Maine-born Union major general (1828–1914) who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his defense of Little Round Top at Gettysburg. He later served as governor of Maine and president of Bowdoin College. ALS signed “J. L. Chamberlain,” on both sides of one lightly-lined page, plus two additional similar one-page pages bearing postscripts, 5 x 8, Office of the Surveyor of Customs letterhead, October 30, 1900. Letter to Dana Estes regarding an upcoming trip to Italy and Egypt. In part: “I think I will go to New York by the Steamer Horatio Hall…They say they will get me to New York in 20 hours, & a storm even will not delay me to lose my ship of the 7th. I can’t stand the hard humid car [railroad] ride. My friend Col. R. H. Savage (the author) who was on the staff of the Kliedine Ismail in ‘71 & ‘72, say by all means see the Oriental manager of ‘Thos Cook & Son’ in New York. They are the Kings of Egypt in this day, & are absolutely reliable, & will treat me royally even if I do not patronize them. So he says. And he says ‘Use their Hotel confines etc in Cairo by all means.” The third and fourth pages of this letter are actually lengthy postscripts, each signed “J.L.C.,” with one reading: “As we go to Naples before going to Genoa, why could not we leave out Genoa & spend the time visiting Pompeii & Rome & meet the Alexandria steamer coming down from Genoa? I presume she tenders at Naples on her down trip. I have not seen Rome or Pompeii, & there is a chance. Give me word if you can.” In fine condition, with intersecting mailing folds, and staple holes to top of each page.
In 1900, President William McKinley appointed Chamberlain the surveyor of customs at the port of Portland, and through the courtesy of the government he was enabled to make visits to Italy and to Egypt. It was a journey that he was very much anticipating, for he hoped that trip would offer him some relief from painful wounds he sustained in the Civil War—injuries from which he suffered. “As we go to Naples before going to Genoa, why could not we leave out Genoa & spend the time visiting Pompeii & Rome & meet the Alexandria steamer coming down from Genoa? I presume she tenders at Naples on her down trip. I have not seen Rome or Pompeii, & there is a chance,” asked as he prepared for the voyage. Wounded three times—at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Petersburg—the last battle so badly injuring him that a surgeon declared that Chamberlain would certainly die from the wound, which he did...fifty years later. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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