I grew up about a half-hour from Gettysburg in York, Pa. In my education-minded working-class household, you took advantage of the learning opportunities for your children that living near DC, Baltimore, Philly, and Gettysburg afforded. So, I’ve been to the battlefield too many times to count.

It’s a great childhood memory. My family was together learning about history from monuments, several museums, tour guides, and a relic from the mid-20th Century’s roadside attractions boom, the Electric Map. The Electric Map was an animated and narrated diorama that used lights to illustrate troop movements, viewed from above in a sort of theater-in-the-round seating arrangement. It was pretty cool to see as a kid.

Being so close to the battle wasn’t great for my ancestors. In fact, I had the unique experience of talking to someone who was told a first-hand experience of the Battle of Gettysburg, my grandmother. Her grandmother told her about being a small child during the battle, how on day 1 they thought battle sounds were thunder from an approaching storm. But it never stopped nor got closer, and soon people were talking about Confederate cavalry roaming the countryside. This indeed happened, as J.E.B. Stuart’s Rebel cavalry rode around York County terrorizing the populace. My great-great-grandmother remembered being hidden in a root cellar to keep her safe from invading enemy forces. She also recalled the awful odor of death from the battlefield 20 miles to their west that hung around for a few weeks after the battle.

The battle was fought from July 1 to July 3, so along with July 4, the first week of the month is also a time when I think about that battle and what I learned about it. This leads me to a moment in history that is not as well known as it should be.

On day 2 of the battle, things did not look great for the Union. The Confederates were making gains and inflicting casualties. A college professor from Maine, Col. Joshua Chamberlain, and his 20th Maine was ordered to defend the end of the Union line, its left flank. The Union line was shaped like a fishhook and the 20th was located at the top of the shank of the “fishhook” on a small hill known as Little Round Top. If they lost it, the battle likely was over given its higher ground would be of great advantage to Confederate troops. Lee had hoped to win the hill and crush the Union forces from his elevated position, ending the battle on the second day. This would have been a terrible outcome for the future of American democracy, as it would enable the Confederates to gain a foothold in Union territory and potentially surround DC. A loss could have won the war for the Rebels and their horrifying beliefs about owning other human beings as chattel.

Hit repeatedly by Confederate attacks, absorbing many casualties among his Maine men,  almost out of ammo, Chamberlain nevertheless kept true to his order to defend Little Round Top. He formulated a plan (although some historians state his subordinate officers came up with the plan and he approved it) and ordered his remaining men to fix bayonets and charge. He sent one company over the side of the hill to try to set up behind a stone wall to hit Rebels with a crossfire during the charge. However, he heard an explosion of gunfire as they disappeared out of sight and he assumed they had been taken out.

Despite this, he ordered the charge and caught the Confederates completely off guard using a tactic similar to a gate closing. His men charged down the hill at the Rebel forces. They pulled it off perfectly, so confusing them that Chamberlain remembered a Rebel officer firing his gun into the ground and handing him his sword at the same time.The Confederates were thrown into a terrified frenzy and haphazardly retreated down the hill. As they were running away, the company he thought was slaughtered popped up behind the wall and opened up on them, and the Rebels panicked even more and continued their unorganized retreat.

The following day did not go much better for Robert E. Lee and the Confederate army. You may have heard about the futile and foolish attempt to beat the Union army known as Pickett’s Charge. Talk about a failure.

Chamberlain’s charge is one of my favorite stories in American history, and this year, it means so much more. We are once again facing another assault on democracy by people with basically the same mindset as the Confederates. After the botched debate by Biden and a series of horrifying Supreme Court rulings, things do not feel all that great at the moment. I see a lot of despair among my fellow Americans who believe in democracy, and fear that all is lost.

However, we cannot give up now. We must continue to fight, not on a battlefield but at the polls, and do the work needed to keep Trump from winning. We do still have a say in whether we keep our democracy, or lose it.

I’ll add one more thing about Chamberlain. To make the story even better Chamberlain was a rhetoric faculty member at a small liberal arts college in Maine who was openly abolitionist. What this means is on July 2, 1863, the MAGAs got their ass beat by a woke professor.

The last word goes to Abraham Lincoln’s short speech he gave at the dedication of the battlefield in November 1863.