Fanny Chamberlain

The two had a difficult and slow courtship due to several factors including Fanny's apparent lack of interest early on and that Reverend Adams did not feel Chamberlain was good enough for his adopted daughter.

A long engagement ensued, which took Chamberlain to work toward a master's degree at the Bangor Theological Seminary, and it took Fanny to teach voice at a girls' school, private piano lessons and playing the organ at a Presbyterian church in Milledgeville, Georgia for three years.

The newlyweds lived in rented rooms while Chamberlain taught Logic and Natural Theology and was given charge of Freshman Greek.

Her husband took a leave of absence from Bowdoin (despite the college's protests) to join the Union war effort as lieutenant colonel of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

She inadvertently found herself caught on the edges of the New York City draft riots while she stayed in the St. Germaine Hotel on Fifth Avenue and Broadway.

She remained sequestered in the hotel while the Army rolled cannons into the park across the street, and when the danger passed, she returned home to Maine.

The following summer, Fanny's worst nightmare came true when she received news that Lawrence had been mortally wounded in the siege of Petersburg.

Despite expecting another child (Gertrude Lorraine), Fanny rushed to her husband's side in Annapolis, Maryland, where she nursed him for three months.

He recovered at home for several more weeks but decided to return to his command even though he could not yet mount a horse or walk great distances unaided.

The Chamberlain marriage became so strained by 1868 that Fanny was secretly talking amongst friends about seeking a divorce lawyer; even going so far as to making accusations that her husband had a history of physical violence toward her.