VA250 Author Talk: Jared Peatman

Author Jared Peatman discusses his book A Hell of a Regiment and the turning point of the Civil War

On the heels of Fourth of July weekend, the City of Falls Church continues its commemorative events for the U.S. semiquincentennial with a talk by local author Jared Peatman at Mary Riley Styles Public Library. His military history book A Hell of a Regiment: To Gettysburg and Beyond with the Twentieth Maine was published in May.  

A Hell of a Regiment chronicles one Union Army infantry unit's exploits during the American Civil War. In true underdog fashion, the 20th Maine originated as a wayward collection of volunteers before attaining renown for its prowess in combat, particularly at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Bards Alley will have copies available for purchase and a post-discussion book signing. Free registration is required through Mary Riley Styles here: mrspl.org/event/draft-july-author-talk-jared-peatman-32525

ABOUT THE BOOK

Organized in the summer of 1862, the 20th Maine, a mix of spirited, independent men from small towns and the backwoods, did not initially inspire soldierly confidence. Its first commander, a West Pointer, was not impressed: “This is a hell of a regiment!” he barked. Hard training and campaigning whipped the regiment into shape, and the 20th would fight hard to give its leader’s judgment new meaning, nowhere more so than at Gettysburg.

By the time the 20th Maine marched into Pennsylvania in July 1863, a new colonel stood at its head, thirty-four-year-old college professor and citizen-soldier Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Late on the afternoon of the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the regiment found itself on the rocky slope of Little Round Top, the very last regiment in the Union line, just as the Confederates launched an attack to destroy the Union flank. If the 20th broke, the entire Army of the Potomac would be in grave jeopardy – and perhaps the outcome of the battle, perhaps the war. As whooping Alabamians swarmed up the hill, Chamberlain ordered a bayonet charge, and the Maine men overwhelmed the shocked enemy, saving Little Round Top and likely much more. The 20th Maine was a hell of a regiment indeed.

With an eye and ear for the excitement and horror of Civil War combat, Jared Peatman evocatively reconstructs the 20th Maine’s stand on Little Round Top, shedding new light on the battle and explaining just how a ragtag group of soldiers, led by a colonel trained in rhetoric and religion instead of military drill and tactics, became an effective fighting force. More than just an account of a single regiment during its finest hour, this is the story of the Union soldier’s experience in the Civil War battlefield.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jared Peatman is senior fellow at the Center for Excellence in Public Leadership at George Washington University, director of curriculum at the Lincoln Leadership Institute at Gettysburg, where he provides history-based leadership training, and a member of the board of directors of the Civil War Roundtable Congress. He is the author of The Long Shadow of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (Southern Illinois University Press, 2013). Peatman lives near Washington, DC.