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Emerging Civil War
Passing Through the Fire: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in the Civil War
This Civil War biography “draw[s] upon fresh material . . . to offer some important new insights. . . . An outstanding addition.” (NYMAS Book Review) As the brigade he commanded attacked a Confederate battery on a hill outside Petersburg in July 1864, a bursting shell blew Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain from the saddle and wounded his horse. After the enemy battery skedaddled, the brigade took the hill and dug in, and up came supporting Union guns. Chamberlain figured the day’s fighting ended. Then an unidentified senior officer ordered his brigade to charge and capture the heavily defended main Confederate line. Chamberlain protested the order, then complied, taking his men forward—until a bullet slammed through his groin and left him mortally wounded. Miraculously surviving a battlefield surgery, he returned home to convalesce. Struggling with pain and multiple surgeries, Chamberlain debated leaving the army or returning to the fight. His decision affected upcoming battles, his family, and the rest of his life. Passing Through the Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in the Civil War chronicles Chamberlain’s swift transition from college professor and family man to regimental and brigade commander. Drawing on Chamberlain’s extensive memoirs and writings and multiple period sources, historian Brian F. Swartz follows Chamberlain across Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia while examining the determined warrior who let nothing prevent him from helping save the United States. “Swartz writes eloquently and well. This book is suitable for students and for those readers with little prior background in the Civil War as well as for readers with a strong interest in the subject.” —Midwest Book Review
176 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 15, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 31, 2021
A Soldier From Maine
Joshua Chamberlain (1828 -- 1914) commanded the 20th Maine in its stirring defense of Little Round Top on July 2, 1863 during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. His heroism and that of his soldiers became the stuff of legend following Michael Scharaa's novel, "The Killer Angels", Ken Burns' documentary "The Civil War", and the film, "Gettysburg". Studies of Little Round Top have tried to separate the facts from the embellishments.
Brian Swartz's recent book "Passing through the Fire: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the Civil War" (2021) is a short biography of Chamberlain that places his actions on Little Round Top within the context of his life and Civil War service. The picture of Chamberlain that emerges is one of a dauntless commander, devoted to the Union, and, with his flaws and tendency toward self-aggrandizement, a hero. Swartz is a reporter, editor and journalist from Maine and a lifelong student of the Civil War. Thomas Desjardin, a historian who has written extensively about Little Round Top, wrote the Foreword to this volume.
Chamberlain had been a minister and college professor at Maine's Bowdoin College when he volunteered for service in the Civil War and found his calling. Swartz portrays Chamberlain's military service leading up to Little Round Top before devoting a chapter to that famous fight. But Swartz's book is most valuable for the attention it gives to Chamberlain's service after Little Round Top. On June 18, 1864, Chamberlain led a bold attack at Petersburg. He was severely and painfully wounded and almost lost his life. With his wounds and his earlier exposure to malaria he went home to Maine where he could have lived a quiet life. But he returned to battle and played a large role in the climactic battle of Five Forks at Petersburg and in the Appomattox Campaign. At Appomatox, Chamberlain presided over the surrender parade of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Swartz writes eloquently and well. He describes the complex military actions, especially at Five Forks, together with Chamberlain's roles. The book moves from the battlefields to Maine and Chamberlain's family and his decision to return to the War following his injury. Swartz describes Chamberlain's role in the Army as it proceeded to Washington, D.C. and learned of the assassination of Lincoln. A concluding chapter briefly describes Chamberlain's post-Civil War life as a four-term governor of Maine and president of Bowdoin College. Appendices on a driving tour of Chamberlain's presence in Maine, his difficult relationship with his wife, Fanny, and on Chamberlain's continued significance and on the historical debate about Little Round Top enhance the text. The book concludes with a short annotated bibliography.
This book is suitable for students and for those readers with little prior background in the Civil War as well as for readers with a strong interest in the subject. In a time of difficulty for our country, Chamberlain remains an inspiration.
"Passing Through the Fire" is part of a series of books on the Civil War in the Emerging Civil War Series, which aims to present the conflict to a broad audience. The publisher, Savas Beatie, kindly sent me a review copy.
Robin Friedman
Joshua Chamberlain (1828 -- 1914) commanded the 20th Maine in its stirring defense of Little Round Top on July 2, 1863 during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. His heroism and that of his soldiers became the stuff of legend following Michael Scharaa's novel, "The Killer Angels", Ken Burns' documentary "The Civil War", and the film, "Gettysburg". Studies of Little Round Top have tried to separate the facts from the embellishments.
