Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Chamberlain, Joshua Lawrence 1828-

Military officer and educator: born in Bangor, Me., Sept. 8, 1828; graduated at Bowdoin College in 1852. He attended a military academy in his boyhood. He was a professor in his alma mater from 1855 to 1862, when he was appointed lieutenantcolonel of a Maine regiment, and rose to brigadier-general of volunteers in the summer of 1864. He was severely wounded in the siege of Petersburg, and again at Quaker Road in March, 1865. In the final operations ending in Lee's surrender he commanded a division of the 5th Corps. General Chamberlain was a most active and efficient officer, and was in twenty-four pitched battles. He was six times wounded—three times severely. He was designated to receive the formal surrender of the weapons and colors of Lee's army, and was brevetted major-general in 1865. He resumed his professional duties in the college in 1865; was governor of Maine in 1866-71; president of Bowdoin College in 1871-83; and afterwards engaged in writing and lecturing.