Document is preprinted and filled in with ink for Lieutenant Charles O. Hunt of the 5^th Maine Battery.

Document is decorated with four medallions, one at top, one on each side and one at bottom. The medallion bears a bust image in uniform of Joshua L. Chamberlain. The side medallions bear images of Admiral Farragut and U.S. Grant while the bottom has the Maine state seal. The medallions are connected by a geometric latticework. Within this border is the text attesting to the honorable part played by the soldier to whom the document is filled out for. This text is decorated at top with an engraving of a soldier taking leave of his home, while the opposite side shows his return. At bottom there is a view of the battle between the CSS VIRGINIA and the USS MONITOR with a land battle scene at bottom right. The bottom is signed with an autopen for John C. Caldwell as Adjutant General and Joshua Chamberlain as Governor.

The document is bright despite some discoloration from age. The left edge has one medium sized chip while the right edge and lower right corner show more severe paper loss and light water staining. Item comes framed in a modern black wood frame.

Attached to the back of the item is a letter of authenticity from a previous seller and a biography of the soldier.

Charles O. Hunt was born on April 6, 1839 in Gorham, Maine. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1861 and in December of that year enlisted as a Sergeant in the 5^th Maine Light Artillery.

The 5^th saw action at 2^nd Bull Run and Chancellorsville. On May 18, 1863 Hunt received a commission as 2^nd Lieutenant of the battery.

At Gettysburg on July 1, 1863 the battery went into action near the Seminary. As the Confederate advance drew closer the battery limbered up and was preparing to move to the rear when Hunt was hit in the thigh. Hunt made his escape to the Cemetery Hill area but how long he took to recover from this wound is not known.

Hunt was promoted to 1^st Lieutenant on March 23, 1864 and entered the Overland Campaign with his battery. He was captured during the initial assault on Petersburg on June 18, 1864. He was held at prisons in Danville, Virginia, Hilton Head, South Carolina and Macon, Georgia.

While imprisoned in Camp Sorghum in South Carolina Hunt and two other messmates escaped. On November 3, 1864 Hunt and two comrades slipped out of camp with a wood detail and headed for Knoxville, Tennessee over 200 miles away but was recaptured after almost a month on the run.

Hunt was eventually exchanged and was mustered out with his battery on July 6, 1865.

After the war he attended medical school at Bowdoin and graduated in 1867. He received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1868. He was a physician in Gorham from 1868 to 1869 and in Portland from 1869 until his death. He was also superintendent of the Maine General Hospital from 1874-1902, received his master’s degree from Bowdoin in 1887 and in 1899 served as president of the Maine Medical Association.  He died in Scarborough, Maine on July 24, 1909.

With the item is an account of Hunts escape and recapture written by him and presented to the Maine MOLLUS.  [ad]

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