MAJOR GENERAL JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 08/25/1895 - HFSID 309246

JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN
Four-page invitation for a trip on his yacht, eloquently describing the joys of the Maine coast
Autograph Letter signed: "Joshua L Chamberlain", 4 pages (integral leaf), 10¼x7¾ Open flat, 5¼x7¾ folded. Brunswick, Maine, 1895 August 2. To "Dear Mr. Laurence", in full: "I never forget your kindness to me and those who are dear to me; nor do I diminish my appreciation of your manly and noble character. These thoughts are on my mind while I enjoy the free far stretches of sea & land & the bracing air here which hold my spirit on high even when my more ordinary part is tied to earth & house. So I feel like inviting you to spend a week with me here as my guest, as soon as you can get away. You will appreciate the fullness of nature here & I shall not allow you to think our hearts are any less full & free when we get you here. We are to have the yacht in Portland next Wednesday evening to meet the two young misses Edwards (Miss Lillian's nieces) who will come, we suppose, by the New York steamer leaving N. Y. Tuesday at 5 p. m. If you should be able to come at that time, it will make a pleasant trip for you down, & give us an added pleasure in greeting the New York steamer. If this should not be a convenient time for you, then please name another, & we will try to carry out another team for the yacht. With my regards, your attached friend". 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. "Mr. Lawrence" was a faculty member of New York's Stinson Institute for Artist-Artisans, which Chamberlain served as President for in the 1890s, and the "young misses Edwards" were students there. Lightly shaded on front (open flat) folds. Small separations on front (open flat) folds where folds meet. Otherwise, fine condition.