Hi I'm Eric for Made Here.

Forlorn Hope, Cumberland, Maine

director Daniel Lambert's

historical film, about the 1st

Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment's

participation in the Civil War,

is part reenactment

and part historical record.

Late in the Civil War,

more than 850 Maine soldiers

accepted orders to charge a

confederate held position

near Petersburg, Virginia.

And within 10 minutes of

their charge, more than 630

were struck down.

Forlorn Hope tells the story

leading up their charge

and what happened after,

towards the end of the war.

Local stories like these

tend to get lost

in the bigger picture of history

and it's up to filmmakers like

Daniel Lambert to help remind

us of the local impact

these moments have.

You can watch Forlorn Hope on

broadcast or online

at vermontpbs.org

Enjoy the film and

thanks for watching!

(majestic bagpipe music)

- [Narrator] Upon this
ground over 150 years ago

and more than 800 miles
from the rocky coastline

and timbered forest
of down east Maine

that they called home,

the men of the First
Maine Heavy Artillery

became part of an
incredible story.

(muskets firing)

One that until now has
gone mostly untold.

(soft instrumental music)

A story of courage,

of sacrifice,

a story that
consecrated this ground

with the blood of men from Maine

in the service of their country.

(dramatic music)

(acoustic guitar music)

The First Maine Heavy
Artillery started out

as the 18th Maine
Regiment and was raised

as part of Abraham Lincoln's
call in the spring of 1862

for additional three-year
regiments from each state.

The men of the 18th
Maine were drawn

from up and down eastern Maine.

Some came from towns in
the Penobscot River Valley,

some came from Bangor
and the surrounding area,

others came from along
the central coast

including the towns of Ellsworth
and Mount Desert Island.

As with most regiments
early in the war,

the officers were known to
the men from civilian life.

As the 18th Maine
forms, Daniel Chaplin,

then serving as a major in
the Second Maine Regiment

is promoted to colonel
and placed in command.

- The colonel of the
First Maine heavy is a guy

by the name of Dan Chaplin.

He's a business
man out of Bangor,

considered as a
merchant of some kind,

but he has the
respect and regard

of the men who are
serving under him.

He's considered
to have integrity,

he cares for them,
they will follow him.

They will take his orders,
and they will do what he says.

- [Narrator] In August of 1862,

the 18th Maine left the state
and headed for Washington DC.

When they arrived,

the defenses protecting
the federal capital

were still in need
of strengthening.

And quickly the men of
the 18th got to work,

cutting trees and
digging entrenchments.

Their efficiency
with a saw and spade

allowed them to remain
in and around the capital

while other regiments
were moved to the front.

- And these guys set
up camp around DC,

and there in Georgetown,
there in Arlington,

and they're part of
the perimeter defense.

And they do a lot of drilling.

From their perspective,
wartime's pretty
easy, they like it.

They've figured out
how to do the things

that they did at home.

They can cut trees,
they can dig ditches,

they can build breastworks,
and readouts, and abatis

and they were able to
figure out how to take care

of themselves even
better than that

because they had some real
ingenious guys in the regiment.

(haunting instrumental music)

- [Narrator] The 18th Maine
Infantry Regiment is renamed

the First Maine Heavy
Artillery Regiment

and spends much of 1863
in ready watchfulness

as the war and talk of
battles swirls around them.

(cannon fires)

Chancellorsville, Winchester,
Aldie, Middleburg, Vicksburg.

(multiple cannons firing)

Gettysburg.

- There was some
grousing about that,

because that's not what
these guys signed up for.

But at the same time they
were thinking yeah okay.

But to become a heavy
artillery regiment,

the number of men in each
company was increased by 50

and they added two
additional companies

so by then you're now
talking not 1,000 men,

but close to 1,800.

- [Narrator] Even though
they were not being moved

to the front, Daniel Chaplin
and the other officers

spent many hours
drilling the men,

making sure their military
skills and discipline

did not slip.

(dramatic music)

In March of 1864,
Ulysses S. Grant is named

overall commander of the Union
forces and he comes East.

One of his first priorities
is to pursue General Lee's

Army of Northern Virginia,
and after three years

of bitter and
heated engagements,

he realizes that he
will need a lot more men

to get the job done.

(musket fires)

- Union command decided
that some of these guys

who had been on the
perimeter defense,

like the First Massachusetts
Heavy Artillery

and the First Maine, let's
press them into service

as infantry regiments.

Which meant guys,
pack up, hit the road,

we're gonna give you your
muskets and you're gonna be

part of the army.

(menacing music)

- When the heavy artillery
regiments first come online,

they're not well received.

