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| Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain |
A professor at Bowdoin College in Maine, Chamberlain enlisted in the Union army on Aug. 8, 1862, then became a decorated officer and eventually rose to brigadier general. As colonel of the 20th Maine Infantry at Gettysburg, Lawrence achieved fame (and earned a Congressional Medal of Honor) for his leadership at Little Round Top, where his men helped hold (barely) the extreme left flank of the Union army. I get goose bumps every time I watch that scene in the movie "Gettysburg." Just great stuff.
Chamberlain survived some the worst fighting of the war at Fredericksburg, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania Courthouse and Petersburg. He was wounded several times and even had his horse shot out from under him. After the war, Chamberlain became governor of Maine and then president of Bowdoin College, his alma mater. He died at age 85 in 1914, apparently of lingering war wounds.
Chamberlain is buried at Pine Grove Cemetery, on the Bowdoin College campus in Brunswick, Maine. ESPN colleague Matt Volk, a Bowdoin grad, visited Chamberlain's grave recently and shot these photos of the great man's final resting place.
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| Chamberlain, wounded several times during the Civil War, died in 1914. (Photos by Matt Volk) |
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