`Well, we can't run away, and if we stay here we can't shoot, so let's fix bayonets.'
Those lines are said by Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain in the movie Gettysburg at the critical point in the fight for Little Round Top. It's my all time favorite movie scene.
That's because it is a dramatization of one of the most transcendent yet obscure moments in American history, because at Little Round Top the survival of the Union is in the hands of an unlikely and largely untested military commander.
Why this applies to today - More below
Chamberlain was new to the command of the 20th Maine by the time of the Battle of Gettysburg. He had enlisted the year before. In civilian life he was a college professor of divinity and rhetoric.
Over the course of it's year in operation, the 20th Maine's ranks had been depleted in combat and by disease. Before the battle at Gettysburg the remnants of another Maine unit - the 2nd was rolled into the 20th Maine. It was rolled into the 20th because the remaining members of the 2nd Maine had refused to fight due to a dispute over the length of their enlistments - they were mutineers.
Chamberlain persuades most of the men of the 2nd to once again pick up their arms. Nevertheless, on the eve of the largest battle ever to be fought on North American soil, the 20th Maine was a unit commanded by a largely untested idealistic college professor, while one third of the unit's approximately 300 men had recently been in mutiny.
Lee and the Confederates had hoped to defeat the Union Army somewhere North of Washington and force Lincoln to give up the War. Gettysburg was their opportunity.
At this critical point in American history, the unlikely military commander of the 20th Maine is tapped on the second day of the battle to defend the extreme left flank of the Union Army. No regiments are to the left of the 20th. If they are outflanked, or if they are over run, then the Confederates may win the battle of Gettysburg and the Civil War.
Chamberlain is ordered to defend the site below Little Round Top at all costs, and he understands the consequences of a military defeat. He and the 20th Maine are attacked by Rebel units at least three times as large as his. His regiment repulses at least six attacks on their position. Many of attacks result in hand to hand combat. He commands brilliantly, and strategically maneuvers his troops during the battle to maintain the tactical advantages he has.
Having successfully defended his position through six attacks, he realizes that his unit has essentially run out of ammunition. The 20th Maine cannot withstand another Reb attack.
Watching this scene (not the whole movie) last night, I was struck by the similar but less risky parallels Democratic leaders face today. Like the much dire risks Chamberlain faced at Little Round Top, the D C Democrats of today face a comparative situation in dealing with the Republicans.
In the movie, Chamberlain's officers implore the Colonel to pull out, retreat, that they can't win because have no ammunition, and that they can't hold the Rebs back another time. In their mind the battle, perhaps the Union is lost. Chamberlain's officers then seem like many of the D C Democrats of today.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Chamberlain won't have it and in the movie he says, `They've got to be tired - the rebs - they've got to be close to the end if we are....so fix bayonets.'
Chamberlain correctly saw the field of battle. Holding his position would likely result in defeat, but a bold attack (and in his case a seemingly hopeless attack) could sweep the enemy from the field, win the day, and save the Union. He understood the Rebels were finished.
Today, the officer corps of the D C Democrats needs to realize they while the peril of attacking the Republicans seems great, a great victory can be won and the nation saved with a bold attack. Many Republicans may think their best strategy is to keep up the attack, but like the Rebs at Little Round Top, the Repubs are `close to the end'.
So D C Dems, "Fix bayonets." The Repubs can no longer sustain their attack - they are done, they can be swept from the field, and they can be made to suffer a stunning political defeat.
The greatest risks we face are that the D C Democrats will do nothing. Cowering behind defensive positions like, `we're for national security too,' will allow the Repubs to win. And if the Repubs win, the nation might be lost because Mad King George means not to relent until he is forcefully repulsed. Today the future of the Republic is at risk by Republican machinations.
We need decisive leadership to sweep the Repubs from the political battlefield.
So fix bayone!!!!!!!!!!
On Iraq, illegal spying, Treasongate, New Orleans, and because of all of the other rancid vapors that are emanating from the White House - fix bayonets.
Fix bayonets because the fate of the nation demands it.
Fix bayonets because that is what courageous leaders do in times of grave peril.