Beschreibung:

CIVIL WAR]. CHAMBERLAIN, Joshua Lawrence (1828-1914), General, winner of Medal of Honor at Gettysburg . Autograph letter signed ("Lawrence") to his wife ("My dearest girl"), Headquarters, Warrenton, [Pennsylvania]. 28 July 1863. 2 full pages, folio, lined paper, very fine. THREE WEEKS AFTER HIS HEROIC EFFORTS AT GETTYSBURG, CHAMBERLAIN RECALLS "CHARGING THROUGH FORESTS AND UP MOUNTAIN SIDES" An exceptional letter which vividly evokes Chamberlain's actions at Gettysburg. "We are halting here for a day or two & I find...that I am not so well as I imagined when bugles were sounding the 'forward' & we were charging through forests & up mountain sides to clear the enemy out, as has been our daily experience for a month. I have sent up an application for a 'sick leave' which has been approved...Be sure I will not allow myself to get very sick...only half as sick as I always am in the Summer term at College...You know & they know that I went into these battles with my Regt. when I was not fit to sit up." Then he adds "I don't know what we are going to do - the Army I mean. I think the 5th Corps is going to the Rappahannock & to cross over at once, not at Fredericksburg..." He advises her to return home, concluding "I dream of you & think of you as ever." Formerly a professor at Bowdoin College, Chamberlain joined the 20th Maine as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1862 and continued in active service until the end of the War, commanding it in some twenty major engagements. He was seriously wounded on two occasions. At Petersburg, General Grant, convinced Chamberlain might not survive, promoted him to Brigadier General on the field of battle. At Gettysburg, he and the 20th Maine's valiant fight to prevent the Confederates from seizing the commanding point at Little Round Top on the second day's battle may have saved the battle for the Union, for which he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Chamberlain's letters are scarce and when of war date are nearly unobtainable.