A101 Team Scholar, hero, and public servant Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain is one of the great figures of the Civil War. A college professor, he took a sabbatical to join the Union Army. How did a scholar prep for a role in military leadership? He read every military book he could get his hands on. That voracious learning and passion to serve made him a visionary leader.
Fighting in battles all over the Mid-Atlantic, his heroism won him several promotions as well as the Congressional Medal of Honor for his game-changing bayonet charge at Little Round Top. He was a relentless commander. During his military service, Chamberlain was injured six times and got sick twice. But he just kept getting back up again.
Almost a year after his defense of Little Round Top, Chamberlain stood before his men near Petersburg, Va. As he lifted his sword to motion for a leftward oblique, a Minié ball smashed into his side. The lead bullet traveled through his right hip to the left, crushing his bones and cutting into his bladder and urethra on its way. Blood pooled around his feet. Chamberlain knew the wound was likely to be mortal but feared that falling in front of his men might derail their momentum, so he held himself up on his saber until he weakened and fell. He lay bleeding into the Virginia soil for almost an hour, thinking of his mother as the life drained out of him. When he finally arrived at the field hospital, Chamberlain asked the surgeons to leave him and see to the soldiers first. Then he laid back to wait for the end.
But the end never came. The surgeons ignored his requests and instead worked with tenacity on his extensive wounds, toiling through the night until they could give the colonel a slight chance of recovery. For weeks it appeared he wouldn’t survive, but somehow, miraculously, he was back at the front of his brigade within a few months.
During the course of the war, Chamberlain was wounded six times and fell gravely ill twice. He returned to command quickly each time, though still weak and in pain. Chamberlain’s perseverance garnered respect among his comrades, who nicknamed him “the Lion of the Union.” By the end of the war, he was a major general and a bona fide war hero.
After the War, Chamberlain returned to his home state of Maine where he served as governor, four times. During his public service, he fought for the 14th Amendment encouraging his countrymen to give full citizenship rights to all American freedmen and women. He followed his tenure as governor with over a decade as the president of Bowdoin College.
Learn more about the incredible life of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain here.
