Joshua Chamberlain: A Hero's Life and Legacy

From a National Book Award finalist, an "entertaining and inspiring" biography of the heroic Gettysburg commander, college president, and governor of Maine (Senator George J. Mitchell).

This is a vivid account of the life of Joshua Chamberlain, whose is best known for leading a successful bayonet charge against a Confederate assault that was memorialized in the film Gettysburg—and earned Chamberlain the Medal of Honor. But his life was long and his military, political, and academic careers were filled with numerous notable accomplishments as well, among them the governorship of Maine and presidency of Bowdoin College, before his Civil War wounds finally caught up with him in 1914. This account, with illustrations included, tells his absorbing, wide-ranging story, explores his continuing mystique, and paints a vivid picture of late nineteenth-century New England.

"A worthy tribute to Chamberlain's lasting legacy." —Civil War Book Review

"Joshua Chamberlain was much more than a war hero, and Pullen's thoughtful book fills out the picture of his remarkable life." —Senator George J. Mitchell

"Reveal[s] a complicated character, without diminishing the almost mythic status he has assumed." —The Washington Times

© 2023 Stackpole Books (Ebook): 9780811740999

Release date

Ebook: 14 June 2023