On Aug. 29, 1871, just two decades after his matriculation as a student, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain returned to Bowdoin College as its sixth president, and he had many plans to renew and revitalize the liberal arts college.

Once seated, Chamberlain’s proposal included admitting women to the all-male institution, creating an engineering school and reforming the college’s strict disciplinary rules, to name a few. Chamberlain also wanted to introduce a military instruction program.

The United States government, wanting to ensure a ready abundance of properly trained military officers, convinced nearly 20 colleges in America to establish military training programs. By the fall of 1872, Bowdoin’s Military Instruction Department was established and ready to begin.

United States Army Major Joseph P. Sanger was chosen to head the Military Department, and he ordered that all students were required to attend the military instruction and drill “unless excused for physical disability.”

But this program immediately proved unpopular due to the “mandatory participation” part of what was being seen as a “grand experiment,” which took time away from academic studies, sports and other personal pursuits.

By September 1873, while President Chamberlain celebrated his 45th birthday, serious trouble was brewing at Bowdoin. Student discontent had grown larger and more hardnosed as a new college rule went into effect, requiring students to purchase their own uniforms “at an expense not exceeding $6.”

Protesters now complained that the cost of these uniforms, combined with the high costs of tuition and personal expenses, were too heavy a financial burden. When officials appeared unfazed by the pleas of the student body, the rebel defiance only grew more furious.

By May 20, 1874, the campus was now a place of “open and defiant revolt” as the “Bowdoin College Drill Insurrection of 1874” bubbled over.

Annoyed students, believing their arguments against the program had fallen on deaf ears, submitted an appeal. Out of a total of 133 students at the college, 126 had signed a petition. Just one senior, five juniors and one sophomore had refused to join the lobby.

The petition demanded Bowdoin abolish military instruction, but the governing board sided with Chamberlain and denied the students’ plea. Disgruntled students then engaged in fierce letter-writing campaigns, public protests, picketing and outright refusal to follow the new rules.

Chamberlain tried to reason with the students, who refused his appeal. These cadets were now opposing the drill “… so forcefully and disrespectfully on the drill field” that the rebellion was interfering in the orderly process of all educational programs. Chamberlain’s hand was being forced and order had to be restored.

Since reason had failed, and finding no alternative, Chamberlain sent seditious students home for one week, admonishing that upon their return they were to comply with all of the college rules, including the compulsory drill program, or be expelled.

A false rumor quickly spread that Dartmouth College, in support of the protesting students, had promised to admit all of Bowdoin’s expulsed pupils. Dartmouth President Asa Smith then weighed in and publicly dashed the rumors.

The issue of the revolt was also being fought in the newspapers as well as on Bowdoin’s campus. Letters to editors of newspapers across the state of Maine and throughout New England were filling column inches. In Boston, one citizen accused the Bowdoin Rebels of treasonous “faithlessness to their nation.”

When the suspended rebels returned to campus one week later, all participated in the drill program. However, although ordered into conformity, their protests did not cease.

By the start of the 1874 fall term, the college governing board — having had enough of the entire matter — voted to alter Bowdoin’s Military Instruction program from “compulsory” to “voluntary.” President Chamberlain was handed a stinging defeat while students claimed victory.

By 1879, Bowdoin’s faculty recommended to the governing board that all military instruction at the college be fully dropped from the curriculum. Three years later, the military program was completely abolished.

In 1880 Maine’s militia commander, Major Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, was summoned to Augusta to assume control of the State of Maine as a civil war was brewing over the indecisive results of the state election.

For approximately two weeks, Gen. Chamberlain occupied the Maine Statehouse and prevented an armed rabble from coveting the seat of Maine’s government, while Maine’s Superior Court decided the lawful winner of the “count-out” election.

When Chamberlain returned to Bowdoin, his bravery in Augusta had earned him a renewed respect from his Bowdoin’s students. Although Military instruction did return to Bowdoin College in the 20th century, the infamous “Bowdoin College Drill Insurrection of 1874” still tells the tale of one of our more rebellious Stories from Maine.

Lori-Suzanne Dell is a Brunswick author and historian. She has published four books and runs the “Stories from Maine” Facebook page.