Early Life
Chamberlain was born in Center Harbor, New Hampshire and soon afterward moved to Boston, where he spent most of his childhood. In 1844 at age 15, he left home without permission to go to Illinois. Two years later he was to join the Illinois Second Volunteer Regiment, then headed to Texas for the Mexican-American War. In San Antonio Chamberlain joined the regular army and became part of the First United States Dragoons. He fought at the Battle of Buena Vista and several other operations in the Mexican-American War. In 1849 he was found to be a deserter when he returned home to Boston to raise a family.
Samuel Chamberlain was also involved in some less savory aspects of the Texas/Mexico border disputes. Most notably, he rode with the infamous Glanton gang, under the command of John Glanton, and was involved in the taking of scalps under highly questionable circumstances to claim bounties from Mexican authorities for raiding Indians.
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