Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine (DVD)

In August of 1862, a new regiment of volunteers was being formed in the state of Maine. The 20th regiment. Their Colonel was a West Point graduate named Adelbert Ames, already hardened by battle. He was so disgusted by the sight of these new recruits, that he told them all to "desert and go home." But of course they didn't... Their Lieutenant Colonel was an obscure theology professor named Joshua Chamberlain, who received his commission by political appointment. Yet, by the end of the war, he rose to the rank of Major General, won the congressional Medal of Honor, and was chosen by Ulysses S. Grant to receive the surrender of the Confederates. The men that comprised the ranks of the 20th Maine were a bunch of Yankee individualists, and they came from all walks of life; farmers, fishermen, loggers, and for a while, even mutineers. But they were all men who faced adversity against terrible odds and prevailed...