Chamberlain Entering Bowdoin College , Chamberlain studied the traditional classical curriculum and showed particular skill at languages. But first Chamberlain took his Bowdoin A. B. degree, in the Class of 1852, and returned north for three more years of study. Turning down the opportunity to become a minister or missionary, he accepted a position at Bowdoin teaching rhetoric. A good scholar, he was also an orthodox Congregationalist, an important factor to his Bowdoin colleagues, for the College was embroiled in the denominational quarrels of the day. Chamberlain knew little of soldiering des