"JOSEPH SPENCER CHANDLER, Major of the One Hundred and Fourteenth regiment, was born in Philadelphia, on the 26th of October, 1834. He was the son of Joseph R. and Maria (Holton) Chandler. His father was a native of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, and became a prominent citizen of Philadelphia and of his adopted State. The son received a liberal education, first in his native city, and afterwards in New York. His taste was more gratified with the duties of the camp than with those of business, in which he became engaged after finishing his studies, and he joined, in 1857, an artillery corps, the Washington Grays, of the local militia. When the call for troops was made in April, 1861, he was among the first to offer himself as a private in Company A, but was immediately appointed a First Sergeant in Company F, First Pennsylvania Artillery, subsequently known as the Seventeenth three months' regiment, with which he served in the Rockville expedition under General Charles P. Stone, afterwards merged in Patterson's army, faithfully performing all the duties of his position. After his discharge from this service he received the appointment of First Lieutenant in the Seventy-fifth, Colonel Henry Bohlen, and was shortly afterwards promoted to Captain. When Bohlen was appointed a Brigadier-General, he selected Captain Chandler as his Aide-de-camp. The brigade which Bohlen commanded was of the German division, led by General Blenker. The service rendered by this division was of the most exhausting character. It marched over rough roads and swollen streams to the very heart of West Virginia, and again returning by forced marches, drove Jackson up the Shenandoah Valley, and fought him at Cross Keys; crossing into the valley of Virginia, it was immediately engaged in Pope's disastrous campaign, and while heroically battling with the enemy at Freeman's Ford, to hold him in check, for the rest of the army to recross the Rappahannock and gain a position favorable for battle, General Bohlen, commanding the rear guard, was killed. The General fell just as night was closing in, and at a moment when all his aids were absent carrying his orders. To Captain Chandler had been intrusted the duty of directing the falling back of the brigade across the river. Not until all were over was the General missed. Upon inquiry, he could nowhere be found. It was finally reported that he had fallen. Captain Chandler immediately started, and taking with him a few trusty soldiers who volunteered to go, recrossed the river, and after devoted search, found him in a dying condition. They immediately took him up, and bearing him across, brought him to his own tent, where he soon after expired. The feeling which prompted Captain Chandler to recross a wide and rapid river, enter the enemy's lines, and in the midst of the darkness, search for, and find his wounded and dying leader, strikingly illustrates his heroism and his valor, and the strength of his attachment. None other than a brave man, and a devoted friend, would have done so much. Shortly after General Bohlen's death, Captain Chandler was offered and accepted the position of Major of the One Hundred and Fourteenth regiment, Zouaves d'Afrique. He was here thrown among old friends and acquaintances, over whom, by the force of his discipline and example, he soon acquired a commanding influence. In all the hard service of Kearny's old brigade, to which this regiment was attached, Major Chandler participated, gaining day by day more and more the confidence and affection of his command. At Chancellorsville, on the morning of the 3d of May, the regiment was early in action. At dusk, on the evening before, Stonewall Jackson had fallen, and now the battle was being renewed on the very ground where he had got his mortal hurt. On that field Major Chandler was conspicuous, now reforming the ranks of this company, and now steadying and directing the fire of that. Perfectly cool and collected himself, he did much towards keeping the regiment steady after the first repulse, and when the lines were reformed in front of the Chancellor House, charged the enemy and drove him before them into the woods and beyond a temporary breastwork of logs and earth, behind which he had taken shelter. Turning defiantly, disputing their farther advance, a terrific, almost hand-to-hand conflict took place. "Here," says an officer, fearless like himself, "Chandler, by his magnificent appearance, heightened by the conspicuous uniform of his regiment, became a target for the enemy. At the height of the conflict he noticed a Confederate flag flaunted defiantly almost directly in front of him. Determined, if possible, to possess it, he called to an officer near him to seize it when its bearer should fall, and drew his revolver; but at that instant, and before he had time to raise his weapon, he fell mortally wounded, shot through the head by a rifle ball. At this time, pressed on all sides, our lines broken, and our corps unsupported, we fell back to the position occupied in the morning, leaving, our dead and wounded in the hands of the enemy. After the battle was over, and we had retired to our old camps, a chosen party returned, under flag of truce, to find the body of their dead commander; but though the ground was diligently searched by men who had stood in the ranks on that fatal day, no trace could be discovered of it, or even the place where either it or any of the regiment's dead had been buried." Major Chandler had a presentiment of his impending doom. Knowing that the battle would soon take place, and presuming that his own regiment would be called to bear a conspicuous part, he was oppressed with gloomy forebodings. Doubtless the recollection of dear ones, whom he would never more meet, saddened him, and he said to his companion, whose words are quoted above: "I feel that I shall not come out of this battle alive." But, save to his intimate friend, he concealed his feelings so completely, that his men were even inspired by his cheerful and confident bearing. In person, Major Chandler was nearly six feet in height, and had always enjoyed excellent health. He was married in August, 1861, to Miss Maraquita Mason of Philadelphia. When he volunteered at the opening of the war, he went with the full realization of the magnitude of the struggle upon which the nation was about to enter, and of the sacrifices he was making. The following testimony of Captain Thomas P. Parry, a friend of the family, illustrates this consciousness, as well as the tenderness of his heart: "As an evidence of his kindly feeling and affection for his mother, I would also say, that, at his earnest solicitation, I induced the mustering officer, Major (now General) Ruff, to reject his brother William, who was desirous of entering the service; for, as he said, his mother was much excited, and one son should remain with her, but that he was not to be that son; he was ready to offer his own life to save his country, but desired to save his mother from the affliction of another sacrifice."
Martial Deeds of Pennsylvania, 461-464.