Popular historian Jerry Wiles will discuss the life and legacy of Maine-born Civil War hero Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain at Chase Point Assisted Living, Damariscotta on March 20 at 2 p.m.

Wiles has a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from Eastern Kentucky University and taught Maine and American History for 33 years at Greely Middle School in Cumberland. Retired in 2001, his popular presentations focus on history through the personal stories of famous figures.

Stories catch people’s attention, no matter how old or how young they are, said Wiles. “I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like a good story.”

Chamberlain was one of the most colorful figures of the Civil War. A professor of modern languages and rhetoric at Bowdoin College before the war, Chamberlain volunteered for service and was made second in command of the 20thMaine Regiment after the war started.

By the Battle of Gettysburg, he was in command of the 20th Maine and found his unit defending a hill named Little Round Top, in perhaps the most pivotal spot of the most important battle of the war.

As Confederate soldiers repeatedly charged the position, which was on far left end of the Union lines, the 20th Maine was under constant pressure. Finally, low on ammunition, Chamberlain ordered a bayonet charge and his line pivoted as it moved forward, wheeling and driving the Confederate soldiers down the hill.

If the Confederates had captured the hill, they could have attacked the Union line at its weakest point, potentially winning the battle and carrying the war deep into Union territory. Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s objective at that late point in the war was to convince northern politicians to negotiate an end to the war.

For his role in the battle, Chamberlain was awarded the Medal of Honor, but he went on to play an important part in other actions. In the Siege of Petersburg, he was wounded through the hip but used his sword to keep himself upright and continued urging his men forward until he lost consciousness due to loss of blood.

After the war, he was elected Governor of Maine four times, winning his first election with the highest margin of any governor up to that point.

He also served as president of Bowdoin College and wrote extensively, including his memoirs, “The Passing of the Armies” about the Appomattox Campaign. He died in 1914, of what were believed to be complications of the wound he had suffered on the battlefield almost 50 years earlier.