Joshua Chamberlain Bust by Ron Tuniston, signed and numbered (SOLD)

This is another great piece being offered, it is a cold-cast bronze statue of Union General Joshua Chamberlain. This is from the series of twelve busts by the late Ron Tunison titled, “The Men they Followed”, which commemorated the leaders of the Civil War. Each portrays a superb likeness and captures with great detail these distinctive personalities through the masterful sculpting abilities of Tunison.

This sculpture measures 8 ½” in height including the base that is cast as one piece with the bust. Reverse is signed by Tunison, dated 1995 and numbered 144/350. There were only 350 sculptures made, and this one is 144.

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, (September 8, 1828 – February 24, 1914) was a college professor from the State of Maine, who volunteered during the Civil War to join the Union Army. He became a highly respected and decorated Union officer, reaching the rank of brigadier general (and brevet major general). He is most well- known for his gallantry at the Battle of Gettysburg, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Chamberlain was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment in 1862 and fought at the Battle of Fredericksburg. He became commander of the regiment in June 1863. On July 2, during the Battle of Gettysburg, Chamberlain's regiment occupied the extreme left of the Union lines at Little Round Top. Chamberlain's men withstood repeated assaults from the 15th Regiment Alabama Infantry and finally drove the Confederates away with a bayonet charge.

Chamberlain was severely wounded while commanding a brigade during the Second Battle of Petersburg in June 1864 and was given what was intended to be a death bed promotion to brigadier general. In April 1865, he fought at the Battle of Five Forks and was given the honor of commanding the Union troops at the surrender ceremony for the infantry of Robert E. Lee's Army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

After the war, he entered politics as a Republican and served four one-year terms of office as the 32nd Governor of Maine. He served on the faculty, and as president, of his alma mater, Bowdoin College. He died in 1914 at age 85 due to complications from the wound that he received at Petersburg.

Ron Tunison was a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. He was a scholarship student at the NYC National Academy where he continued his sculpting studies. He went on to become an internationally acclaimed sculptor of nine heroic bronze monuments: "General W. Crawford," near Little Round Top on the Gettysburg Battlefield, the “Friend to Friend Masonic Memorial" on Steinwehr Ave., the bas-relief "Delaware State Memorial" on Taneytown Road, and "The Gettysburg Civil War Women's Memorial" at Evergreen Cemetery.

On the Antietam National Battlefield is Tunison’s "Irish Brigade Monument”. At the entrance to the Civil War Soldier's Museum at Pamplin Historical Park near Petersburg, Virginia is the statue “The Bivouac”. "The Delaware Continentals" heroic size bronze of three advancing Revolutionary War soldiers stands atop a twenty-five-foot granite pedestal in front of Legislative Hall at Dover, Delaware.

At Ringgold Gap in Atlanta, Ga., is Ron's life-size General Patrick Cleburne. Dedication ceremonies for “General John Barry, U.S. Naval Commander”, took place May 10th, 2014 at U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. Ron was the entrepreneur behind his own company Historical Sculptures, where he also sculpted smaller statues.

This is a beautiful piece and in very nice condition.