Conceived in liberty
Subtitle: Joshua Chamberlain, William Oates, and the American Civil War
By: Mark Perry.
Publisher: Viking
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York, N.Y., U.S.A
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 500
ISBN-13: 9780670862252
Subjects: Chamberlain, Joshua Lawrence, 1828-1914.; Oates, William C. 1835-1910.; Soldiers -- United States -- Biography.; Soldiers -- Confederate States of America -- Biography.; Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Biography.
Description: In narrating the lives of Joshua Chamberlain and William Oates, Mark Perry's Conceived in Liberty opens a window on seventy years of American history, at the center of which is the July 1863 Battle of Little Round Top. This legendary contest decided the Battle of Gettysburg, opened a door to the Northern victory in the Civil War, and sent Chamberlain and Oates on paths to national prominence.

Drawing on a vast mine of documents, including letters, wartime journals, and political speeches, Perry brings their fascinating, uncannily parallel stories to life. Joshua Chamberlain, the son of a Maine farmer, first made his name as an academic at Bowdoin College, then as a brilliant military commander, before establishing a remarkably successful career in politics, including several terms as the governor of Maine.

William Oates, an Alabama frontiersman of humble origins, was also a farmer's son, and his valiant service during the war became the platform upon which he built a career as a lawyer who helped revitalize the Democratic party in the South. He was elected to both the U.S. Congress and the governorship of Alabama.

Chamberlain and Oates stand as forceful symbols of how the nation came to blows, as well as how the nation moved to redefine itself and - in President Abraham Lincoln's words - "bind up the wounds of war." Their story, as eloquently and dramatically told in the pages of Conceived in Liberty, creates a portrait of American possibility in a tumultuous century.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [469]-477) and index.
Table of contents: title: Prologue : The rocky hill; title: Part one.; title: I went out among strangers; title: Shadows luminous in the sunset glow; title: Written in blood; title: A fair English education; title: To the harvest home of death; title: Part two.; title: If honor it be; title: Kill the brave ones; title: All that I am called to; title: Men standing bright as golden grain; title: God had nothing to do with it; title: We know that some must fall; title: Part three.; title: The passing of the dead; title: The bone of contention; title: The same dark question; title: God's ways seen by men; title: What do you do about yours?; title: Epilogue : Montgomery and Brunswick