APRIL FOR THE UNION HEROES. 8/8: On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain by Ronald C. White (Author)

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John Batchelor

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🗓️ 13 April 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

APRIL FOR THE UNION HEROES. 8/8: On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain by Ronald C. White (Author)

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Fields-Unlikely-Lawrence-Chamberlain/dp/0525510087/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1707433634&sr=1-1

Before 1862, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain had rarely left his home state of Maine, where he was a trained minister and mild-mannered professor at Bowdoin College. His colleagues were shocked when he volunteered for the Union army, but he was undeterred and later became known as one of the North’s greatest heroes: On the second day at Gettysburg, after running out of ammunition at Little Round Top, he ordered his men to wield their bayonets in a desperate charge down a rocky slope that routed the Confederate attackers. Despite being wounded at Petersburg—and told by two surgeons he would die—Chamberlain survived the war, going on to be elected governor of Maine four times and serve as president of Bowdoin College.

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0:52.8	I'm John Batch with Ron White. His new book is On Great Fields, the life and unlikely heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. This is a way of
0:54.8	looking at the late 19th century, the Gilded Age. It is now 1880s, 1890s. Grant's gone in 85. Warren goes in 82.
1:04.7	Chamberlain, despite his wound, will carry on for another two decades. However, he does have surgery.
1:12.6	And at some point, the surgery is put in the newspaper.
1:16.2	I don't remember when, Ron, but that's the first time Fannie knows about it.
1:19.4	Is that right?
1:20.7	Yeah, that seems very odd also.
1:22.6	It's the first time most people know about it.
1:25.1	Somehow the newspaper gets a record of what the surgery is. It's a pretty
1:29.2	graphic record, and people are shocked that they know this man, governor, president, has
1:35.4	undergone so much misery in pain through all these years. It becomes public. And there's no
1:42.2	pension for the Union Army. There's no medical benefits.
1:45.8	There's no VA. You take care of yourself or you don't, and many didn't. Many couldn't.
1:51.5	Chamberlain, however, persists, and he persists at 101 West 75th Street. I tried to look it up, Ron.
	...

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