Seven Score and Fifteen Years Ago, our Fore-Fathers met on a great battlefield. Many a brave soul gave the last full measure of devotion. The battle is the one that we know as Gettysburg. It was an oppressively hot early 
July, 1863. July first through July third. I feel so feeble in my own ability to do justice to the whole battle, all of the topography, every general, every charge, the strategies employed. Instead, with my limited knowledge, time and space, I choose to share a story second hand. As we approach this uniquely American Holiday, Independence Day, with our fireworks, get-togethers and barbecues, I would like to add, like pepper to a salad, some inspiration and a sense of how someone long, long, ago changed your life for the better and to help you see that you might very well do the same for someone else, say a hundred and fifty-five years from now.
The story I want to share briefly, comes from a book by Andy Andrews, The Butterfly Effect. I recommend that you get a copy and read it for yourself. He does a great Job. One of the stories in the book is about Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. He fought in the Civil War on the Union side. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was a school teacher in his life before the war, but on this day, July 2, 1863 he was in charge of the men of the 20th Maine. Six Months earlier, a thousand men, that morning 300, by 3:00 in the afternoon, 80. There was nothing that could be done but stand and fight. The ground on that hill called Little Round Top had to be held at any cost. After the rebels had charged up the hill five times and had been pushed back, Colonel Chamberlain’s remaining men were out of ammunition. The colonel had been hit by a round, but it had hit his belt-buckle, he was not injured. He ordered the men to check the dead and wounded for any ammo, but that had already been done. An observer reported that the Rebels had been re-enforced, and were forming up for another assault. “Here they come!” Hearing the Rebel yell could make a chill run up your back when you had ammo, I can’t imagine how these guys felt!
Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain drew his sword, stepped over the short rock wall, and gave the order, “Fix Bayonets! Execute a great right wheel! Swing the left first! Charge! Charge! Charge!” When the Confederates saw the charge they believed the Union force they now faced had been re-enforced. There was no way the soldiers they had faced in the last assault would have mounted such a charge. The Confederates turned and ran; many dropped their weapons and surrendered. Eighty Union Soldiers held Four Hundred Confederate Soldiers prisoner using empty rifles.
Many believe that this charge determined the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg. Gettysburg was the turning point of the Civil War. That is, if that school teacher had not charged, the South would have won. The United States would not be the “United States.” Our country would have been two or more separate nations, so in the 1940’s world war, when Great Britton needed the US to be the “Arsenal of Democracy” and the world needed the US to be a country big enough and united enough to fight a war on two fronts, there would have been a failure. Hitler and the Axis Powers would have won. Without that school teacher, we might all be speaking German today. The larger and more profound point to this story is this, who can say what the magnifying glass of time will do with the contribution that you make during your life? You matter far more than you know, everything that you do matters far more than you can imagine. The example I have given in telling this story is from one battle from one war in the history of a country that began on July 4, 1776. There are many stories like this one. On your Independence Day Holiday, consider what your story might be 155 years from now.
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