About the Author

The late Alice Rains Trulock was a retired personnel manager and politician in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Reviews

"Deserve[s] a place on every Civil War bookshelf." - New York Times Book Review; "[Trulock] brings her subject alive and escorts him through a brilliant career. One can easily say that the definitive work on Joshua Chamberlain has now been done." - Richmond Times-Dispatch; "An example of history as it should be written. The author combines exhaustive research with an engaging prose style to produce a compelling narrative which will interest scholars and Civil War buffs alike." - Journal of Military History

In 1861 Joshua Chamberlain was an obscure college professor. In 1863 he led the 20th Maine regiment ?/I've lc since I`m not sure regiment is the official title, referred to only as 20th Maine.gs in the defense of Little Round Top at Gettysburg. In 1865 he commanded a division in the Army of the Potomac with such skill that he was chosen to conduct the surrender ceremonies for since it was surrenner OF southern army the Army of Northern Virginia. Freelance writer Trulock presents a definitive biography of this distinguished citizen and Union officer. Chamberlain emerges from Trulock's pages as an unusually brave man who could think quickly and rationally under extreme stress. He was not a ``born soldier,'' but he eventually became a master of war. Neither his presidency of Bowdoin College nor his four terms as governor of Maine seem to have defined him as did a few minutes at Gettysburg and a few hours in Virginia. In this, Chamberlain was an archetype of the generation that dismembered, then reknit, a country. He died at age 86 in 1914. (May)