Joshua Chamberlain (born Lawrence Joshua Chamberlain, September 8, 1828 – February 24, 1914)was an American college professor from the State of Maine, who volunteered during the American 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, which earned him 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 withheld repeated Confederate assaults and finally drove them away with a bayonet charge. He 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. Joshua Chamberlain 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.