MAJOR GENERAL JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN - AUTOGRAPH LETTER DOUBLE SIGNED 08/19/1894 - HFSID 309245

JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN
As president of an artists' institute, he writes a professor about two students and about the school's future.
Autograph Letter Double signed: "Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain", 4 pages, 5x8. Also initialed "J. L. C." at the end of a footnote. Brunswick, Maine, 1894 August 19. To "Dear Dr. Laurence", in full: "Your very agreeable letter awaited my return from a little outing of a week or two on my yacht. Your characteristic kindness towards young Henry Wolf is an additional motive to my affectionate regard for you. But I think but I think I so commended the lad to Rev. Dr. Warren that he will be looked after not only through the summer but through his course of instruction at the Institute. What we can do for this school in case Dr. Stimson is disabled is a serious problem. It is all we can do, even with his presence, to get funds to meet the need. This is a shame to New York, and deprives that city of any claim to mention in the title of an Institute. Whether it will be possible to carry the school along without Dr. Stimson is doubtful. He is as yet the life and the soul of it. Indeed he is, I might say, a chosen & inspired Apostle of Divine Truth in its sensation through beauty to the human soul. I earnestly wish you might find yourself competent & take charge of the Drawing class. It seems to me your character and general culture would give you command of such a Department, as they have already secured for you the respect and confidence of all in the School. One further point I wish to broach with as much earnestness as I properly can. Do you think there might be an opportunity in the [?] Art Co. for Miss Lillian Edwards to do some work? She is admirable in drawing and designing, but she will not give herself proper credit as yet in color. However, she is assiduously studying and practicing in this line all this summer. She deserves all the countenance and assistance we can give. Sincerely your friend. [signature] Miss Edmunds is the sister of the Miss Edmunds whom you know, and has the highest testimonials from Dr. Stimson, with whom she has studied from the beginning. All warm regards. J.L.C." Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (1828-1914, born in Brewer, Maine), formerly a professor at Bowdoin College in Maine, commanded the 20th Maine in its famous defense of Little Round Top in the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863. His unit was posted as left flank of the Union Army and fended off repeated Confederate attacks throughout the day. Chamberlain broke the Confederate lines by a bayonet charge. Chamberlain, who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for this action, received the only battlefield promotion to General in the Civil War. Assigned to brigade command in June 1864, he was wounded 12 days later in the assault on Petersburg. Chamberlain was promoted to Brigadier General on the spot by General Grant, then carried to the rear, where a surgeon declared that he would certainly die from the wound (he did, 50 years later). At Appomattox Courthouse (April 9, 1865), Brevet Major General Chamberlain was chosen to accept the Confederate surrender. He then ordered Union troops to present arms to their former enemy as a mark of respect. Chamberlain was Governor of Maine from 1867 to 1871 and president of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine from 1871 to 1883. He served as President of the Stinson Institute for Artist-Artisans, the subject of this letter, in the 1890s. Two horizontal folds. Slightly creased. Signature lightly bleeding (still legible). Otherwise, fine condition.