Chamberlain The 100th Anniversary of the Death of Joshua L. Chamberlain

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:

"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/
 
:redface: Ahhhh! I'm on the front cover of a Maine newspaper!
Well... they promised me they were going to do an interview with the Chamberlain Society and get info on the soldiers rather than just me. Hopefully that article is yet to come. :cautious:

http://www.portlanddailysun.me/inde...n-fan-promotes-100th-anniversary-of-his-death

Now I know I never said "Josh Chamberlain" :tongue: I tend to call him by his full name all run together Joshua-Lawrence-Chamberlain.

I worked in New York before Hollywood, but whatever.

"I was quite surprised to find societies in a border state during the war." I definitely didn't say that, that doesn't even make sense. I think I said I was surprised a Southern state and a border state would name their society after Chamberlain.

And now I know I was quite clear that that quote was not from Dr. Shaw but another doctor. :nah disagree:

Ironically the parts of the article that are not in quotes are more word for word what I said than the parts in quotes.

Anyone have a rock I can climb under.
At least they didn't call me the hero of Little Round Top, then I'd really be in trouble. :biggrin:
 
"One hundred years ago tomorrow, a great and noble American passed into eternity. On February 24, 1914, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Union Army officer, Bowdoin College professor, governor of Maine, and Christian gentleman, died at the age of eighty-five at his home in Portland, Maine of a battle wound incurred almost fifty years before. It is fitting that we honor him, an illustrious ancestor of ours, and draw from his life inspiration and courage to face the battles of our day.


(The author is indebted to Alice Rain Trulock's excellent Chamberlain biography In the Hands of Providence: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the American Civil War, from which all of the Chamberlain quotes are taken.)


He was born Lawrence Joshua Chamberlain on September 8, 1828, on a farm near Brewer, Maine, eldest of the five children of Joshua and Sarah Chamberlain and the son and grandson of soldiers. Growing up on a farm, Chamberlain learned to work hard and overcome obstacles. He later wrote of how his father once pushed him to finish an urgent task by saying "Do it, that's how!" -- a saying that became a maxim for the young man.1


The physical toughness that enabled him to survive six wartime wounds were combined in Chamberlain with intellectual sharpness and religious piety. He mastered nine languages in addition to English and served as professor of rhetoric and modern languages, eventually teaching every subject taught at Bowdoin College except mathematics and science. And he planned at one time to serve as a congregational minister, studying for three years at Bangor Theological Seminary....

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014...ier_christian_man_of_honor.html#ixzz2uAXCJU2t
 
"Major-General Joshua L. Chamberlain is dead. The famous old soldier referred to by many as the "grandest survivor in Maine" of the civil war passed away quietly at his home on Ocean avenue Tuesday morning at 9 o'clock.

The passing of the famous warrior was not unexpected. For many weeks he had been ill, but only recently he seemed to be on the hight road to recovery and it looked as if he might be able to resume his duties as surveyor of the port of Portland, for all of his 85 years. Another bad attack followed and from this the general could not recover..."

http://www.joshualawrencechamberlain.com/finalforward.php
 
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http://www.joshualawrencechamberlain.com/deathcertificates.php
The Doctor who wrote the death certificate was the same doctor who Chamberlain spoke of about his wounding at Petersburg,
"I looked up and saw dear, faithful Doctor Shaw, Surgeon of my own regiment lying a mile away.
My brother Tom had brought him. He and good Dr. Townsend sat down by me and tried to use some instrument to establish proper connection to stop the terrible extravasations which would end my life.
All others had given it up, and me too. But these two faithful men bent over their task trying with vain effort to find the entrance to torn and clogged and distorted passages of vital currents.
Toiling and returning to the ever impossible task, the able surgeon undertaking to aid Dr. Shaw said, sadly, 'It is of no use, Doctor; he cannot be saved. I have done all possible for the man. Let us go, and not torture him longer.'
'Just once more, Doctor; let me try just this once more, and I will give it up.'
Bending to his task, by a sudden miracle, he touched the exact lost thread; the thing was done."​
 
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