Brian Swartz's recent book "Passing through the Fire: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the Civil War" (2021) is a short biography of Chamberlain that places his actions on Little Round Top within the context of his life and Civil War service. The picture of Chamberlain that emerges is one of a dauntless commander, devoted to the Union, and, with his flaws and tendency toward self-aggrandizement, a hero. Swartz is a reporter, editor and journalist from Maine and a lifelong student of the Civil War. Thomas Desjardin, a historian who has written extensively about Little Round Top, wrote the Foreword to this volume.
Chamberlain had been a minister and college professor at Maine's Bowdoin College when he volunteered for service in the Civil War and found his calling. Swartz portrays Chamberlain's military service leading up to Little Round Top before devoting a chapter to that famous fight. But Swartz's book is most valuable for the attention it gives to Chamberlain's service after Little Round Top. On June 18, 1864, Chamberlain led a bold attack at Petersburg. He was severely and painfully wounded and almost lost his life. With his wounds and his earlier exposure to malaria he went home to Maine where he could have lived a quiet life. But he returned to battle and played a large role in the climactic battle of Five Forks at Petersburg and in the Appomattox Campaign. At Appomatox, Chamberlain presided over the surrender parade of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Swartz writes eloquently and well. He describes the complex military actions, especially at Five Forks, together with Chamberlain's roles. The book moves from the battlefields to Maine and Chamberlain's family and his decision to return to the War following his injury. Swartz describes Chamberlain's role in the Army as it proceeded to Washington, D.C. and learned of the assassination of Lincoln. A concluding chapter briefly describes Chamberlain's post-Civil War life as a four-term governor of Maine and president of Bowdoin College. Appendices on a driving tour of Chamberlain's presence in Maine, his difficult relationship with his wife, Fanny, and on Chamberlain's continued significance and on the historical debate about Little Round Top enhance the text. The book concludes with a short annotated bibliography.
This book is suitable for students and for those readers with little prior background in the Civil War as well as for readers with a strong interest in the subject. In a time of difficulty for our country, Chamberlain remains an inspiration.
"Passing Through the Fire" is part of a series of books on the Civil War in the Emerging Civil War Series, which aims to present the conflict to a broad audience. The publisher, Savas Beatie, kindly sent me a review copy.
Robin Friedman
December 22, 2022
While there is nothing groundbreaking in it, this book is a good introduction to Chamberlain.
July 4, 2025
Good history of Joshua Chamberlain’s Civil War record. Informative, but dull. This account read like a text book. So while I enjoyed learning new facts about Chamberlain’s service, it did little to nothing to add to my understanding of the man himself.
April 1, 2025
I enjoyed the book. It was a nice quick read. However, it did bug me that I found a few mistakes in it. Swartz is a newspaper editor who couldn’t even edit his own book, smh.
July 22, 2026
Before my review begins my background is important to consider. I have been connected with the Joshua L. Chamberlain Museum In Brunswick for over 27 years, serving currently as one of the two site managers.
Brian Swartz is a former editor of the Bangor Daily News which is just across the river from Chamberlain’s boyhood home in Brewer.
Passing Through Fire is an enjoyable read and if possible I would assign a 3 1/2 star rating.
The books objective is solely his Civil War career with a minimal focus on his early and later years.
One star was removed for no endnotes (or footnotes) or bibliography detailing sources. For a historical work this is a necessity. In the authors defense a note in the book explains endnotes are available on a link, which at the time of my reading did not work. I contacted publisher and received a timely and courteous response, they proceeded to provide the notes in a later email as promised.
With this in mind the authors text is based on a four star rating.
Even considering the Civil War focus the book falls short as it feels more like an overview of Joshua Chamberlain’s career. After Petersburg the focus is more utilizing limited quotes from Chamberlain to tell a broader story of the field of battle experienced by Chamberlain.
Fannie Chamberlain largely disappears after Chamberlain’s Petersburg wound, recovery, and return to the battlefield. Their war correspondence is a vital part of understanding Chamberlain’s experiences.
There is little mention of Tom, especially after Gettysburg and no mention of letters where Lawrence (Joshua) responds to sister Sae’s inquiry of how he is doing upon his return after Petersburg or Joshua’s letter concerning the assassination of Lincoln or his involvement in the Appomattox surrender.
So concerning potential readers. If you have read it all (on Chamberlain) there likely will be little here new to you. (I did find a few little historical facts that I was not aware of and will be checking sourcing later.)
