Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain, U.S. Army

I was a university professor at Bowdoin College when I decided to join the army and fight for that which I believed: the preservation of our Union and centralized government. At first the Board of Trustees turned down my request, but I returned to them a month later with the complaint that I had taught rhetoric, foreign languages, and revealed religion enough to have earned a sabbatical. They granted that, and I went to Governor Washburn and was made a Lieutenant Colonel of the 20th Maine Regiment of Volunteers -- much to the trustees' chagrin.

I rose to the rank of Major General by 1865, was Governor of Maine from 1867 to 1871, and then returned to my beloved Bowdoin to become President of the university. I guess they forgave me!

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