Holman S. Melcher
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Holman Staples Melcher (1841 – 1905) was an American Civil War officer and postbellum mayor of Portland, Maine. Melcher was a leader of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment that charged down Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Melcher was born in Topsham, Maine. He attended Bates College (Maine State Seminary) in Lewiston, Maine from 1858 to 1862, until enlisting as a corporal in the Union Army on August 29, 1862. During the Civil War, he served with the 20th Maine at the Battle of Gettysburg and many other engagements. Melcher was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in 1863 and served as acting adjutant to Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, a former Bowdoin College professor. He was later promoted to captain in 1864 (serving in Companies B, F, and H over the course of the war). Eventually, Melcher was brevetted to the rank of major by the end of the war.
Melcher's writings, along with correspondence from other members of the 20th Maine were published in With a Flash of His Sword: The Writings of. Maj. Holman S. Melcher, 20th Maine Infantry in 1994. These writings claim that it was Melcher, and not Chamberlain, who was responsible for initiating the famous charge that helped to defeat the Confederate attack on Little Round Top at Gettysburg. Many years after the war, Chamberlain was awarded the Medal of Honor, although he admitted in a speech that, "(i)n fact, to tell the truth, the order [to charge with bayonets] was never given, or but imperfectly." Chamberlain has been credited by most historians for ordering the advance. Chamberlain's version of the story is that he decided to order the charge before Lt. Melcher requested permission to advance the center of the line toward a boulder ledge where some of the men were wounded and unable to move. Admiring the lieutenant's bravery and compassion, Chamberlain agreed and send him back to his company, telling him that he was about to order the entire regiment forward. As Melcher returned to his men, the shouts of "Bayonet!" were already working their way down the line.[1] Alternative interpretations cite claims (including those by Brig. Gen. Ellis Spear)[2] that Melcher in fact initiated the charge by running down the hill and calling the men to follow and to protect fallen comrades.
Melcher was badly wounded in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in Virginia, but survived the war, being mustered out on July 16, 1865.
Holman Melcher later served as president of the 20th Maine Regiment Association (1876 – 1905). He published a book titled An Experience in the Battle of the Wilderness in 1898, based on his own experiences in that battle. Melcher went on to become a successful wholesale grocer in Portland, Maine, and was elected to two terms as mayor of the city as a Republican (1889 – 1890). He married Alice Hart and had one daughter.
Most of Melcher's papers are currently stored at Bowdoin College.
[edit] References
- Desjardin, Thomas A., Stand Firm Ye Boys from Maine: The 20th Maine and the Gettysburg Campaign, Thomas Publications, 1995, ISBN 1-57747-034-6.
- Styple, William B. (Ed.), With a Flash of his Sword: The Writings of. Maj. Holman S. Melcher, 20th Maine Infantry, Belle Grove Publishing, 1994.
