Chamberlain General Joshua Chamberlain

Danny West

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Joined
Jul 4, 2011
Location
Quitman, MS
General Chamberlain not wanting the surrender of the General Lee’s army lost to History penned an account of the surrender . He did this many years later after discovering there were no actual account of it in the archives.
Just seemed like a great person who would go on to serve his home state of Maine four times as governor.
Confederate general John B Gordon spoke highly of Chamberlain in his book.

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/last-salute-army-northern-virginia
 
He was an awfully unusual guy. It's so odd, because he was chosen as a main character, and some genuinely heroic aspects of his war have been spotlighted, there's been a pretty severe Chamberlain backlash? You hear everything from ' self promoter ' ( kinda have to be, when you're politician ) to ' Well, LRT wasn't all that important to a Union victory ', to ' Yes but this general did much better, over here ". All true, still takes nothing away from him.

He did what he did, even if it can be difficult following it in his words. :angel:
 
Chamberlain was one of those rare civilians who adjusted almost seemlessly to military life and performed to a very high level in the ACW. He was a natural leader who inspired the devotion of his soldiers and proved their trust to be valid.

John Gordon, Wade Hampton and Nathan Bedford Forrest were also able to become successful military leaders without any training to name a few. I am sure there were other men who left civilian life and became successful leaders and look forward to their names being added to the list.
Regards
David
 
He was a natural leader who inspired the devotion of his soldiers and proved their trust to be valid.
Except, it would seem, of Ellis Spear and Homer Melcher. They seemed to have the biggest axes to grind.

I never want to take away from JLC's accomplishments - I could never have done 1/100000th of what he did. I find it unfortunate that views on him are often polarized. Either he's the unstained hero of Gettysburg, without whom the entire day would've been lost, or he's a self-aggrandizing jerkface. History has so many examples where the truth - about events, about people - is incredibly complex and gray-shaded.

Personally, I like JLC but there are other people in the War I find to be just as brave, just as inspiring, who didn't receive the recognition he did.
 
Chamberlain was a class act, one of the true heroes of the war. In sharp contrast to Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, he fought honorably at all times.
 
Except, it would seem, of Ellis Spear and Homer Melcher. They seemed to have the biggest axes to grind.

I never want to take away from JLC's accomplishments - I could never have done 1/100000th of what he did. I find it unfortunate that views on him are often polarized. Either he's the unstained hero of Gettysburg, without whom the entire day would've been lost, or he's a self-aggrandizing jerkface. History has so many examples where the truth - about events, about people - is incredibly complex and gray-shaded.

Personally, I like JLC but there are other people in the War I find to be just as brave, just as inspiring, who didn't receive the recognition he did.

Personally, I don't think it's an either/or question. He can be both a very talented and likable figure as well as a self-aggrandizing jerkface. :wink:

Ryan
 
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