The Early Years

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was born on September 8, 1828, the first child of Sarah Dupee Brastow Chamberlain and Joshua Chamberlain, Jr. Four siblings would soon follow: Horace, John, Thomas, and Sarah.
Religion played a large part in young Lawrence's (as he was called) life; his mother was a "woman of strong faith" (Deans 4). The morals and religious convictions that he acquired and cultivated as a youth would remain with Chamberlain throughout his life.
The family owned a farm in Brewer, Maine, and Lawrence's father worked primarily as a farmer. His eldest would often accompany him when performing farm duties. On one occasion, when the two were loading hay on a wagon, Lawrence inadvertently "got one of the front wheels stuck between two tree stumps in the bed of a

stream" (Deans 4). His father demanded that he fix the situation; when Lawrence questioned how he was to do this, his father shouted, "Do it; that's how!" He proceeded to do as his father said, and would eventually adopt the words as a mantra and attitude to last his lifetime.
This determination drove Chamberlain to such difficult tasks as teaching himself Greek; to accomplish this, he studied days and nights for a period of six months. The language was necessary to gain entrance into Bowdoin College. He also taught school for a year prior to college.
As a child and a young man, Chamberlain developed skills and qualities that would stay with him forever, leading him to become a much-admired and revered figure.