© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete text of Human Action, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's philosophy of human achievement.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
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The American Civil War was a long and bloody war, partly because many if not most of the generals lacked imagination. Courage without imagination can be particularly deadly in a wartime situation. One leader who did have imagination and courage was Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a university professor from Maine who became an officer on the Union side. The excellent film, “Gettysburg,” features Chamberlain as he leads his men from Maine in a desperate battle against superior Confederate forces. Out of ammunition, bleeding and wasted, Chamberlain's men await the next charge that will surely wipe them out and endanger the whole Union army. Chamberlain doesn't wait. He orders an unusual do-or-die bayonet charge that stuns the enemy and wins the most important day in the war.

Impressive, yes, but two years later the imaginative Chamberlain would make perhaps the most courageous decision of the entire war. When General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox in April of 1865 to effectively end the war, Grant showed some imagination of his own. He was known as “U.S.” Grant, not for his name “Ulysses Simpson,” but for “Unconditional Surrender,” a term he coined. The time had come, he knew, to be magnanimous in victory. Grant gave generous surrender terms initially and agreed to further generous terms after talking with Lee. The defeated southerners were all put on their word instead of taken prisoner. Men were allowed to keep their horses to use on their farms back home. Officers were allowed to keep their swords and side-arms, a matter of great honor and pride. Grant and Lee signed documents and shook hands.

General Chamberlain was left on the scene to accept the formal surrender of 28,000 Southern troops. He knew what to do. These are his words.

The momentous meaning of this occasion impressed me deeply. I resolved to mark it by some token of recognition, which could be no other than a salute of arms. Well aware of the responsibility assumed, and of the criticisms that would follow, as the sequel proved, nothing of that kind could move me in the least…

Instruction has been given; and when the head of each division column comes opposite our group, our bugle sounds the signal and instantly our whole line from right to left, regiment by regiment in succession, gives the soldier's salutation…[General] Gordon at the head of the [Confederate] column, riding with heavy spirit and downcast face, catches the sound of shifting arms, looks up, and, taking the meaning, wheels superbly, making with himself and his horse one uplifted figure, with profound salutation as he drops the point of his sword to the boot toe; then facing to his own command, gives word for his successive brigades to pass us with the same position of the manual, —honor answering honor.

Freedom, imagination, creativity, Shock, Trope. They all come together in great moments. Appomattox situations do not come around that often, but you and I do have the opportunity to express ourselves in the finest way when we deal with the subject of the next chapter: Love.