If you’re new to Joshua Chamberlain or want to introduce him to someone old or young (jr high age) this actually is a perfect introductory book into the military career of Chamberlain.
Additionally, if you want a reference-resource in which you can quickly find key events in Chamberlain’s military career this is the book for you. The format of the book, including date ranges on chapters an key events easy to find this will quickly become my battlefield resource it provides a solid overview of the major events in Chamberlain‘s career.
An example would be if I want to quickly review the big picture on the battle of White Oak Road, or the battle at Petersburg, etc. this book provides an excellent framework for such referencing that you can utilize.
Swartz does a great job majoring on the majors. This is how I will promote the book in the store.
At the end of the book Swartz provides three appendices by different authors.
Appendices A: sites to see in Maine related to Chamberlain, concise, and excellent one of the best I have seen in any book
Appendices B: the relationship of Joshua and Fannie. While so much of the book is so strongly focused on Chamberlain. This does kind of feel like a way to shoehorn more background into their relationship. I would say, having spent much of my life, studying the background of their relationship to attempt a short essay on this area is daunting to say the least as there is much information that can easily be missed. The author of this section has done a remarkable job and honestly, I would easily give it four stars out of five. Ashley Toule PhD. efforts has produced about as fair coverage as can be done in such a brief amount of pages.
She carefully navigates the controversial letter written by Joshua to his wife in 1868. That said this is a letter that has generated multiple views with multiple theories some questioning Fannie and some Joshua.
There is one section that talks about Fannie’s anxiety at loss letters or not hearing from Joshua. There is no mention of the reverse his anxiety over, not hearing from Fannie. This did happen in fairly frequently. Ultimately this is an admirable job and I think about is fair as I have read so far.
Appendices C: focuses on why Chamberlain. This one I would rate three stars at best. It attempts to illustrate how Chamberlain rose to fame.
Referring to the famous Ellis Spear controversy it introduces it without any qualifying statements as to the problems that has risen over some of Spear’s statements, which do not bear up to scrutiny. None of this is stated in an effort to exonerate Chamberlain, but the fact is Spear is human, and he himself needs to be as carefully examined as Joshua.
The book ends with a review of source material that is top rate. I really appreciate this is some of the books mentioned by the author. I have not seen mention in quite some time, and there are a bunch of sources which all have their strengths such as this book does.
It probably sits on my shelf despite me assigning a three star rating I see value in this book!
Interestingly, for the short length of the book, this is one of my longest reviews! Be sure to look up other popular Chamberlain works for my review. If you don’t see it, message me I have possibly read it and have not had time to type a review.
Brian Swartz is a former editor of the Bangor Daily News which is just across the river from Chamberlain’s boyhood home in Brewer.
Passing Through Fire is an enjoyable read and if possible I would assign a 3 1/2 star rating.
The books objective is solely his Civil War career with a minimal focus on his early and later years.
One star was removed for no endnotes (or footnotes) or bibliography detailing sources. For a historical work this is a necessity. In the authors defense a note in the book explains endnotes are available on a link, which at the time of my reading did not work. I contacted publisher and received a timely and courteous response, they proceeded to provide the notes in a later email as promised.
With this in mind the authors text is based on a four star rating.
Even considering the Civil War focus the book falls short as it feels more like an overview of Joshua Chamberlain’s career. After Petersburg the focus is more utilizing limited quotes from Chamberlain to tell a broader story of the field of battle experienced by Chamberlain.
Fannie Chamberlain largely disappears after Chamberlain’s Petersburg wound, recovery, and return to the battlefield. Their war correspondence is a vital part of understanding Chamberlain’s experiences.
There is little mention of Tom, especially after Gettysburg and no mention of letters where Lawrence (Joshua) responds to sister Sae’s inquiry of how he is doing upon his return after Petersburg or Joshua’s letter concerning the assassination of Lincoln or his involvement in the Appomattox surrender.
So concerning potential readers. If you have read it all (on Chamberlain) there likely will be little here new to you. (I did find a few little historical facts that I was not aware of and will be checking sourcing later.)
If you’re new to Joshua Chamberlain or want to introduce him to someone old or young (jr high age) this actually is a perfect introductory book into the military career of Chamberlain.
Additionally, if you want a reference-resource in which you can quickly find key events in Chamberlain’s military career this is the book for you. The format of the book, including date ranges on chapters an key events easy to find this will quickly become my battlefield resource it provides a solid overview of the major events in Chamberlain‘s career.
An example would be if I want to quickly review the big picture on the battle of White Oak Road, or the battle at Petersburg, etc. this book provides an excellent framework for such referencing that you can utilize.
