Veteran's Day has already come and gone, so this post is a tad late. However, I still feel like posting it.
The Bixby Letter, for those who don't know, was a letter supposedly written by President Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Lydia Bixby of Massachusetts, a mother of five sons, each of whom supposedly died fighting during the American Civil War for the Union. As it later turned out, this was not entirely true; some did die but others were injured and missing, later found alive and well. One report goes so far as to say that one son even deserted and joined the Confederacy. For more controversy, some scholars believe it was not Lincoln who wrote the letter but his secretary, John Hay. Others believe Bixby was really a Confederate sympathizer and immediately destroyed the letter upon receiving it. The history of this correspondence, needless to say, is fascinating.
Either way, this letter is truly inspiring and, while still a letter, I find it to be an amazing piece of literature and prose. It is replicated below:
The Bixby Letter, for those who don't know, was a letter supposedly written by President Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Lydia Bixby of Massachusetts, a mother of five sons, each of whom supposedly died fighting during the American Civil War for the Union. As it later turned out, this was not entirely true; some did die but others were injured and missing, later found alive and well. One report goes so far as to say that one son even deserted and joined the Confederacy. For more controversy, some scholars believe it was not Lincoln who wrote the letter but his secretary, John Hay. Others believe Bixby was really a Confederate sympathizer and immediately destroyed the letter upon receiving it. The history of this correspondence, needless to say, is fascinating.
Either way, this letter is truly inspiring and, while still a letter, I find it to be an amazing piece of literature and prose. It is replicated below:
Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864
To Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass.
Dear Madam,
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln
I think I will start writing posts that deal with pieces of literature, prose, poetry, etc. that I find interesting and/or moving. This is the first of these posts.
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