ON GREAT FIELDS

A full-length biography of the Union officer whose stand on Little Round Top made him one of the heroes of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Distinguished historian White, the author of A. Lincoln and American Ulysses, follows the remarkably varied career of Joshua Chamberlain (1828-1914), though his military service is the central focus. Born outside Brewer, a small shipbuilding town in Maine, Chamberlain was the son of a prosperous farmer. He was raised in the Congregationalist church, and his mother urged him to become a minister; his father wanted him to attend West Point. Instead, he embarked on a rigorous course of independent study to qualify for admission to Bowdoin College, where he graduated with honors, eventually mastering nine languages. He also met his future wife, Fanny, organist for the church choir he directed. After three years at Bangor Theological Seminary, Chamberlain was invited back to Bowdoin to teach, and he took the opportunity to introduce a more progressive approach than the lectures and rote recitation then typical of higher education. When the Civil War began, he answered the call of duty and found himself second-in-command of the 20th Maine, which performed memorably at Little Round Top. He was promoted to general after receiving a serious abdominal wound at Petersburg, an injury from which he never fully recovered. Still, he had an illustrious postwar career, including his time as the president of Bowdoin and four one-year terms as the governor of Maine. White is at pains to substantiate Chamberlain’s actions during the war, which have been questioned by some other historians, and he goes into considerable detail on how his religious beliefs affected his actions throughout his life. Ultimately, he delivers a satisfying biography that will satisfy military and Civil War buffs.

A revealing portrait of an American hero who deserves even wider recognition.