Who was the man who, wounded during the Civil War still unimaginably but miraculously survived it? The man, leading the famous charge against the terrible foes at the Battle Gettysburg, and drove them back? This Man was Lawrence Joshua Chamberlain born on September 8th 1828, in a beautiful and quaint town Called Brewer in Maine. He was the oldest. Raised on good family values Lawrence and his four siblings were taught morality, cheerfulness, and education. Cleverly his father “Joshua” and his mother “Sarah” named him after the great Commodore James Lawrence who had the famous saying “Don’t give up the ship.” As a boy Lawrence loved playing outside, he loved traveling out into the backwoods of Maine and loved galloping across open fields on his horse. During his early life we will see what great deeds he did before the war, and then at Gettysburg you will see what courageous acts he did for the Union army. Finally his later life, when the War Between the States ends and what happened after the war and what he accomplished.

Joshua’s mother and father had very different views on what their son should do with his life, which to most parents was normal; however, on one side his father wanted him to honor and serve to what he had done with his life, meaning going into the military. His mother, however, wanted her son to go to a Christian College. He agreed with his mother. When he was thoughtfully and wisely thinking about where he was going, he finally decided on Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Working very hard, Chamberlain had very little time for sports and things like that, but the one thing that he made time for was Francis Caroline Adams, who also was the pastor’s daughter. On one hand the age difference was quite large at three years, but that did not matter for Francis was like the sun glistening on the water. Clearly on the other hand when you find true love age does not matter, and it didn’t for them, they were engaged in 1852 and married in 1855. After he graduated from the splendid college, he went back to the magnificent college and went for his Master’s degree. In the spring of 1856 he would become a Professor in Rhetoric, and by 1861 he would become the chairman of the modern languages. When the Civil War started many alumni left the college ad went and enlisted, Lawrence also felt that he too should go and enlist. After a very long thought period he decided he would go despite the displeasure the other Professors at the college. Enlisted in the army as a Lt. Colonel of the 20th Maine his younger brother Tom would also join and become a non-commissioned sergeant. So in the end Lawrence fulfilled both his fathers and mothers view on how he should spend his life.

The date was 1863, the State was Pennsylvania and the battle was Gettysburg. This battle would be the turning point in the war; the two great armies would meet in the lonesome, but beautiful town. Nicknamed showdown at Shoe Town. During this epic three-day struggle the armies would suffer greatly and one army would leave defeated. Patiently now the 20th Maine was camped East of Gettysburg a little ways away they were, but two hundred and thirty in numbers. But they were still strong in spirit, since the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, as to much causality’s were taken. It was the early morning of June 31 1865; the sun was just rising over the hills of Pennsylvania and Colonel Chamberlain was lying in his bed trying to sleep, when he sergeant buster came in and told him that they were to have one hundred and twenty mutineers coming this way to be with them. Joshua was also told that if they did not listen he was authorized to shoot them, which of course he would never do since he was a Maine man himself. When they were assembled chamberlain walked over to the men and explaining that they were going to leave soon to a tremendous fight that was going to happen in the next couple days and he said, “1So if you choose to come with us I will be personally grateful.” After that speech all but six men decided not to join the 20th Maine on that day. Chamberlain himself did not engage in the battle of Gettysburg until the second day, the first day the Yankees were poorly but decisively attacked on the left flank and driven back. On the second day the Confederates were planning to attack the right flank of the Union line, the 20th Maine was called up to the battle and was told by the Colonel in charge that they were the end of the line. They were the flank; if the 20th Maine retreated the whole Union Army would be flanked and would suffer greatly. These three hundred men were supposed to hold back the Confederate onslaught on the flank it was the most important position on the Union line. As the battle started the 20th Maine could see the ghastly gloomy gray-coated Confederates charging up the very steep hill at them they fired right into them with devastating effects after each volley. During the battle Chamberlain would be shot but due to his sheath his life was saved and the kept leading the Maine boys proudly. A little while later as the battle was furiously going on the Rebels decided to come around the Union line, Chamberlain saw this and immediately took action on this. He quickly refused the line, which means taking one part of the line to make a horseshoe around Little Round Top. After successfully doing this, a little while later the men started to run low on ammunition were not able to return fire to the Rebels. Chamberlain called together his officers and told them to fix bayonets, when this had been done he explained to them that we are going to call a charge. Joshua then yelled, “CHARGE” and the whole Union rose up and charged the Rebels approaching them, at one point during the charge; Joshua was face to face with a pistol from a Confederate officer, but when he fired it was empty. Chamberlain then raised his sword and captured the officer. After it was all resolved the Yankees had kept the Rebels from taking the flank in the second of battle; however, Buster his companion was found to have been shot two times in the armpit. He would be taken to field hospital where he would later die and much grief was to come from Joshua and his brother Tom. The next day would prove to be victorious for the Union and much loss to the Confederates. In the end Chamberlain had a very important role in the decisive win at the battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.