They're joining an
army now that had seen

some heavy fighting.

A few weeks prior, the
Battle of the Wilderness,

which kicked off the
overlaying campaign.

The year before you had
Gettysburg and beyond that

you had battles like Antietam.

(music continues)

So there were veteran
regiments that had seen a lot,

had seen a lot of their
comrades who were no longer

with them.

Regiments that used to be at
1,000 men are down to 200 now.

To see these new
regiments coming aboard,

they were called names,
they were made fun of,

they were called things
like Old Abe's Pets

because they had spent
time in Washington.

They were called
paper collar soldiers

because they had come down
in their full frock coats,

trimmed red with the
artillery service.

They were called
bandbox soldiers

because everybody
knew they could march,

but could they fight?

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] By May of
1864, the garrison troops

were being ordered to the front.

Including the First
Maine Heavy Artillery.

(military drumming)

On May 19th, the First
Maine Heavy Artillery

is held in reserve
at Spotsylvania,

guarding the army's
wagon trains.

Confederate general,
Richard Ewell, Second Corps,

learns of the supplies.

(rebel yells)

The rebels are hungry,
thirsty, and angry.

(guns firing)

Standing between them
and the supply train

are the untested infantry.

Five Union Heavy
Artillery regiments,

including the men
of the First Maine.

- They quickly get
a baptism of fire.

(muskets firing)

- [Narrator] The men
of the First Maine

fought bravely against
Ewell's veterans.

The cost of their bravery
was measured in blood.

Almost 500 casualties to
the First Maine's ranks.

They did their duty.
They held the line.

(suspenseful music)

Over the next month, the Maine
soldiers would see action

at North Anna, Totopotomoy
Creek, and Cold Harbor.

(guns firing)

The ever-forward trudge
of the Union Army's

overland campaign now
moves further southward.

The First Maine
crosses the James River

with the Union
Army on June 15th.

- They're still
new to the field,

but they have been bloodied,

and they have
suffered casualties.

Those men haven't been replaced,

so roughly 850 men
are available as part

of the fighting force of
the First Maine Heavy.

- [Narrator] Petersburg
is a critical railroad hub

that supplies Richmond
and the Confederate army

with food, munitions, and men.

- Part of the deal was
that as General Grant

was figuring out how
to capture Richmond,

the idea was to close
off the supply routes

feeding Richmond,
feeding the Confederacy,

and that meant going at
the railhead at Petersburg.

- [Narrator] The First Maine
arrives on the outskirts

of Petersburg late on
the night of June 16th,

and after an unfortunate
delay waiting for rations,

they pushed forward through
the day of the 17th.

That evening, they hear
trains pull into Petersburg

bringing troops from
Lee's army to reinforce

the Confederate position.

- [David] And the action
on the train tracks

means only one thing:
Robert E. Lee is here.

(suspenseful music)

- The intent was, go at
Petersburg, be quick about it,

and pull it off.

If they had done that
on the 15th of June

before the Army of
Northern Virginia,

Robert E. Lee's troops
could get there,

they pretty much had
the town to themselves,

and Petersburg at the time
was under 20,000 people.

About the size of say
Augusta, Maine today,

and that's still
large, and it was still

a transportation hub, but at
the time it was defended by

invalid troops, senior
troops, some young kids.

It really was not an army.

What they had were breastworks,

what they had was a
good defensive position,

what they didn't
have was numbers.

(intense music)

- [Narrator] In the late
afternoon of June 18, 1864,

the outer defenses of
Petersburg had been overrun

during three days of fighting.

The First Maine Heavy Artillery
was formed up to charge

300 yards across an
open field and assault

the fortified Confederate
positions facing them at

Hare House Hill.

Previous attempts made
earlier in the day

by veteran regiments to carry
this position had failed.

General Robert E. Lee's
veteran troops had arrived

in Petersburg and they were
ready to repulse any attack

launched against them.

At Hare House Hill, Lee's
massive army of reinforcements

was dug into trenches,

presenting a formidable obstacle
between the Union position

and the city.

(intense music)

To many Union veterans,

the situation was
unsettlingly familiar.

They had seen the same type
of scenario at Cold Harbor

earlier in the month.

At Cold Harbor, thousands
of battle-tested veterans

from the Union Second Corp
had laid down their lives

in a futile attempt to
overrun the well-entrenched

Confederate forces.

General Grant's overland
campaign not only took a heavy

physical toll on the
veterans of the Second Corp,

(musket fires)

but also a mental one.

- There were veteran troops
accompanying the battalion

and the corp that had
arrived in Petersburg

who looked at the task before
them and said there's no way.

