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Joshua L. Chamberlain Born September 8, 1828 Brewer, Maine Died February 24, 1914 Brunswick, Maine

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Joshua L. Chamberlain Born September 8, 1828 Brewer, Maine Died February 24, 1914 Brunswick, Maine Civil War Bios- Vol. 1 10/7/03 4:17 PM Page 71 Joshua L. Chamberlain Born September 8, 1828 Brewer, Maine Died February 24, 1914 Brunswick, Maine Union general Hero at the Battle of Gettysburg oshua L. Chamberlain was one of the Union Army’s great “Out of [the] silence [of Jheroes at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania in July night] rose new sounds 1863. His brave defense of the Union’s vulnerable left flank [of wounded soldiers] . saved the North from certain defeat in the clash. Chamber- a smothered moan . lain received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valor some begging for a drop at Gettysburg, and he went on to serve the Union with dis- tinction for the remainder of the war. of water, some calling on God for pity; and some on friendly hands to finish what the enemy Attends Bowdoin College had so horribly begun; Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was born in 1828 in some with delirious, Brewer, Maine. He was the oldest of three boys. His parents originally named him Lawrence Joshua, but their son decided dreamy voices to reverse the order of the names when he became an adult. murmuring loved names, Chamberlain’s father, Joshua Chamberlain Jr., was a success- as if the dearest were ful farmer who also held several political offices in the com- bending over them. .” munity. He wanted Joshua to be a soldier, but his eldest son thought that he might want to be a missionary instead (a Joshua L. Chamberlain. missionary is a person who does religious or charitable work (Courtesy of the Library of in a distant or foreign territory). Congress.) 71 Civil War Bios- Vol. 1 10/7/03 4:17 PM Page 72 Chamberlain enrolled at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he initially struggled to keep up with his schoolwork. “The first two years in college were on the whole a pretty severe experience,” he admitted. “Well re- membered are those weary nights when some problem would be given out for the next morning’s demonstration over which [I] sat staring at the words until the stars were lost in the flush of dawn.” As time passed, however, Chamberlain became a good student. As Chamberlain continued his studies in theology (the study of religion) and foreign languages, he met two women who had a significant impact on his life. In 1851, he met Fannie Adams, the daughter of a minister, when Cham- berlain became the choir director for a local church. They were married on December 7, 1855, and eventually had three children (although their only son died a few hours after he was born). The second notable woman that Chamberlain met during his studies at Bowdoin College was Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896; see entry), a devout abolitionist (person who worked to end slavery in America). In 1851, Chamber- lain attended several gatherings at which Stowe read excerpts from a novel that she was in the process of writing. This work, called Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was fiercely antislavery in its outlook. Chamberlain was profoundly moved by the passages that Stowe read at the gatherings. The author’s words helped him decide that slavery was an awful practice that should not be permitted to continue in the United States. “Slavery and freedom cannot live together,” he later said. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, meanwhile, became the most famous antislavery book of all time when it was published a year later. Chooses a life of teaching After concluding his studies at Bowdoin, Chamberlain accepted the school’s offer of a professorship. He became one of the college’s brightest young professors, teaching courses in foreign languages and rhetoric (writing and speaking effec- tively). He also bought a house in Brunswick, where his fami- ly thrived. 72 American Civil War: Biographies Civil War Bios- Vol. 1 10/7/03 4:17 PM Page 73 In 1861, however, long-simmering disputes between America’s Northern and Southern states boiled over into war. For years, the two regions had been arguing over slavery. Many Northerners believed that slavery was wrong and want- ed to abolish it. But the economy of the South had been built on slavery, and Southerners resented Northern efforts to halt or contain the practice. In early 1861, these differences over slavery and other issues convinced several Southern states to secede from (leave) the United States. They announced their intention to form a new country, the Confederate States of America, that would continue to protect slavery. But North- ern political