Shortly after the battle of Gettysburg Joshua was given command of a brigade with the 20th Maine attached also, to which he was very glad. Serving to his men he gradually and successfully over time earned the respect from each and every one of them, they were fascinated by his acts of bravery and how he showed kindness and courtesy towards to them. Also the attention he paid to the dying and how he personally sent the personal belongings of the men, dying in he line of duty to their families. On several different occasions Chamberlain would instead of sleeping in the tents for officers with beds, he slept on the cold ground with the other men of his brigade, of course sometimes he would catch a cold, but one time he caught hazardous pneumonia, and had to be transported to Georgetown in Washington D.C. where he was cured and then sent back to his brigade. Although Chamberlain was a brigade commander he still had the brains of being a Professor at his college, when one day he eluded capture. Quickly he donned Confederate uniforms. Passed through the Confederate lines. Safely made it back again. The Battle of Five Forks where Chamberlains Brigade took prisoner more than a thousand men nineteen officers and captured five battle flags, which would then lead them to the Appomattox Court House. The Confederates were severely weakened. They finally after fours years of bloodshed agreed to surrender. It was decided by General Grant that Brigadier General Chamberlain would receive the first rolled up flag from the Confederates. General John B. Gordon and his brigade were the first ones to surrender to the Union, and were very surprised to see that when they marched to surrender all of Chamberlains men were saluting them and so they returned the salute with much emotion. When all was done Brigade General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain received the Medal of Honor for his brave deeds done at the battle of Gettysburg. During the course of the war Chamberlain was shot and wounded six times and had a number of horses shot out from beneath him. So at the end of the war his most memorable times were probably fight with the 20th Maine at the Battle of Gettysburg, which was the turning point in the Civil War.

When the war had finished Chamberlain retired and went back to see his wonderful and beautiful wife Caroline, whom he loved, he would then go back as a professor at Bowdoin College. Attending also as a student he received his doctor of law degree, but there was something else inside of him, saying to keep on going. In 1866 he pursued politics and ran for the governors office, which he won by the largest majority ever in Maine’s history. He would serve four amazing terms until 1871, where he would then be elected as president of Bowdoin College until 1883 when he resigned. He then became a writer. Clearly his wartime experiences were something that anybody would be interested in, so he wrote several books on his wartime adventures. Some were on his early life as a child; also he wrote several books on his experiences in the Battle of Gettysburg. The end of the war and his later life, well that’s just history and everybody should read history. If it wasn’t for Chamberlain and the 20th Maine at Gettysburg the war might not have turned out as it did. In 1905 Joshua’s wife died and on Feb 24 1914, sadly but restfully Joshua died at age eighty-six, of a battle wound received during the battle of Petersburg. As General John B. Gordon of the Confederates would always remember Joshua as, 2“one of the knightliest soldiers in the Federal Army.