If they didn't, the entire Union position was in jeopardy. Their mission was to hold the far left flank of the Union line at all costs. On J- the second day of the three-day campaign - the colonel's regiment had been ordered to occupy critical land between two hills, Big and Little Round Top. By May 1862, Chamberlain had been promoted to colonel and given command of his infantry unit.Ĭhamberlain's fame grew out of the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The regiment saw limited action at the battles of Antietam in Maryland, and Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Virginia, over the following months. Instead, he joined the Army.īy autumn 1862, Chamberlain was appointed lieutenant colonel of the newly created 20th Maine Infantry. College administrators didn't want to allow him to leave his studies, so he asked for and was granted a leave of absence to study abroad. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he wanted to do his part for the Union. Civil War ServiceĬhamberlain's family had served in wars dating back to the American Revolution, so he had a great appreciation for the military. They went on to have five children, but only two survived to adulthood. He married his wife, Fannie, around the same time. Three years later, Chamberlain went back to the college to teach languages and rhetoric (persuasive speaking and writing).

He also got an education, graduating from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, in 1852. As the eldest of five children, he grew up helping his father work on their family farm.

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