Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln's Letter To Mrs. Bixby
Author: Lincoln, Abraham
Date: 1864
Executive Mansion, Washington, November 21, 1864.
Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Massachusetts:
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,
Abraham Lincoln.