Swartz does a great job majoring on the majors. This is how I will promote the book in the store.
At the end of the book Swartz provides three appendices by different authors.
Appendices A: sites to see in Maine related to Chamberlain, concise, and excellent one of the best I have seen in any book
Appendices B: the relationship of Joshua and Fannie. While so much of the book is so strongly focused on Chamberlain. This does kind of feel like a way to shoehorn more background into their relationship. I would say, having spent much of my life, studying the background of their relationship to attempt a short essay on this area is daunting to say the least as there is much information that can easily be missed. The author of this section has done a remarkable job and honestly, I would easily give it four stars out of five. Ashley Toule PhD. efforts has produced about as fair coverage as can be done in such a brief amount of pages.
She carefully navigates the controversial letter written by Joshua to his wife in 1868. That said this is a letter that has generated multiple views with multiple theories some questioning Fannie and some Joshua.
There is one section that talks about Fannie’s anxiety at loss letters or not hearing from Joshua. There is no mention of the reverse his anxiety over, not hearing from Fannie. This did happen in fairly frequently. Ultimately this is an admirable job and I think about is fair as I have read so far.
Appendices C: focuses on why Chamberlain. This one I would rate three stars at best. It attempts to illustrate how Chamberlain rose to fame.
Referring to the famous Ellis Spear controversy it introduces it without any qualifying statements as to the problems that has risen over some of Spear’s statements, which do not bear up to scrutiny. None of this is stated in an effort to exonerate Chamberlain, but the fact is Spear is human, and he himself needs to be as carefully examined as Joshua.
The book ends with a review of source material that is top rate. I really appreciate this is some of the books mentioned by the author. I have not seen mention in quite some time, and there are a bunch of sources which all have their strengths such as this book does.
It probably sits on my shelf despite me assigning a three star rating I see value in this book!
Interestingly, for the short length of the book, this is one of my longest reviews! Be sure to look up other popular Chamberlain works for my review. If you don’t see it, message me I have possibly read it and have not had time to type a review.
December 19, 2023
Joshua Laurence Chamberlain led a very comfortable life when war broke out between the two American factions. He was a deeply religious professor at Bowdoin College, yet he resigned to join the Union army very early in the war.
He was a man that loved the undissolved union and volunteered to serve in the Union army. Although he at first declined the higher promotion to Colonel, he accepted a position as a Lieutenant Colonel. In his own words, he wanted to earn the rank of colonel. Chamberlain was involved in many battles, from the early days of 1862 until the day the war ended in 1945. His actions at Gettysburg led to his receiving the Medal of Honor.
A good soldier, a patriot and a man that wanted to see the war through to its end, Swartz truly believed in divine power. A long-term governor of Maine after the war, Swartz believed in the union and was willing to put his life on the line for it. He was wounded so severely that he was essentially given up for dead. He earned the Medal of Honor for his role in the Battle of Gettysburg and was also present when Lee surrendered to Grant.
This book reads at times like a literal description of the battles and other times like an adventure story. Chamberlain was the kind of man and soldier that the Union needed at the time of crisis. His life story is well told here, his history is that of many of the major battles of the Army of the Potomac.
He was a man that loved the undissolved union and volunteered to serve in the Union army. Although he at first declined the higher promotion to Colonel, he accepted a position as a Lieutenant Colonel. In his own words, he wanted to earn the rank of colonel. Chamberlain was involved in many battles, from the early days of 1862 until the day the war ended in 1945. His actions at Gettysburg led to his receiving the Medal of Honor.
A good soldier, a patriot and a man that wanted to see the war through to its end, Swartz truly believed in divine power. A long-term governor of Maine after the war, Swartz believed in the union and was willing to put his life on the line for it. He was wounded so severely that he was essentially given up for dead. He earned the Medal of Honor for his role in the Battle of Gettysburg and was also present when Lee surrendered to Grant.
This book reads at times like a literal description of the battles and other times like an adventure story. Chamberlain was the kind of man and soldier that the Union needed at the time of crisis. His life story is well told here, his history is that of many of the major battles of the Army of the Potomac.
June 9, 2023
Loved learning more about this amazing person. His strength and fortitude, character and sensibility can be seen and felt while reading the true accounts of his time spent on and off the battlefield. Given the perfect opportunity to call it quits after being horribly wounded, he chose to return to help fight and lead. His presence made a significant impact on the outcome of the battles he fought in. A truly remarkable man.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews