John Calhoun Chamberlain—The Other Brother

When discussing the heroes of Gettysburg, the name Chamberlain inevitably comes up. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and his brother Thomas are depicted in the 1993 film Gettysburg as the heroes of Little Round Top. However, there was another Chamberlain brother who also played an important role in the battle, although not a military one.

John Calhoun Chamberlain (Courtesy Civil War Rx)

John Calhoun Chamberlain was born at Brewer, Maine on August 1, 1838. He was 10 years younger than his brother Joshua—his brother Thomas would be born three years later. There are not many details concerning his early life, but it is known that John graduated from Bowdoin College (where his older brother Joshua was a teacher) and then attended Bangor Theological Seminary. When the Civil War began, John was not eligible to enlist since he had contracted tuberculosis in 1859. In May of 1863, his brothers Joshua and Thomas invited him to visit them in the camp of their regiment, the 20^th Maine Infantry, which was stationed in Virginia. On his way, John stopped off in Boston and signed up with the United States Sanitary Commission, feeling that he could accomplish some good works while visiting his brothers.[1]

John ended up serving with 35 other men at various Christian Commission stations in Virginia. On June 22, he marched with his brothers as the 20^th Maine set off for Pennsylvania. The battle of Gettysburg began on July 1, and by the 2nd, the regiment was heading into the thick of battle. Fearing for his brother’s life, Joshua ordered John to the rear to set up a place for the wounded.[2]

John kept a journal for the Christian Commission to document his activities. He wrote about encountering wounded “lying under every tree, the woods seemed full of them, they issued from every path and were scattered along the road-sides.”[3] John tried to help as best he could, washing their wounds, directing them to their regimental hospitals, and setting up shade for those exposed to the hot July sun.

The next three days, John would spend working in the hospitals set up behind Union lines. He wrote that he spent his time at Gettysburg:

. . . going round the hospitals, reading in the faces of the men their wants and trying to relieve them, speaking words of comfort and religious consolation, and gathering their dying messages to their friends at home.[4]

 John was greatly impacted by what he saw at Gettysburg:

I shall never forget this battlefield and its surroundings. The house where the Rebel wounded officers were cared for, with the clock still ticking as they left it and the blood on the floors still fresh and everything like cloth blood-smeared and all inside in utter disorder.[5]

Christian Commission in Virginia (Library of Congress)

While traveling back south with the 20^th Maine, John was taken ill and spent five days recovering in Middletown, Maryland at a minister’s house. Once he recovered, John returned to Washington, D.C. and resigned his position in the Christian Commission. He had done good service and seen his share of the war, and it was time for him to return to his studies at the Bangor Theological Seminary.

John received his degree in 1864 and moved to New York City, getting a job as a clerk with the Department of Internal Revenue. In September of 1866, he married Delia Jarvis of Maine. Having suffered from tuberculosis since 1859, the disease returned, and in 1867, John moved back to Maine. In the last months of his life, John served as a minister and teacher but finally died in August of 1867 at the age of 29. His widow would marry his brother Thomas in 1870. John’s family always believed that his service with the Christian Commission led to his early death.[6]

While not as famous as his two brothers, John Chamberlain’s contributions during the Civil War were just as meaningful, especially to the wounded soldiers that he aided and comforted.

Sources

[1] Hoisington, Daniel J. Gettysburg and the Christian Commission, 2002

[2] Ibid.

[3] Pullen, John. The Twentieth Maine: A Volunteer Regiment in the Civil War, 1957

[4] John C. Chamberlain to Charles Demond, July 11, 1863, Massachusetts Historical Society

[5] Hoisington, Daniel J. Gettysburg and the Christian Commission, 2002

[6] Ibid.

About the Author

Tracey McIntire earned her BA in English at Rivier College in Nashua, NH. She is Lead Educator at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, site manager of the Pry House Field Hospital Museum, and an interpretive volunteer at Antietam National Battlefield. She is also an active Civil War living historian, where she portrays a woman soldier in various guises.