The American Hero
What makes a man a hero? What does he need to do in his life in order to be remembered for his deeds? Must acts of heroism be larger than life or is heroism something to be found in the deep existential interiority of the hero? Ronald C. White explores these questions in his new book, On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a biography of an American man whose life deserves to be remembered and preserved.
When we think of the Civil War heroes, there are many names that come to mind—for example, Ulysses S. Grant or Abraham Lincoln. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain may not be the first person we think of in terms of the Civil War, but he played a large part in American history in various ways.
White has written a “cradle to grave” biography of Chamberlain, which shows a man steady in character, despite human weaknesses. Best known for his honor and courage on the battlefield of Gettysburg, Chamberlain was a man who exemplifies the phrase “God. Family. Country.” Born in 1828, Chamberlain grew up in Maine, raised by morally steady parents, who wished for young Lawrence to become either a military man or minister.
He became an unlikely leader of Union soldiers partly because his life path and personality were contradictory to military leadership. White describes Chamberlain as “mild-mannered, soft-spoken, aimable, and good-humored.” He studied diligently and “worked as a professor at small Bowdoin College…before enlisting [into the Union army]…He was a man of intellectual curiosity and deep Christian faith, fluent in nine languages, who interspersed his lectures with allusions to Athens and Rome and quotations from Dante and Goethe.”
Chamberlain was largely forgotten but the interest in his heroism was revived in Michael Shaara’s 1974 novel, The Killer Angels, and Ken Burns’ famous PBS documentary, The Civil War. Chamberlain’s rationality and faith played a large part in the battle at Gettysburg. As White writes, “In the late afternoon of day two at Gettysburg, they [Twentieth Maine regiment] were commanded to defend something much larger: the far left line of the entire Union army. The battle went back and forth until Chamberlain called for a bayonet charge. These citizen soldiers—lumbermen, fishermen, farmers, and shopkeepers—with a discipline instilled in them over many months by their colonel, answered his order, and bravely charged down the hill to victory.”
The victory and leadership were fully recognized in Chamberlain’s lifetime, and it led to many other positions, such as a President of Bowdoin College, and governor of Maine. Although Chamberlain’s heroism and calm thinking during the battle at Gettysburg tends to become the focal, if not the pivotal point of his life, White rightfully and necessarily illuminates Chamberlain’s formative years as well as his education. What emerges is a thoughtfully constructed portrait of a man, who remained continuously morally steady throughout his life.
White does not treat his subject with a lack of historical objectivity. To be sure, he admires Chamberlain but he does not venerate or worship the man in any way. White brings out a sense of respect for not only Chamberlain himself but also for the United States of America. Through his careful examination of so many tumultuous events, White leads a reader to appreciate the difficulties Chamberlain faced as the United States was coming apart at the seams.
Chamberlain comes across as a patient man, be it with his future wife, Fanny (who struggled with depression as well as many physical ailments), or complete uncertainty over his career. A moral man, but never a moralist, he proved repeatedly how important it was to stand up for principles, yet he never presented himself as better or more valuable than others.
It may sound trite or cliché to speak of small acts of kindness and goodness, but Chamberlain certainly exemplified this. Always guided by his Christian faith, he suffered greatly from self-doubt that was borne during the years of “youthful stuttering,” and a seeming inability to make up his mind on what to do with his life. Perhaps in some way, Chamberlain wished to please everyone around him. As a result, he rarely pushed through like a boulder, and this may have hurt him in some way. Yet, his life raises an important question: does one need to be loud and aggressive in order to achieve greatness? For that matter, what is greatness?
What is clear about Chamberlain is that he did not try to be someone other than his authentic self. The foundational part of that authenticity was his faith. He constantly examined his conscience, and when time came to reflect on his life’s path, Chamberlain always engaged in prayer and interior dialogue with God.
When he became mortally wounded at Gettysburg, Chamberlain was convinced that he would die. He wrote a letter to Fanny: “My darling wife, I am lying mortally wounded the doctors think, but my mind & heart are at peace. Jesus Christ is my all-sufficient savior. I go to him.” Despite this, Chamberlain still fought for his life and survived, but this letter attests to his character essentially remaining the same. As we learn from White, Chamberlain certainly did not believe that he or any other human being is the measure of all things but it’s our faith that must give us succor and strength.
This deep Christian faith did not render Chamberlain in any way provincial. On the contrary, his faith informed his learning and his learning informed his faith. Later in life, he visited Cairo and began to study Islam. He read the Koran in “classical Arabic,” and “his readings only made him want to learn more.” Chamberlain is the example of what an American cosmopolitan might look like: a man securely and firmly rooted in Christian faith and political allegiance to the United States, yet at the same time, fully open-minded to knowledge, wisdom, and dialogue. This included his support of reconciliation between the North and South following the Civil War.
White singles out two aspects of Chamberlain’s life, which encapsulate his character. The first, relates to an event of his childhood when he did not know how to clear a wagon wheel that got stuck between two tree stumps. In boyish desperation, Chamberlain asks his father how to clear the wheel, to which his father responds: “Do it! That’s how!” As White writes, this became “a maxim whose value far exceeded the occasion…an instruction for how to face any obstacle.”
The second aspect that emphasizes Chamberlain’s steadiness is the phrase, “Be virtuous and you will be happy.” White correctly points out that maintaining virtue throughout one’s life is no easy task, and reminds us that, in his later life, Chamberlain rewrote this phrase: “Be virtuous and you will pass through pain, and suffer evil, but at the end of the grievous passage, you will find the good.” Chamberlain may have been a peaceful and mostly optimistic man, but he was not naïve. As White writes, “Chamberlain self-consciously and deliberately cultivated virtue, in the steadfast belief that he could build a bridge between American society as it was and America as it could be.”
As much as Chamberlain’s life was filled with grief and great difficulties, his life is somehow not marked or defined by that sadness or suffering. What runs deeply in his life is hope and love; not some clichéd version of either of those two fundamental aspects of human life but hope and love borne out of Chamberlain’s Christian faith. His courageous actions at Gettysburg may have displayed an unlikely heroism, but what’s clear from White’s portrait, it is truly Chamberlain’s belief in God and America that shine a light on his heroic humanity. For this alone, he must be remembered.
Emina Melonic's work has appeared in National Review, The New Criterion, The Imaginative Conservative, American Greatness, Splice Today, VoegelinView, and New English Review, among others.
