Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain quote | Knowledge & Wisdom

“A great and free country is not merely defense and protection. For every earnest spirit, it is opportunity and inspiration.”

—Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (1828–1914). As a Bowdoin College professor who volunteered for the Union Army, Chamberlain earned the Medal of Honor for defending Little Round Top at Gettysburg in July 1863. During his military service he was shot six times and had six horses shot out from under him, and—despite later serving as Maine governor and Bowdoin president—he ultimately died of his wounds at age 85, becoming the Civil War’s final casualty.