Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, one of the heroes at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2,1863 was born on this day in 1828.

On July 2,1863 Col. Chamberlain and his 20th Maine found themselves at the far left end of the Union line on a small hill that would forever be known as Little Round Top. Chamberlain understood he had to hold this line at all costs. The 15th Alabama led by Col. William Oates attacked the hill in an attempt to flank the Union position. The 15th Alabama kept charging the hill, with ammunition running low and causualties high Chamberlain ordered a charge down the hill in which the 20th Maine would swing like a hinge. They would capture 101 Confederate soldiers and save the left end of the Union line from being rolled up.

There is of course some debate over what really happened. Did Chamberlain really give this order? If he did, how many of his men in the 20th Maine actually heard it?  One thing is certain Chamberlain would survive the battle and live to be eighty-five years old. He would re-tell his story over and over through the years. On the other end of the line a Union a New York Colonel named David Ireland helped save that flank at Culp’s Hill. We don’t hear much about David Ireland-why? Ireland would be killed in battle a little over a year later down in Georgia. He didn’t live to tell his tale.

Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain would go on to be a two-term Governor of Maine. Live to the age of eighty-five when he would die of his war wounds. He would suffer terrible pain after the Civil War for the rest of his life. Doctor’s stated when he died that he did die from the result of his war wounds.

Col. Chamberlain in recent years was immortalized in the Ken Burns “The Civil War” series and in the film “Gettysburg”

I have visited the battlefield at Gettysburg dozens of times and everytime the most crowded place [other than the Visitor’s Center} is Little Round Top. Oddly enough where Chamberlain and the 20th Maine were located most of the visitors do not walk down to that part of the hill.