suzenatale
Sergeant Major
- Joined
- May 25, 2013
I was going to hold off this post until the actual date, Feb 24th, but I just couldn't wait to talk about it.
For those of you who don't know the story, you have probably heard of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and his actions in the battle of Gettysburg, what you may not know is that Chamberlain was wounded on June 18th 1864 at the Battle of Petersburg. The wound involved his urethra and bladder and he was not expected to live.
After months of fever and pain, and to the surprise of his doctors, Chamberlain began to recover, however the wound would never fully heal, it would plague Chamberlain for the remainder of his life until it finally killed him almost 50 years later. After describing the gory details of that wound (that can be read here) a doctor said of Chamberlain, "In bearing this silently while performing all his exacting duties there was shown more heroism than in gaining the military promotions which he so valiantly earned."
The following passage from Diane Monroe Smith's book seems so fitting that I shall simply quote it:
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Chamberlain's death the Joshua Chamberlain Society has set up a memorial fund. In lieu of flowers, money sent to this fund will help out modern day wounded warriors. You can read more about the fund at the following link:
http://www.joshualawrencechamberlain.com/memorialfund.php
or for the direct link to make a donation visit:
http://stl.chamberlainsociety.org/donate.php
Many thanks to Andy Hall and Cash for helping to spread the word!
http://deadconfederates.com/2014/02/08/joshua-lawrence-chamberlain-society/
http://studycivilwar.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/february-24-and-the-professor/
For those of you who don't know the story, you have probably heard of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and his actions in the battle of Gettysburg, what you may not know is that Chamberlain was wounded on June 18th 1864 at the Battle of Petersburg. The wound involved his urethra and bladder and he was not expected to live.
After months of fever and pain, and to the surprise of his doctors, Chamberlain began to recover, however the wound would never fully heal, it would plague Chamberlain for the remainder of his life until it finally killed him almost 50 years later. After describing the gory details of that wound (that can be read here) a doctor said of Chamberlain, "In bearing this silently while performing all his exacting duties there was shown more heroism than in gaining the military promotions which he so valiantly earned."
The following passage from Diane Monroe Smith's book seems so fitting that I shall simply quote it:
"Dr. Abner Shaw still looked after Chamberlain, almost 50 years after that momentous day and night of June 18 1864. Grace [Chamberlain's daughter] reported: "The splendid old doctor we have had for him is the same one that sat up all night with him when all the others had given him up to die on the battlefield at Petersburg. He no doubt saved his life." But Dr. Shaw could not save him when he again began to sink in February. Grace had returned to Boston, but when he took a turn for the worse, she rushed back to Portland. The wound and pneumonia took his life just after 9:30 in the morning on Feb. 24, 1914. Grace was by his side at the end. Wyllys arrived in Portland from Boston several hours after his father's death, and could only share his sister's grief. Just before he died, Chamberlain had requested a simple funeral, in the style of the modest granite stone he had chosen to lie above him, that states: "Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain 1828 - 1914."
-Fanny and Joshua pg 350
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Chamberlain's death the Joshua Chamberlain Society has set up a memorial fund. In lieu of flowers, money sent to this fund will help out modern day wounded warriors. You can read more about the fund at the following link:
http://www.joshualawrencechamberlain.com/memorialfund.php
or for the direct link to make a donation visit:
http://stl.chamberlainsociety.org/donate.php
Many thanks to Andy Hall and Cash for helping to spread the word!
http://deadconfederates.com/2014/02/08/joshua-lawrence-chamberlain-society/
http://studycivilwar.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/february-24-and-the-professor/