leaders were determined to keep the Southern states in the Union. In April 1861, the two sides finally went to war over their differences. Takes a sabbatical to go to war When the Civil War began, Chamberlain decided that he wanted to do his part to help keep the Union together. He wrote to Maine governor Israel Washburn (1813–1883), who was in charge of organizing troops from Maine to serve in the Union Army. “I have always been interested in military mat- ters and what I do not know in that line I know how to learn,” Chamberlain stated in his letter. The administrators at Bowdoin College, however, did not want to see one of their most talented young instructors leave to go fight in a war. They refused Chamberlain’s request for a leave of absence. Instead, they offered him a big promo- tion and a two-year sabbatical (an extended leave of absence given to university professors to travel, rest, or study) in Eu- rope. But Chamberlain was determined to serve in the Union Army. He accepted the college’s offer of a European study sab- batical, but instead of departing for Europe, he reported for military service. When Chamberlain joined the army, Washburn of- fered him command of a new volunteer regiment called the Twentieth Maine, part of the Union’s Army of the Potomac. This offer was not completely unexpected. The Union Army often filled officers’ positions with educated men, even if they did not have any military experience. But Chamberlain sensed that he might not be able to handle all the responsi- Joshua L. Chamberlain 73 Civil War Bios- Vol. 1 10/7/03 4:17 PM Page 74 bilities of command immediately. Noting that he would pre- fer to “start a little lower and learn the business first,” Cham- berlain instead asked to be named lieutenant colonel, the sec- ond-highest ranking position in the regiment. A quick learner On August 8, 1862, he reported to Colonel Adelbert Ames (1835–1933), commander of the Twentieth Maine. Over the next several weeks, Chamberlain quickly distinguished himself as a sharp young officer. Ames learned to trust his sec- ond-in-command, impressed by the former professor’s intelli- gence and desire to learn. In fact, Chamberlain seemed to spend nearly all of his waking moments talking with veteran officers in order to improve his knowledge of military strate- gy and other subjects. “I study . every military work I can find and it is no small labor to master the evolutions of a bat- talion and brigade,” he said in a letter to his wife. “I am bound [determined] to understand everything.” Joshua was joined in the regiment around this time by his younger brothers Tom and John, who would fight by his side for the remainder of the war. In September 1862, Chamberlain and the other sol- diers of the Twentieth Maine were stationed near Sharpsburg, Maryland, site of the bloody Battle of Antietam. The Twenti- eth Maine was never ordered into the battle, but the troops saw plenty of evidence of war’s terrible toll. Chamberlain re- called that the sight of one dead Confederate soldier holding a Bible in his lifeless hands haunted him for the rest of his life. “I saw him sitting there gently reclined against the tree . this boy of scarcely sixteen summers,” he stated. “His cap had fallen to the ground on one side, his hand resting on his knee. It clasped a little testament opened at some familiar place. He wore the gray. He was my enemy, this boy. He was dead—the boy, my enemy—but I shall see him forever.” Chamberlain takes command In the last months of 1862, the Twentieth Maine regi- ment took part in some of the Civil War’s fiercest engage- ments, including two conflicts in Virginia—the Battle of Fred- 74 American Civil War: Biographies Civil War Bios- Vol. 1 10/7/03 4:17 PM Page 75 Chamberlain Recalls Fredericksburg Joshua Chamberlain witnessed murmuring loved names, as if the dearest many terrible scenes of warfare during his were bending over them; and underneath, period of service in the Union Army. One of all the time, the deep bass note from closed the worst of these battles took place at Fred- lips too hopeless, or too heroic to articulate ericksburg, Virginia, where a large federal [speak about] their agony.” army under the command of General Am- brose Burnside (1824–1881; see entry) When the sun rose the following failed in its attempt to dislodge troops led day, Chamberlain and his regiment were by General Robert E. Lee from their defen- forced to spend the entire day hiding be- sive positions. After the war, Chamberlain re- hind the stacked bodies of fallen comrades called what it was like to listen to wounded as Confederate troops tried to pick them soldiers after night fell on the Fredericksburg off. “The living and the dead were alike to battlefield: “Out of that silence . rose new me,” Chamberlain remembered.
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