Conceived in Liberty: Joshua Chamberlin, William Oates, and the American Civil War

Excellent in-depth study of two officers, whose actions on one day in their lives, during the fury of face-to-face combat, impacted the outcome of a war.

Even though Joshua Chamberlain and William Oates came from totally different backgrounds, they seem to have become more and more similar as their lives progressed. On July 2, 1863, they faced one another in one of the most crucial battles in American history. Both earned reputations as brave officers in combat during the Civil War, and both became involved with politics following the war's end. I've been a Civil War buff nearly all my life, but at first I didn't expect to enjoy another dual-biography (they usually try to cram too much info in one volume). I was pleasantly surprised by this well-written and well-researched book which should be required reading for any Civil War buff. It doesn't go overboard praising Joshua Chamberlain's war record as other biographies have done, and William Oates, one of the most overlooked Confederate officers, finally got the attention he deserved. Highly recommended.

The Civil War was, in some ways, our own clash of cultures that ended up with us having a stronger, and more philisophically harmonic country than we had then. After the war we no longer were "Those United States" but "These United States".While it took longer (and still has not taken root) for some Southern areas to accept that they have changed because of the war, this book outlines in a fascinating fashion why the American Dream was won in 1865. Joshua Chamberlain and William Oates are both opposing personalities. Chamberlain was a professor, Oates a laborer. Chamberlain was a respected fellow before the war. Oates was much less.. even going into hiding at one point from the law. What they had in common was a belief that they had gone as far as they could in their lives before the war. Chamberlain was forever going to be a professor. Oates forever a laborer.Both faced each other in Gettysburg. While Chamberlain was the hero of Little Top in that battle, Oates eventually had a longer and more productive politcal life than Chamberlain. Neither of these men won their positions by birth, wealth, or by the inner workings of a political machine. They won their positions by hard work, and the admiration of their men in battle and the people they fought for.While it may have been possible prior to the Civil War for these men to have done so (Abraham Lincoln is a prime example) the fact is that the Southern philosophy was beaten in 1865, and the Northern philosophy of hard work, and position by trust and admiration rather than birth, and wealth won out and both sides reaped benefits and still are from that day.

So many books have been written about the Civil War that Conceived In Liberty might seem to be more of the same. But the book clears new ground on Joshua Chamberlain, by noting that this "marble man" of the North had blemishes of his own -- as did his counterpart, Col. William Oates of Alabama (the other subject of this first-rate dual biography. I have read a number of books on Joshua Chamberlain and have always thought that there was another side to the man: that he was not simply a great hero, but also a soldier who was thoughtful, and deeply disturbed by the conflict. Perry adds the balance that is so desperately needed to our knowledge of Joshua Chamberlain, then completes the portrait by counterposing his life with that of William Oates. These two men not only met at Gettysburg, but they are symbols of the larger issues that consumed our nation in the nineteenth century. Filled with information and anecdotal accounts of the lives of both men (incidents that appear in no other work on either Chamberlain or Oates) Conceived In Liberty is not only well-researched it is a fantastic read. This book is long overdue. Yes, Conceived In Liberty is controversial, but that is its value. Perry is a courageous writer and a first-rate historian.

This book fascinates - not from its description of the Civil War, its battles, its politicians - but from its story of two not quite ordinary men who were still representative of generally held points of view on slavery, the war and its aftermath. A good, readable introduction to how people were living and doing before and after the war. It scores highest in those areas not much covered by most popular histories - reconstruction; poor whites in the South; and a rebellion in Maine(of all places).