Hometown hero, at last Hometown Hero; Maine community gives Civil War general his due

Boston Globe ^ | 5/31/2003 | Doug Warren, Globe Staff

[Uncle Jaque]

BRUNSWICK, Maine -

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was many things in his lifetime: Medal of Honor winner for his bravery during the battle of Gettysburg, governor of Maine, and Bowdoin College president.

With interest in the Civil War growing in recent years, Chamberlain has gained almost mythic stature, with his image appearing in movies, TV documentaries, on bottles of ale, and even in a stage musical.

But somehow, Chamberlain - who died in 1914 and is buried here - had failed to fully capture the hearts of the people of this picturesque college town where he spent most of his adult life.

He was a figure of some controversy,'' said Niven, whose family roots run deep in the community. ''He pushed reforms at the college and he took some unpopular stands as governor.
And some local folks thought his wife, Fannie, `put on airs.'''

The national spotlight focused on Chamberlain by Ken Burns's PBS documentary ''The Civil War'' and Ted Turner's movie ''Gettysburg'' had an impact on Brunswick, and perhaps on local sentiment. ...

Even before its dedication, the Chamberlain memorial (Recently erected statue of General Joshuah Lawrence Chamberlain near Bowdoin College in Brunswick ME) was drawing admirers.

On an overcast Memorial Day, Reenactors from the 3d Maine Infantry, Company A, marched to the site after participating in the Brunswick parade.
The men placed flowers at the statue's booted feet and then presented arms.

Almost 140 years after Gettysburg, Chamberlain was once again in his finest hour, towering over a sturdy line of Maine men in Union blue.

(This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 5/31/2003.)

[Uncle Jaque]

Photos to follow, if antijen will be so kind as to post then online from the ATT *.JPG files I'm about to send her...

[Mr.Clark]

That was the best part of the movie Gettysburg. That whole Little Round Top scene was just epic film making at it's best, and Jeff Daniels did a great job.

[egarvue]

That was the best part of the movie Gettysburg. That whole Little Round Top scene was just epic film making at it's best, and Jeff Daniels did a great job.

I have this framed and hanging on my wall above my computer desk. I'm glad to see Chamberlain getting the regognition that he's due.

[John H K]

That was the best part of the movie Gettysburg. That whole Little Round Top scene was just epic film making at it's best, and Jeff Daniels did a great job.

The movie Gettysburg should have been:

1) Renamed "Little Round Top", last 2 hours, and just have an expanded version of that portion of the battle.

2) Been a Joshua Chamberlain biopic including the Little Round Top scenes from Gettysburg.

It was so much better than the rest of the movie it was embarassing.

[PMCarey]

It was so much better than the rest of the movie it was embarassing.

Now now ... the whole stuff at the beginning with Sam Elliot as General Buford was great. So was Tom Berrenger's portrayal of General Longstreet. Martin Sheen was miscast as Robert E. Lee, but he had a wonderful scene where he dressed down J.E.B. Stuart. The only part of the movie that really didn't work for me was the Richard Jordan's portrayal of Gen. Armistead and his moaning over his friendship with Gen. Hancock. They could've reduced that stuff considerably, because it got pretty annoying the second or third time he went into it.

[nutmeg]

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Maine ping list.

[nutmeg]

Oops... forgot the ping!

[John H K]

Well, there was far too much speechifying.....I still think an entirely different concept of the movie focusing just on LRT or Chamberlain would have been superior overall.....or Chamberlain and more focus on his specific opponents at LRT.

[Uncle Jaque]

After all the hubbub, we didn't get to see "Gods and Generals", a "Prequil" to "Killer Angels"/Gettysburg.

It won't be out in DVD or Video untill about July 15, we are told.

From what we've heard, it was pretty much all about "Stonewall" Jackson, who was very well cast.
Jeff Daniels was older, considerably fatter, and did not pull off nearly as credible an impression of Gen. Chamberlain as he did in GB... and I thought that he was sort of marginal at that.

Sam Elliot would have made a better Chamberlain, IMHO, had he been about 20 years younger at the time. He was possibly the best Actor of the bunch, and some of my 3rd Maine Pards who worked as extras on GB related as to how he was the most popular and "down-to-earth" Actor on the set.

Several months before filming started, Sam wore his uniform around the ranch in all sorts of weather in order to "break it in" - and he certainly had that "authentic" look about him. He would come around to the camps at night between takes and hobnob with "the Boys" - share a cup of coffee around the campfire, swap jokes and the like.
He was very much liked by the small army of Reenactors who helped make that movie happen.

3 pictures are on the way to antijen in hopes that she can post them on Patriot Zone and thence to here.

[ontos-on]

I think that the lack of greater entusiasm for the Gettysburg movie is due to the fact that the movie portrays fairly well the Confederate errors and human failings that prevented Lee's army from wining a battle it should have won. This stuff isn't edifying or enobling, but it was fairly and accurately portrayed.

