Major General Joshua L. Chamberlain (USA)

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Major General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (USA)

Chamberlain was born Lawrence Joshua on 8 September 1828. He attended Bowdoin College in 1848 and met, among many who would influence his life, Harriet Beecher Stowe. He studied at Bangor Theological Seminary and began a career as a professor of rhetoric at Bowdoin College eventually teaching every subject in the curriculum except science and mathematics. In 1861, he was appointed Professor of Modern Languages being fluent in Greek, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac.

Chamberlain enlisted early in the war and was offered the colonelcy of the 20th Maine Regiment but declined, preferring to "start a little lower and learn the business first." He was appointed lieutenant colonel 8 August 1862, under the command of Colonel Adelbert Ames. The 20th Maine was assigned to the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, V Corps in the Army of the Potomac. Thomas Chamberlain, a younger brother, was also an officer in the regiment.

The 20th Maine fought at the Battle of Fredericksburg, suffering relatively small numbers of casualties but were forced to spend a miserable night on the freezing battlefield among the dead and wounded. The regiment missed the Battle of Chancellorsville due to an outbreak of smallpox. In June 1863, just days before Gettysburg, Chamberlain was promoted to colonel upon the promotion of Ames to brigade command.

On July 2, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederates began an attack against the Union left flank. Brigadier General Gouverneur K. Warren, the army's Chief of Engineers, sent Colonel Strong Vincent's brigade, which included the 20th Maine, to defend Little Round Top. Chamberlain was tasked with holding the extreme left of the Union line at all costs. The Confederates struck the 20th Maine again and again until the regiment was almost doubled back upon itself. Realizing the dire situation, Chamberlain ordered his left wing, now facing southeast compared to the rest of the regiment facing west, to charge with bayonets wheeling to make the charging line swing like a hinge. There is still debate whether Chamberlain actually ordered the charge. Chamberlain sustained to slight wounds, one when a shot hit his sword scabbard and bruised his thigh, and another when his right foot was hit by a spent bullet or piece of shrapnel. He was known as the Lion of the Round Top and was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Prior to the battle, Chamberlain was quite ill and developed malaria and dysentery. He was taken off active duty until he recovered. In April 1864, he returned to the Army of the Potomac and was promoted to command of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, V Corps shortly before the Siege of Petersburg. On 18 June, during the Second Battle of Petersburg, Chamberlain was shot through the right hip and groin. Despite the injury, he stuck his sword in the ground to keep himself upright to dissuade the growing resolve for retreat, however he collapsed from loss of blood in minutes.

The division's surgeon predicted Chamberlain would die from the wound (and he did...many years later). He was reported dead in battle in Maine newspapers, and Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant gave Chamberlain a battlefield promotion to brigadier general at the urgent recommendation of corps commander Major General Gouverneur K. Warren. However, by November, despite the urging of many to resign, Chamberlain was back in command!

In early 1865, he regained commanded of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, V Corps, and on 29 March participated in a major skirmish on the Quaker Road during Grant's final advance to finish the war. Chamberlain was wounded in the left arm and chest, but was successful and brevetted to the rank of Major General by President Abraham Lincoln.

On the morning of 9 April 1865, Chamberlain was approached by a Confederate staff officer under flag of truce expressing Robert E. Lee's desire to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia. Chamberlain was selected to preside over the parade of the Confederate infantry as part of their formal surrender on 12 April. He ordered his men to come to attention and "carry arms" as a show of respect.

Returning to Maine, Chamberlain was elected by record majorities to serve as Governor of Maine for four one-year terms as a Republican. In 1870, he returned to Bowdoin College and then next year was appointed president of Bowdoin, remaining in that position until 1883, when he was forced to resign because of ill health from his war wounds.

In 1880, during a dispute about who was the newly elected governor of Maine, a band of armed men occupied the Maine State House. The outgoing governor summoned Chamberlain, the commander of the Maine Militia, to take charge. He sent the militia home and arranged for the Augusta police to maintain control. Despite death threats and bribes to be appointed U.S. senator, Chamberlain maintained the peace until the Maine Supreme Judicial Court's decision.

After resigning from Bowdoin, he went to New York City to practice law; served as Surveyor of the Port of Portland, Maine; and engaged in business activities. He lived in pain and discomfort from his wounds and underwent six unsuccessful operations to try to correct the wound and stop the fevers and infections that plagued him. Despite this, in 1898, at age 70, he volunteered for duty as an officer in the Spanish-American War but was rejected for duty - one of the major disappointments of his life. In 1905, he became a founding member of the Maine Institution for the Blind.

Chamberlain died of his wounds 24 February 1914. At his bedside was Dr. Abner O. Shaw, one of the two surgeons who had operated on him in Petersburg 50 years earlier and deemed the wound mortal. He is considered by some the last casualty of the war.

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