An American college professor from Maine, Joshua Chamberlain, volunteered to join the Union Army during the American Civil War.
He became known for his courage and contributions during the Battle of Gettysburg, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. In 1862, Chamberlain was appointed lieutenant colonel of the regiment under Col. Adelbert Ames.
He reached the rank of brigadier general, becoming a highly respected and decorated Union officer. In June 1864, while commanding a brigade during the Second Battle of Petersburg, he got so severely wounded which put him nearly to his deathbed.
But he recovered and got promoted to brigadier general. In 1865, he received the honor of commanding the Union troops at the Battle of Five Forks' surrender ceremony.
He entered politics as a Republican after the war. From 1867-1871, he served four one-year terms of office as the 32nd Governor of Maine. Later he returned to his alma mater, Bowdoin College, serving as its president until 1883.
These Joshua Chamberlain quotes show the same vigor with which he had led his life.
Famous Joshua Chamberlain Quotes
Take a look at some of the famous quotes by Joshua Chamberlain, one of the greatest generals of the civil war, who inspires people to this day.
"The power of noble deeds is to be preserved and passed on to the future."
"I am not of Virginia blood; she is of mine."
"A radiant fellowship of the fallen."
"Constitutions do not make a people; they are made by a people. They are called organic law — that is to say, they are the reflection of its interior life, but not a mere creation of its will as law.”
"It is by miracles we have lived to see this day, — any of us standing here."
"For neither law nor life is the end; the realization of human worth, that is the end, and the justification of life and of law. By no other law than this was our loyalty bounded and bound."
"Let me say no danger and no hardship ever makes me wish to get back to that college life again."
"But the cause for which we fought was higher; our thought wider... That thought was our power."
"Those who will may raise monuments of marble to perpetuate the fame of heroes.
Those who will may build memorial halls to remind those who shall gather there in after times what manhood could do and dare for right, and what high examples of virtue and valor have gone before them. But let us make our offering to the ever-living soul.
Let us build our benefactions in the ever-growing heart, that they shall live and rise and spread in blessing beyond our sight, beyond the ken of man and beyond the touch of time."
"The nation must make her heart ready to receive her lessons; that she be able to do her work. She must cherish reverence, honor, truth, justice and brotherly love, that she may be able to fulfill the part for which she has been ordained by so mighty a hand."
Joshua Chamberlain Quotes On Life
As a volunteer in American Civil War, Chamberlain was one of the officers to probably led the frontlines, being a witness to some grievous moments in life. These Joshua Chamberlain quotes might change your perceptions about life. If you are facing a difficult time, these quotes might just make you motivated to get back up again.
"We pass now quickly from each other's sight; but I know full well that where beyond these passing scenes you shall be, there will be Heaven."
"We may ask the question What is Country? And may answer it in a word by saying it is the highest organization of the human forces for widest human ends."
"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… 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, should come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream; and lo!
the shadow of a mighty presence should wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls."
"I know in whom all my highest hopes and dearest joys are centered. I know in whom my whole heart can rest so sweetly and so surely."
"The sky is still aglow, as with dying conflagration. Yet beyond it rises the dawn, diffusing the phantoms, broadening into the broad truth of the day. Under it, things will take on their right form and relation.
What all this was for will be made manifest; what we should be will appear. These are the days of great things. After the slow travail of the centuries, we celebrate the deliverance of the Nation."
"There is a way of losing that is finding. When soul overmasters sense. When the noble and divine self overcomes the lower self. When duty and honor and love immortal things bid the mortal perish. It is only when a man supremely gives that he supremely finds."
"We know not of the future, and cannot plan for it much.
But we can hold our spirits and our bodies so pure and high, we may cherish such thoughts and ideals, and dream such dreams of lofty purpose, that we can determine and know what manner of men we will be whenever and wherever the hour stricks that calls to noble action... No man becomes suddenly different from his habit and cherished thought."
"It is something great and greatening to cherish an ideal; to act in the light of the truth that is far-away and far above; to set aside the near advantage, the momentary pleasure; the snatching of seeming good to self; and to act for remoter ends, for the higher good, and for interests other than our own."
"We know not of the future and cannot plan for it much."
“Heroism is latent in every human soul - However humble or unknown, they (the veterans) have renounced what are accounted pleasures and cheerfully undertaken all the self-denials - privations, toils, dangers, sufferings, sicknesses, mutilations, life-long hurts and losses, death itself - for some great good, dimly seen but dearly held.”
Joshua Chamberlain Quotes on Wars
Learn the art of war from the great Joshua Chamberlain through these quotes.
"Mounting a large rock, I was able to see a considerable body of the enemy moving by the flank in rear of their line engaged, and passing from the direction of the foot of Great Round Top through the valley toward the front of my left."
"The word was enough. It ran like fire along the line, from man to man, and rose into a shout, with which they sprang forward upon the enemy, now not 30 yards away."
"The pageant has passed. That day is over. But we linger, loath to think we shall see them no more together - these men, these horses, these colors afield."
"The edge of the conflict swayed to and fro, with wild whirlpools and eddies. At times I saw around me more of the enemy than of my own men; gaps opening, swallowing, closing again with sharp convulsive energy. All around, a strange, mingled roar."
Joshua Chamberlain Quotes on Leadership
Read these quotes by Joshua Chamberlain to know about his ideas on what true leadership should be like.
"I never could be a partisan leader - a man of one idea."
"My officers and men understood wishes so well that this movement was executed under fire, the right wing keeping up fire, without giving the enemy any occasion to seize or even to suspect their advantage.”
"A great and difficult duty is laid upon us all to help the poor, surprised race among us, whose enfranchisement was the signal incident of the war, to make themselves truly free."
Joshua Chamberlain Quotes on Faith
Apart from being a very learned man, Joshua Chamberlain was also a man of faith. These quotes of Joshua Chamberlain shed some light on what faith means to him.
"Loyalty then is not mere conformity. It is fidelity; truth to faith; the constancy of the soul. Its true action is not constrained obedience to a superior, but the keeping of a covenant; free forth giving to an answering ideal of right and good, to which one is spiritually bound."
"But we can hold our spirits and our bodies so pure and high, we may cherish such thoughts and such ideals, and dream such dreams of lofty purpose, that we can determine and know what manner of men we will be, whenever and wherever the hour strikes and calls to noble action."
"Be it ours still to keep faithful watch against wrong or weakness, within or without, with our loins girded, ready for the summons. Loyal to great memories; loyal to our new-plighted faith; loyal to the greater hope that this world’s advancing edge shall touch the better one."
