20th Maine Infantry Regiment
The 20th Maine Infantry Regiment was a volunteer regiment of the United States Army (Union Army) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), most famous for its defense of Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 1–3, 1863. The 133rd Engineer Battalion of the Maine Army National Guard and the United States Army today carries on the lineage and traditions of the 20th Maine.
This article is about the Civil War regiment. For the 1979 board wargame simulating this regiment's most famous battle, see The 20th Maine.20th Maine Infantry Regiment
August 29, 1862 – July 16, 1865
Regiment
BG. Adelbert Ames- BG. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
LTC. Ellis Spear
Organization[edit]
The 20th Maine was organized in the state of Maine and mustered into federal service on August 29, 1862, with Col. Adelbert Ames as its commander. It was assigned to the Army of the Potomac in the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, V Corps, where it would remain until mustered out on July 16, 1865. At that time, the brigade also consisted of the 16th Michigan, the 12th, 17th, and 44th New York, 83rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry regiments, and a Michigan company of sharpshooters.
Cultural references[edit]
The participation of the 20th Maine in the Battle of Fredericksburg is depicted in the 2003 feature film Gods And Generals (prequel movie to 1993's Gettysburg based on Michael Shaara's son Jeff Shaara's historical novel of the same name).
The regiment's downhill charge during the Battle of Gettysburg is depicted in the 1974 historical novels The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (winner of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize in fiction) and Courage on Little Round Top, and was subsequently an important scene in the feature movie made 18 years later, Gettysburg in 1993.
The 2012 music video for the pop song "Some Nights" performed by Fun includes American Civil War Union soldiers serving in the regiment. The regiment is victorious in a fictional battle that portrays a young Union soldier who has left his love in Maine to serve in the regiment. During the battle, he brutally kills a Confederate soldier in hand-to-hand combat.
The 20th Maine and its color-bearer Andrew Tozier are the subjects of "Ballad of the 20th Maine", a song by the Maine band The Ghost of Paul Revere; it is the official state ballad of Maine.[8][9] The song "Dixieland" by Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band is also about the 20th Maine.[10]