Two commemorative bracelets

Magazine Antiques, Dec, 1995 by Martha G. Fales

The two mid-nineteenth-century gold bracelets shown on these pages each belonged to distinguished Americans living in Brunswick, Maine, and although very different in design, they both commemorate events that changed the course of our country's history. The bracelet shown in Plates II and VI was presented to Harriet Beecher Stowe (Pl. I) in 1853 when she was touring Great Britain shortly after the publication of her book Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly (1852). The instant impact of the novel in the United States quickly spread to England, where several pirated editions were published. Stowe accepted the invitation of abolitionists in Scotland and England to visit them and was astonished by her welcome. Everywhere she was greeted by large crowds who praised her courage. Among the many receptions held in her honor, none was more memorable than that given by Harriet Elizabeth Georgiana Leveson-Gower, the duchess of Sutherland, at Stafford House, her London residence, on May 7, 1853. On that occasion the duchess, a leading abolitionist, gave Stowe the bracelet fashioned of links that resemble slave shackles, saying, "We trust it is a memorial of a chain that is soon to be broken."(1) Two of the links were inscribed with the dates of the British legislation marking the abolition of the slave trade (March 25, 1807) and of slavery on English territory (August 1, 1838).

In thanking the duchess Stowe wrote:

The memorial you placed on my wrist will ever be dear to me - mournfully dear. I may not live to have engraved there the glorious date of Emancipation in America, but my children will if I do not - and I trust that date shall yet be added to this chain.(2)

Stowe did indeed live to see the day. She wrote to the duchess's daughter Elizabeth (1824-1878), the duchess of Argyll, on July 31, 1862,

Please give my best love to your dear mother. I am going to...put on her bracelet, with the other dates, that of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.(3)

The link was engraved "Emancipation D.C. Apl. 16. '62." Three other links were engraved "President's Proclamation Jan. 1. '63.," "Maryland free Oct. 13. '64.," and "Missouri free Jan. 11. '65." Apparently these three links were all engraved at the same time by the Boston jewelry firm of Bigelow Brothers and Kennard, to which Stowe had taken the bracelet in the spring of 1865 "to have certain dates engraved on it."(4) Another link was engraved "Constitution amended by Congress Jan. 31. 63. Constitutional amendment ratified."(5) One other link bears the following inscription, "562,848./March 19,1853." This refers to the number of signatures gathered by that date on a petition against slavery presented to Stowe and entitled "An Affectionate and Christian Address of Many Thousands of Women of Great Britain and Ireland to Their Sisters the Women of the United States of America." After Stowe's death another link of what she referred to as her "great, gold bracelet"(6) was engraved "Harriet Beecher Stowe. June 14, 1811. July. 1, 1896."

The bracelet shown in Plates III and V is similarly historical. It was designed by the Civil War hero Major General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (PI. IV) as a tenth anniversary present for his wife, Frances Caroline Adams Chamberlain, who had seen precious little of him during the war. In November 1865 he contacted Tiffany and Company in New York City to see if they could execute the design. The firm replied that it was "perfectly practicable" and that Chamberlain should reply by telegraph "to insure its completion in time" for the anniversary.(7) Tiffany's bill, dated December 6, 1865, noted "Bracelet to order - $250."(8) The following day, the Chamberlains' anniversary as well as what was then Thanksgiving Day in Maine, the general presented the bracelet to his wife.(9)

The bracelet is made of yellow gold with a central medallion bearing a red enameled Maltese cross bordered with diamonds, set on a white enameled field. This was the insignia of the Fifth Corps Army of the Potomac, which included the Twentieth Maine Infantry, commanded by Chamberlain during the Civil War. Apparently Chamberlain had suggested that the cross be outlined in rubies, for in their November letter to him Tiffany's cautioned that "the rubies as a border to the red enamel would not look well & the effect would be bad & lost." The firm assured him that the difference in price between rubies and diamonds would not be more than twenty dollars.

Opposite the Maltese cross is a replica of Chamberlain's shoulder bar with two silver stars (Pl. III), indicating his rank of major general a promotion he received shortly after he presided over the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. Like the red cross, the blue bar is enameled en guilloche. The border of the bar and the edges of the bracelet are chased to simulate military cording. Engraved on the inside of the bracelet behind the bar is "Fannie C. Chamberlain/Dec. 7th 1865."

The edges of the bracelet are joined by twenty-four miniature hourglasses that, according to family tradition, symbolize the weary hours of each day that Chamberlain was away from his wife during the war. The names of twenty-four battles in which he fought are engraved on the hourglasses as follows: ANTIETAM, SHEPARDSTOWN FORD, FREDERICKSBURG, CHANCELLORSVILLE, GETTYSBURG, SHARPSBURG PIKE, MANASSAS GAP, BRANDY STATION, RAPPHANNOCK ST[ATIO]N, SPOTSYLVANIA C.[OURT] H.[OUSE], TA RIVER, NORTH ANNA, LITTLE RIVER, TOLOPATAMOY, MAGNOLIA SWAMP, BETHESDA CHURCH, CHICKAHOMINY, PETERSBURG, WATKIN'S FARM, QUAKER ROAD, WHITE OAK ROAD, FIVE FORKS, SOUTH SIDE R.[AIL] R.[OAD], and APPOMATTOX C.[OURT] H.[OUSE].