Of the three only O’Rorke was a professional soldier, albeit a very young one, but all took to soldiering and leading soldiers as if it were second nature. However, these three Colonels, Strong Vincent, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Patrick “Paddy” O’Rorke along with Brigadier General Gouverneur Warren were instrumental in securing the Union victory.
Yes, there were many more heroes on Little Round Top that day far too many to be covered in depth in any one work. But the pain and suffering that these men and their families endured during and after war is sadly neglected much to the detriment of those who idolize them. Sadly, the unvarnished accounts of then lives of heroes often only show up in biographies, and are seldom mentioned in the more popular accounts of battles.
In doing so we miss the more important things about their lives, things that make them much more real, much more human, much more like us.
We mythologize them, we turn them into idols, icons and somehow, even as important and inspiring as the myths may be we ignore their basic humanity. The pictures we have of them are often the polished versions of their heroics, sometimes bordering on hagiography, criticism if any is leveled at all, is confined to battlefield decisions or campaign plans. In fact what we know of the heroes of these battles is of their battlefield heroism as well other military or governmental service. However, when we tell the story of Gettysburg or for that matter any other battle we often neglect the human costs endured by the soldiers as well as their families off the battlefield. On the afternoon of that day, three volunteers rose to the challenge. It was a day where the fate of the Union and the Confederacy were in the balance. July 2nd 1863 was to be a pivotal day in the history of the United States, a day of valor, courage and carnage a day where nearly 20,000 Americans were killed, wounded or missing fighting fellow Americans.
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