November 08, 2024
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Brunswick Town Council approves proposal for statue of Chamberlain

BRUNSWICK – Joshua Chamberlain is well-remembered at Gettysburg, Pa., where tourists can find postcards, T-shirts and posters depicting the Civil War general.

There is a small monument at the edge of Little Round Top honoring Chamberlain’s 20th Maine, but there is no visible monument in Brunswick to the man who arguably is the community’s most famous resident.

That will soon change.

The Town Council on Monday unanimously approved a plan to erect a privately funded statue of Chamberlain on upper Park Row, across the street from his house.

The 8-foot statue would sit on a 4-foot pedestal and be surrounded by a 30-foot circle containing granite benches and engraved stone plaques. A path would lead toward the Chamberlain House.

“I want to applaud this committee for doing something about a man who was Maine’s greatest war hero, bar none,” said Town Council Chairman Stephen McCausland. “We can’t honor this guy enough for what he did for everyone.”

At Gettysburg, Chamberlain’s regiment held the extreme left flank of the Union line on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. When his soldiers ran out of ammunition, he led a bayonet charge against oncoming Confederates.

The former governor of Maine and president of Bowdoin College lived much of his life in Brunswick and is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery next to the college. His home has been made into a museum with a gift shop.

A bronze statue of Chamberlain was erected in Chamberlain Freedom Park in Brewer in 1997, just a few blocks from the home where the Civil War hero was born and raised. Created by Glenn and Diane Hines of Houlton, the 7.5-foot statue of Chamberlain stands atop a knoll on a site designed to look like the battle of Little Round Top.

In Brunswick, the cost of the statue, landscaping and new trees will be about $125,000, according to Richard Morrell, a member of the statue committee. Committee members already have raised $90,000 and are seeking a total of $200,000, which would include a maintenance fund for the statue and surroundings.

The statue will be sculpted by Joseph Query of Swanville. Query’s commissions include a World War II memorial in Bangor and a Vietnam Veterans memorial in Madawaska.


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