BTW, One of my little favorite scenes was the very beginning when they show hte Confederate scout on horseback in Pennsylvania reconotoring the North's positions.

[ontos-on]

I really dont get how people object to "speechifying" in the Gettysburg and the Gods and Generals movies. People were much more articulate back then and did tend to speak more formally. That's what happened. The portrayls of this helps give the viewer a sense of what was going on for the people who participated.

[Madame Dufarge]

(Sigh):

Some committee members wanted Chamberlain without a sword, part of an officer's uniform. The 8-foot-tall statue has one, but it is slung to the figure's left side, almost behind his back.

[R. Scott]

It's about time.

[R. Scott]

Many years ago (as an early teen) I read the book The 20th Maine. It documented the story of the regiment from activation to the end of the war.
That book made a lasting impression on me, inspiring a thirst for knowledge of the War Between the States. I visited the Gettysburg battlefield twenty years later and realized for the first time just how horrific the causalities were. The battle lines are marked with small stone markers on the flanks of each regiment. On the first day the 20th Maine regiment covered a front of close to a hundred yards. By the last day of battle it was dozens of yards – I could see both flank markers without moving.

[metesky]

“No chemistry of frost or rain, no overlapping mould of the season’s recurrent life and death, can ever separate from the soil of these consecrated fields the life-blood so deeply commingled and incorporate here. Ever henceforth under the rolling sun, when these hills are touched to splendor with the morning light, or smile a farewell to the lingering day, the flush that broods upon them shall be rich with a strange and crimson tone, - not of the earth, nor yet of the sky, but mediator and hostage between the two.”

“In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream; and lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls.”

General Joshua L. Chamberlain 20th Maine Infantry Dedication Speech, October 3, 1886

[SkyPilot]

No chemistry of frost or rain, no overlapping mould of the season’s recurrent life and death, can ever separate from the soil of these consecrated fields the life-blood so deeply commingled and incorporate here.

Beautiful.

I can hear the Hollywood script writers re-write and butcher that speech to their own version:

"Heey Everybody!! Lookatme! I' am PHAT!"

[Uncle Jaque]

Thanks for that quotation of some of the mighty, profound words of a great American Leader.

Although afflicted with a speech impediment in his youth, Chamberlain overcame it to the point that he was one of the most eloquent and powerful Orators of his time. It greives me that he was never (as far as anyone knows) recorded, despite surviving for several years after the invention of audio recording technology.

Anyone who studies Chamberlain is struck by what an amazing individual we was; beyond his military and political accomplishments, he was a virtuosso Celloist, spoke 7 languages fluently, and taught all but one of the courses offered at the prestigious Bowdoin College - as well as being it's President for many years.

His personal integrity barred him from a promising political career, as he refused to compromise his principals in order to obtain the political support he would have needed for election to a Congressional seat in Washington.

He would have made one of this Nations finest Presidents, IMHO, had the corrupt politics of the time permitted such a fine Patriot and Scholar to breach the walls of Washington's fortress of patronage and graft to attain that exhalted a position.

In a time when our culture's "Adult Role Models" include profanity - spewing "Rap" and whoremongering "sports" Celebrities, how different a World and Country this might be had our people such a figure as Joshuah Lawrence Chamberlain to look up to and admire in our youth?

[wasp69]

From the descendant of an un-reconstructed Confederate, I am happy to see General Chanberlain getting the proper recognition from the people of his hometown. General Chamberlain was (and still is) a fine example of a heroic leader, a great tactician, and a gentleman.

[IrishBrigade]

There were numerous embarrasments regarding 'Gettysburg'...and I speak as one of the reenactors who had the pleasure of being there (great job,btw, of finding a site near Gettysburg which had the requisite road, slope, and clump of trees...)I know that modern day reenactors can't be expected to starve themselves to look the part, but neither did the movie have to focus on so much of their corpulence. Secondly, for a film pretending to accuracy, the beards and clothing were remarkably hokey (Longstreet/Berenger's whiskers, topped in ridiculousness only by his hat.) And I thought J.E.B.'s beard would drop off during his dressdown. The Father Corby scene, General Heth, General Garnett...all marvelously badly acted. And the worst part in the whole production, the absolute bilge award winner...as mentioned already, Armistead/Jordan's over the top mawkish sorrow at having to oppose 'Ol Winny'...I can't bear the scene in Longstreet's tent anymore.
However, I was not bothered at all by the speechifying, because if anything it was underplayed, and thankfully so. In reality, an address to a regiment by its commander could run upwards of two hours, more an oration than anything else, and these were fairly typical. I know for a fact the 93rd Pa, being force-marched up from Maryland along with the rest of the Sixth Corps, found time to listen to fiery two hour speech from its chaplain before beginning the march, when time was of a critical essence...

[justshutupandtakeit]

People, in general, were not more articulate then. How did you come up with that nostalgic idea? Far fewer people were educated enough to even speak correctly. I don't doubt that some of the leaders of that era were as articulate as any era but ideology has gotten in the way of truth if you believe they were in anyway superior to the people of today.