This chapter gives more insight into Chamberlain’s relationships with his wife, brother, and Buster Kilrain. Again, while Chamberlain misses his wife, he doesn’t seem overly upset to be away from her and his children. The situation with Chamberlain’s brother is requiring a resolution. And he feels the loss of Buster Kilrain, the man Chamberlain wants to talk to after a battle.
Chamberlain experiences a feeling similar to Longstreet’s, the feeling that you must spend the men like gold coins, one at a time. There are no replacements. He also has pride in his unit for its defense yesterday.
Even with all the carnage that did take place at Gettysburg, human kindness is left in some of the men — most could just not bring themselves to use their bayonets on another man. There is hope for the human race after all. And there is a sense of camaraderie and respect for fellow soldiers, regardless of what side they are on.
The Union Army needs changes in management; in fact, after this battle, changes were made. Instead of depending solely on volunteers whose enlistments ran out just when you needed them most, or fighting a unit until everyone was dead, the Union set up a draft system.
Ironically enough, the 20th Maine is being sent to rest in the “Safest place on the battlefield . . . in the center of the line.” That is the very place Lee will attack that day. In actual historical accounts, this is not the way it happened, but putting Chamberlain there was Shaara’s way of keeping his viewpoint character right in the middle of the action.
