In 1904 and 1905, an aged William Oates and Joshua Chamberlain waged what one writer described as "one last battle" over the proposed construction of a monument on the Little Round Top to the 15th Alabama. While Chamberlain indicated that he had no quarrel whatsoever to the erection of a memorial to his old enemies, he strenuously objected to the precise spot proposed by Oates, which he insisted was farther up the hill than Oates' regiment had actually gotten during the battle. A somewhat-testy exchange of letters between the two men failed to resolve their differences, and no monument to the 15th Alabama was ever erected.One Last Battle: The Final Battle Between Oates and Chamberlain. Retrieved on 2010-05-21. Chamberlain had visited the battlefield several years after the war, and had personally directed the removal of a pile of stones placed atop Little Round Top by veterans of the 15th Alabama. At the time, as he did later in his conflict with Oates, Chamberlain stated that he had no objections to the erection of a monument to the 15th, but not atop the hill that so many of his men had died to hold.Daniel Region, From the Road: Gettysburg. Retrieved on 2010-05-21. More recent efforts to create a pile of stones atop the Little Round Top have been foiled by Gettysburg park rangers.