- [Narrator] Many of these
veterans had been suffering

the hardships of war since
before the Battle of Antietam,

and had faithfully fulfilled
their duties as soldiers.

With Grant's willingness to
continually engage the enemy

with almost no
break in the action,

veterans were beginning
to show a hesitancy

in endangering
themselves unnecessarily

when ordered to charge
strongly held fortifications.

(musket firing and echoing)

- That was not what Dan Chaplin
and the First Maine Heavy

thought was the
role of the troops.

They were to do what
they were ordered to do,

that was their mission
and particularly because

they had been razzed
by the veteran troops,

they were not
about to step back.

- [Narrator] Early in the
afternoon of June 18th,

General David B. Birney,
who was in command

of the Second Corp
due to the incapacity

of General Hancock,
ordered the 93rd New York

and the 84th and 105th
Pennsylvania regiments

to charge the Confederate
positions defending

the Hare House Hill.

- General Winfield
Scott Hancock,

one of the best Union
generals regarded,

not only at the time, but
history has been very kind

to him as well, would have
come in on the 15th of June,

but he was suffering.

He had bone spurs from
wounds in a previous battle.

It stopped him from maintaining
command of the troops

that arrived at Petersburg.

- [Narrator] The Fifth Michigan,

the First Massachusetts
Heavy Artillery,

and the First Maine
Heavy Artillery,

were ordered to be ready
to support the charge

if it was necessary.

(dramatic music)

Almost as soon as
the order was made,

the veterans from New York
and Pennsylvania protested

by yelling that they
were all played out

and they urged Birney to
let the First Maine go.

(intense music)

The adjutant of the First
Maine Heavy Artillery,

Lieutenant James W. Clark,
paced back and forth

in front of the regiment.

When he was asked by
one of the captains

what this movement
to the rear meant,

he replied: We are
all gone to hell.

And with that he proceeded
to pass his canteen

to his fellow officer
and asked the captain

to take something to
help take the edge off.

The captain replied:

No thank you.

If I am going to hell I
am going to do it sober.

(music fades)

(birds chirping)

- We're on the Prince
George Courthouse Road

and this is a historic
road trace to us today

in the 21st century, but it
was even an important road

and a historic road trace
even for the soldiers

that were occupying it in 1864.

Road connects the
city of Petersburg,

which is off in front
of us here today,

the downtown area being
just a little over a mile

and a half away, with the
courthouse and what is now

Prince George County, Virginia.

The road is somewhat
sunken in some areas,

it has very high banks so it
does afford some protection,

it may be why they're
forming up here,

but this is really the
extent of the Union advance

by June 18th.

The Confederates had
abandoned previous positions

to the east of here, they
had given up most of those

defenses on June 15th,
16th, and even the 17th

and had fallen back on a new
line that was established

by June 18th.

So where we stand in the
Prince George Courthouse Road,

this is really the new
frontline for the Union forces,

included in that would be the
men of the First Maine Heavy.

(intense music)

- And they're looking
up over the berm

because the road was
sunken a little bit

and to make the road they
had moved the earth aside

and mounded it up on
the sides of the roads,

and that had since
grown over with brush,

so their movements were
pretty much protected.

The Confederate troops,
such as they were,

knew that the guys were there,

but they couldn't
really see them,

so they didn't know what
the numbers looked like,

but they could assume that
they had sizeable numbers.

- [Narrator] Chaplin
told his three officers:

We have orders to charge
those works immediately.

Go in light marching
order with bayonets fixed.

Orders were given to load,
cap, and fix bayonets.

Following the orders passed
down to him from Colonel Chaplin

and in compliance with
orders that had come down

from General Meade,
Major Russell B. Shepard,

a burly, bearded school
teacher from Skowhegan, Maine,

stepped to the front
of the regiment

and bellowed out to his command:

Attention, First Maine forward
at the double quick. Charge!

With this order, all three
battalions rushed forward,

climbing over the embankment

of the Prince George County
Road out into the open field.

- They were to go
out in three waves.

The first wave was to
climb up over the berm,

move forward, and clear
out any of the impediments,

the abatis and stuff that
the Confederates had put up

in their path.

The second group was to push
through and relieve the first

and attack the breastworks,
and the third was to go in

and secure the breastworks.

- This is the line that the
Confederates would fall back to

by June 18th, by the day
of the Maine assault.

But on June 18th these works
were in their initial stages,

they were laid out
by the Confederates

as a good line of defense just
based on the topography here.

