He is the best known and most respected hero in Maine’s illustrious history. From his exemplary service in the American Civil War to his courageous defense of Maine in 1880, he was an accomplished man of courage and determination. His death 111 years ago this week, was “a personal loss to every citizen of Maine.”

On Tuesday, Feb. 24, 1914, 85-year-old Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, “the hero of Little Round Top,” closed his eyes for the last time at his Portland home.

Wounded six times in battle during the American Civil War, Chamberlain had been in poor health for many years, still suffering with near-fatal wounds sustained at the siege of Petersburg in 1864.

“News of the death … of Maine’s Grand Old Man … spread rapidly,” as bold headlines spread across Maine and New England. Maine Gov. William Haines ordered all flags to half mast, as men from the 19th Company of Coast Artillery were dispatched to serve as an honor guard.

Chamberlain had been living in Portland since President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him as “Surveyor of the Port” in 1900. After the expiration of his position in 1909, Chamberlain purchased a house at 499 Ocean Ave.

On Thursday, Feb. 26, while Joshua Chamberlain lie in repose upon his bed, a chimney fire threatened the home. Fortunately, “the blaze was extinguished” by Portland’s hose and ladder companies.

The next morning, Chamberlain’s coffin — draped in the American flag — was borne by six sergeants of the Maine Militia to City Hall to lie in state. The milelong military cortege traveled over Washington Avenue, Tukey’s Bridge and down Congress Street.

Over 2,000 people attended the services, with many state and local dignitaries present. As more than 5,000 lined the sidewalk, selections of music were played “upon the Portland Municipal organ.”

Chamberlain’s body was then conveyed to Union Station, where an “afternoon express” carried him home to Brunswick, where students of Bowdoin College “escorted the body” to the First Parish Church.

Chamberlain’s public funeral was also a day of community bereavement. All businesses were ordered closed, and “all college exercises were suspended,” as thousands mourned the life of Brunswick’s favorite son.

In 1862, as the American Civil War was underway, Chamberlain left his comfortable life at Bowdoin College to become a lieutenant colonel in the all-new “20th Maine Regiment of Infantry Volunteers.”

Over the next four years, Chamberlain led his troops in battles at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, White Oak Road and at Five Forks, to name a few. Twice wounded at the battle of Quaker Road, Chamberlain was also seriously wounded at Petersburg while charging the enemy. But Chamberlain survived his critical wounds.

On April 12, 1865, Major Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain officially accepted the “surrender of Arms and Flags of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia” at Appomattox Courthouse, just days before the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

His legendary leadership on Little Round Top, at the Battle of Gettysburg, earned Chamberlain and the 20th Maine Regiment legendary fame and garnered Chamberlain the Medal of Honor.

By 1867, Chamberlain had returned to Brunswick and was elected to four one-year terms as Maine’s 32nd governor. In 1871, Chamberlain accepted the sixth presidency of Bowdoin College and served as the “United States Commissioner to the Exposition at Paris” in 1878.

Two years later, as Maine’s “state capitol was thronged with armed men and bloodshed seemed certain,” Chamberlain guarded the capitol as the “count-out crisis of 1880” saw a political battle boil-over in Augusta. Chamberlain, charged with “protection of the peace and institutions of the state,” slept in the State House, guarding it with only “a pistol in his belt.”

Chamberlain’s funeral services at the First Parish Church were described as “severely simple” with “no flowers [on] display.” “Over a thousand people crowded inside” as Chamberlain was heralded for his great accomplishments and remembered as “a majestic figure.”

Bowdoin College President William DeWitt Hyde described his predecessor as having a “nature … of English strength and French grace, military valor and Christian idealism.”

When the services ended, “Handel’s Largo” was played as a cello solo. Then “Chopin’s Funeral March” sounded as six “undergraduate members” of Bowdoin’s Alpha Delta Phi fraternity served as pall bearers. At the Pine Grove Cemetery, Chamberlain was laid to “his eternal rest” alongside “Fanny,” his wife of 50 years.

Today, the amazing accomplishments, honorable life and lasting legacy of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain shall always be remembered in America’s history and forever respected within our legendary Stories from Maine.

Lori-Suzanne Dell has authored five books, and publishes the Stories From Maine Facebook page and weekly podcast on Spotify and YouTube.