59 RI Bar J., No. 7, Pg. 9. Rhode Islanders at Gettysburg: Lessons for Criminal Defense Lawyers.

AuthorMichael A. DiLauro, Esq. Assistant Public Defender, Director of Training and Legislative Liaison

Rhode Island Bar Journal

Volume 59.

59 RI Bar J., No. 7, Pg. 9.

Rhode Islanders at Gettysburg: Lessons for Criminal Defense Lawyers

Rhode Island Bar Journal59 RI Bar J., No. 7, Pg. 9July / August 2011Rhode Islanders at Gettysburg: Lessons for Criminal Defense LawyersMichael A. DiLauro, Esq. Assistant Public Defender, Director of Training and Legislative Liaison A recent trip to Gettysburg caused me to reflect on how we criminal defense lawyers do so much with so little, and the profound effect our efforts have in deterring tyranny and oppression.

Visiting the Gettysburg National Military Park is a transcendent experience. It is beautiful country, with gently rolling terrain perfect for farming which, prior to the battle, most of it was devoted, and featuring forests and hills, reminiscent of New England. Over a thousand bronze, granite, and marble markers cover the battlefield, beautiful works of art erected by veterans from both sides, commemorating unit placements and heroic actions. While there, one senses the truth in the powerful words of Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a hero of the first magnitude, whose actions in command of the 20th Maine Regiment at Little Round Top not only earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor, but probably saved the entire left flank of the Union Army on the second day of the battle on July 2, 1863:

In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field to ponder and dream; And lo! The shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls.(fn1)

Near the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, scene of the third and climactic final day of the battle when more than 20,000 men crashed together in what is now popularly known as Pickett's Charge, lie two modest monuments separated by about 100 yards, placed in and near an area known as The Angle. Somewhat overshadowed by their nearby larger cousins, they mark where Rhode Island Light Artillery Batteries A and B were placed during the battle.

It...

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