
Pvt. Buster Kilrain: Well, if he's an angel, all right then. But he damn well must be a killer angel. Colonel, darling, you're a lovely man. I see a great vast difference between us, yet I admire you, lad. You're an idealist, praise be. The truth is, Colonel, there is no "divine spark." There's many a man alive no more of value than a dead dog. Believe me. When you've seen them hang each other the way I have back in the Old Country. Equality? What I'm fighting for is the right to prove I'm a better man than many of them. Where have you seen this "divine spark" in operation, Colonel? Where have you noted this magnificent equality? No two things on earth are equal or have an equal chance. Not a leaf, not a tree. There's many a man worse than me, and some better, but I don't think race or country matters a damn. What matters, Colonel, is justice. Which is why I'm here. I'll be treated as I deserve. Not as my father deserved. I'm Kilrain, and I damn all gentlemen. There is only one aristocracy, and that is right here. (taps his temple) And that's why we've got to win this war. Why someday you might even see a black fella be President!
Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain: You have to stop drinking on duty Buster.
Pvt. Buster Kilrain: Sorry Colonel Darling but I needed a taste.

The Killer Angels

Chamberlain and Kilrain returned to the 20th Maine at the summit of Little Round Tops looking as weary and distressed as the soil they trod. The little mounds seemed rough and sore from the wind and the debris from the battle. Almost as though they had been ravished and abused by a force of nature.
“Did you get to see General Meade,” asked Tom Chamberlain “Did you tell him about your feeling about our position here sir? How vulnerable we are to a thrust in a very sensitive place.”
“Nay bucko,” spat Kilrain as he worked a chaw of tobacco “Himself was not receiving visitors this morn, I think he must have been reading the newspapers and smelling the flowers. It’s what the rich do make no doubt at’all sir, no doubt at’all.”
“Now Buster we don’t know that,” Colonel Chamberlain wearily replied. “I am sure he is planning out the campaign that we lead to conquest and victory.”
“Now Colonel Darling it’s a rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight, we will be the last to know to be sure. We will be finding out right about when the creatures will be trying to stick us with their bayonets.”
"I think we have to be careful what we say. I heard tell that the General likes to wander around in disguise to hear what people are saying about him. " said Tom. "Taking the temperature he calls it."
"I heard the same thing in the old Army Lieutenant. They said his wife hated when he did that. She would make his life a misery. They say she almost killed him. Old Armistead had to pull her off him, she mauled like a cougar."
“Well then we will just have to be ready Buster, we will just have to be ready.”

The Killer Angels

Chamberlain and Kilrain returned to the 20th Maine at the summit of Little Round Tops looking as weary and distressed as the soil they trod. The little mounds seemed rough and sore from the wind and the debris from the battle. Almost as though they had been ravished and abused by a force of nature.
“Did you get to see General Meade,” asked Tom Chamberlain “Did you tell him about your feeling about our position here sir? How vulnerable we are to a thrust in a very sensitive place.”
“Nay bucko,” spat Kilrain as he worked a chaw of tobacco “Himself was not receiving visitors this morn, I think he must have been reading the newspapers and smelling the flowers. It’s what the rich do make no doubt at’all sir, no doubt at’all.”
“Now Buster we don’t know that,” Colonel Chamberlain wearily replied. “I am sure he is planning out the campaign that we lead to conquest and victory.”
“Now Colonel Darling it’s a rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight, we will be the last to know to be sure. We will be finding out right about when the creatures will be trying to stick us with their bayonets.”
“Well then we will just have to be ready Buster, we will just have to be ready.”

The Killer Angels.

Chamberlain and Kilrain approached the headquarters on foot. His dirty and worn uniform was mud spattered and bedraggled. He looked like he had been chasing a black dog in the rain.

A crispy uniformed Lieutenant was standing on the porch holding two ugly dogs on a leash. He looked the weary Colonel up and down and shook his head.

“Can I help you Colonel” he said with his lip curling in a faint moue of disdain.
“I need to see General Meade” Chamberlain said.
“I am afraid the General is indisposed. He is not available right now. In fact no one has heard from him for days. Can I inform him of something?”
“Yes. I just came from the Little Round Tops. I think the enemy is going to make a move on them. They are going to charge right up the middle and try to penetrate our lines.”
The Lieutenant gave a little snort of disdain. “I doubt very much that there will be any penetration sir. Of that you may be sure.”
“Come along Colonel Darling,” whispered Kilrain as he tugged on the Colonels rain soaked tunic “nothing good can come of this. They will never heed the likes of us.”

The Killer Angel

Chamberlain looked out from the trench over the field of fire on Little Round Top. He could see that this might be a very important place in this battle for Gettysburg. But he did not know what to do. Who should he report to now that the lines of communication had been broken. Reynolds was dead and he did not know the chain of command. He went to confer with his brother.

“I think I have to go see the General, Lieutenant. I don’t like the looks of this situation. It looks like a tragedy in the making.”
“What General is that Joshua,” asked his brother Tom. “Do we even know who is in command?”
“That’s Colonel when the men can hear Lieutenant” replied Chamberlain. “I think Meade is in command.”
“Which one is he Colonel.”
“I think he’s the one with the beard.”
“I think he is the one that is the beard Colonel darling,” piped up Sergeant Buster Kilrain, “you will find him hiding in the root cellar.”
“How do you know that Buster” asked Tom.
“Just a feelin’ to be sure, just a feelin’ in these old bones.” Kilrain wiped his nose on his sleeve. “It is a powerful sad thing.”