Episode Details

Ronald White, guest author, describes how Chamberlain began his academic career at Bowdoin College in 1855, seeking to instill critical thinking in his pupils rather than treating them as mere boys to be regimented. His tenure was marked by encounters with significant historical figures, including visiting senator Jefferson Davis and neighbor Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose readings of Uncle Tom's Cabin he attended. As the nation drifted toward Civil War, Chamberlainfelt an internal crisis, compelled to join the fight despite being a respected professor and father of two young children. In 1862, he famously declined a lucrative sabbatical to study languages in Europe to enlist in the volunteer 20th Maine. Rejecting an initial offer to lead a regiment as colonel, he insisted on "earning and learning" his way to command by serving as a lieutenant colonel under a professional soldier. This choice defined his transition from an intellectual to a battlefield hero. On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (2)
1840 BOWDOIN