Chamberlain Which battles was JLC actually in?

Johnny Murgatroyd

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Feb 21, 2013
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Something I have been trying to find out is which battles JLC actually participated in after Gettysburg? I have a copy of Last Full Measure somewhere, or thought I did, but I seem to have lost it. I remember Chamberlain being at the Wilderness but being too ill to be present at Spotsylvania. The DesJardin book only states that Chamberlain was on leave for illness off and on throughout 1864 and only mentions his participation at Petersburg - Appomattox.

Rgds
JLim
 
To all

Something I have been trying to find out is which battles JLC actually participated in after Gettysburg? I have a copy of Last Full Measure somewhere, or thought I did, but I seem to have lost it. I remember Chamberlain being at the Wilderness but being too ill to be present at Spotsylvania. The DesJardin book only states that Chamberlain was on leave for illness off and on throughout 1864 and only mentions his participation at Petersburg - Appomattox.

Rgds
JLim

I think, to tell the truth, that really is about it. But Chamberlain isn't remembered for the number of battles he was in. He was a Medal of Honor recipient and had an incredible journey with a mortal wound. That injury advanced Civil War medicine profoundly, especially the science of urology.
 
To all

Something I have been trying to find out is which battles JLC actually participated in after Gettysburg? I have a copy of Last Full Measure somewhere, or thought I did, but I seem to have lost it. I remember Chamberlain being at the Wilderness but being too ill to be present at Spotsylvania. The DesJardin book only states that Chamberlain was on leave for illness off and on throughout 1864 and only mentions his participation at Petersburg - Appomattox.

Rgds
JLim
You have that backwards, it was Wilderness that he was on sick leave.
He gave his wife Fanny a bracket that listed all the battles he was in, I can't seem to find a transcription at the moment.
 
Actually, he wasn't at Wilderness; he was still on court martial duty until just after Spotsylvania, when he rejoined the army in command of the First Brigade, First Division, V Corps; the brigade was part of the march to Petersburg, and during the assaults on Petersburg he was wounded so severely that his survival was considered impossible (though the medical issues that stemmed from the wound were lifelong). He returned - with a star on his shoulder this time - around March of 1865 to the same brigade (though the brigade was no made of two completely different regiments than the six he'd commanded before). They were at White Oak Road and Five Forks, and then on the pursuit of Lee's army in the retreat towards Appomattox.

Diane's mention of urology is interesting, as the surgery that saved his life was legitimately ground-breaking, but there were some interesting and - for the sake of his marriage - unfortunate results of that wound, in that he was almost certainly impotent for the rest of his life.
 
Found the list,

ANTIETAM, SHEPARDSTOWN FORD, FREDERICKSBURG, CHANCELLORSVILLE, GETTYSBURG, SHARPSBURG PIKE, MANASSAS GAP, BRANDY STATION, RAPPHANNOCK ST[ATIO]N, SPOTSYLVANIA C.[OURT] H.[OUSE], TA RIVER, NORTH ANNA, LITTLE RIVER, TOLOPATAMOY, MAGNOLIA SWAMP, BETHESDA CHURCH, CHICKAHOMINY, PETERSBURG, WATKIN'S FARM, QUAKER ROAD, WHITE OAK ROAD, FIVE FORKS, SOUTH SIDE R.[AIL] R.[OAD], and APPOMATTOX C.[OURT] H.[OUSE].

http://fannysparlor.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html
 
Actually, he wasn't at Wilderness; he was still on court martial duty until just after Spotsylvania, when he rejoined the army in command of the First Brigade, First Division, V Corps; the brigade was part of the march to Petersburg, and during the assaults on Petersburg he was wounded so severely that his survival was considered impossible (though the medical issues that stemmed from the wound were lifelong). He returned - with a star on his shoulder this time - around March of 1865 to the same brigade (though the brigade was no made of two completely different regiments than the six he'd commanded before). They were at White Oak Road and Five Forks, and then on the pursuit of Lee's army in the retreat towards Appomattox.

Diane's mention of urology is interesting, as the surgery that saved his life was legitimately ground-breaking, but there were some interesting and - for the sake of his marriage - unfortunate results of that wound, in that he was almost certainly impotent for the rest of his life.
I think he came back right in the middle of Spotsylviania and managed to see some action.
 
I've always thought of the bracelet - which was a present for their tenth wedding anniversary, and was, if I recall, made by Tiffany & Co. - as one of those little examples of Chamberlain's status as the quintessential Victorian-era American man, with all the positive and negative connotations inherent to such a status.

EDIT: I typed that before I saw your link pop up, after which I'm rather glad to see that my memory is still intact.
 
Thanks - I was wondering where JLC was through all the Rhea books, and combing through the orders of battle in some confusion. It is embarrassing that the only source I could think of for that period is the Jeff Shaara paperback, which I still can't find.

To take a similar celebrity colonel - I was surprised to find that Robert Gould Shaw served in several battles before Antietam - my impression from the movie was that this was his first battle.
Jeff Shaara promised me he would fix some of his errors when the book was reprinted in paperback. I never got the paperback, so I'm not sure if he fixed them.
 
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