They had open ground
in front of them,

they're on an elevated
position here somewhat,

and then eventually again as
this position does develop,

the line tapers away
behind the hill,

so there's a whole network
of trenches and bombproofs

for the Confederate defenders.

(intense music)

- [Narrator] As soon as the
First Maine cleared the road

and started their advance,
supporting regiments in the rear

and to either flank were
supposed to move forward.

While a few portions of
the supporting regiments

took a couple of steps forward,

most of these soldiers
just laid down

and refused to advance.

When the order was given for
the First Maine Heavy Artillery

to advance, they
essentially did so alone.

- And bristling on the
breastworks are muskets

and artillery, canister shot,

everything for the
Confederates who are waiting

for something to happen.

- [Narrator] As the regiment
started to move forward,

Sergeant Charles C.
Morris of Company L

yelled out to his men:

Boys, put your cartridge
boxes around in front

so that the Rebs can't
hit you below the belt!

Without the veterans
behind them,

the Maine men found
themselves charging

the Confederate positions alone,

and thus becoming the only
targets the Confederates had.

- As the Confederate
forces open up,

the First Massachusetts
Heavy, the 16th Massachusetts,

the Pennsylvania and New
York regiments stand down.

They refuse to go
up over the berm.

Nevertheless, second wave of
Maine, third wave of Maine,

proceed across the field.

850 men proceed
across the field.

All of the Confederate
guns, every one of them,

has nothing else to shoot at
but these guys from Maine.

(muskets firing)

(music fades)

- [Narrator] The Confederates,
who were excited and nervous

as they saw the
large blue column

of the First Maine Heavy
Artillery move forward,

remained in control and
adhered to the orders

of their officers as they
calmly directed each rank

to ready, aim, fire, and reload.

(muskets and cannon firing)

Canisters shot and shells
slammed into the ranks

of the First Maine,
punching holes

into the one solid line of blue.

Ranks and ranks of men from
the First Maine Heavy Artillery

fell as hundreds,
if not thousands,

of deadly pieces of metal
slammed into the column.

Yet as the destruction
kept raining down on them,

the men of the First
Maine Heavy Artillery

kept moving forward towards
the Confederate works.

Captain F. A. Cummings
of Company M wrote:

Men were shot dead within
the first five feet,

the crash of 2,000
muskets rent the air

as a long line of flame leapt
from the works in our front.

Whole companies reeled
beneath the fury of the shock,

yet the gallant few
pressed forward.

- And it's almost like
a shooting gallery

for the Confederates, and
everything, and inflated fire

of the Confederates
comes in on these 850 men

of the First Maine Heavy.

(muskets firing)

- [Narrator] Those who were
to support the regiment

advance to the cover of
the road but no farther.

Unsupported, they pushed
on, a few getting closer

than 40 yards through
the enemies breastworks.

When more than two thirds
of the regiment were killed

and wounded, the order
to fall back was given,

and they fell back to
the cover of the road.

(dramatic music)

- After it happened by the
way, Chaplin was bereft.

He broke down in
tears, he was screaming

at his commanding officer,
and telling the general:

Here, take my saber, I
have no more use of it.

My men are dead.

The Battle for Petersburg
on the 18th of June

lasts less than ten minutes.

The retreat from that battle
lasts over three days,

because the Confederates would
not allow the Union forces

to come out and rescue the
wounded and retrieve the dead.

And here they see their
friends, their relatives,

their neighbors,
lying about them,

and they are powerless
to do anything about it.

The guys who
finally make it back

and we're talking now
when you think 632 guys

are on the field, many
of them do not return.

Even wounded, they're lying
there for two days, three days,

and they bleed out on the field.

And guys go out at night and
try to rescue their buddies,

try to find their platoon
sergeant, their lieutenant,

their captain, and they're
trying to find somebody alive

so they can bring them back,
and as soon as they come up

over the berm, the Confederates
start firing at them again,

so they have additional
casualties that they suffer

in the two days after
the initial assault.

So you just see bodies.
Bodies all over the place.

And the moaning and the
shrieking and the crying

and the howling of imprecations,
and just praying for relief

and it's something that stayed
with these guys forever.

(music fades)

(majestic bagpipe music)

And to know and
to proceed anyway,

is that folly or is that valor?

And for the men of
the First Maine Heavy,

who afterwards regarded,
particularly the survivors

who were there, who actually
participated in the assault,

for them to look upon the
sacrifice of their friends,

their neighbors, their
brothers, their cousins,

and to say we did
the right thing.

It was a piece of
who we are as people.

(peaceful instrumental music)

(birds chirping)

(bugle playing Taps)

(soft piano music)

(music fades)

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