- Letter to Mrs. Bixby
The Bixby Letter is a famous letter, credited to
United States PresidentAbraham Lincoln , to a bereaved mother of five sons who were thought to have died while fighting in theAmerican Civil War .In
1864 ,Massachusetts GovernorJohn Albion Andrew wrote to President Lincoln concerning one Mrs. Lydia Bixby, a widow who was believed to have lost five sons during the Civil War. Lincoln's letter to her was printed by the "Boston Evening Transcript ".The following is the text of the letter:
cquote
Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.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 word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering 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
Mrs. Bixby was a Confederate sympathizer and destroyed the letter shortly after receiving it. It was also later discovered that only two of her five sons, Charles and Oliver Bixby, had died in battle. Of the other sons, one deserted, one was discharged honorably and the third either deserted or died as a POW, according to [http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/bixby.htm Abraham Lincoln Online] .
Some scholars believe that the letter was actually written by Lincoln's secretary
John Hay , although that theory is no longer as popular as it once was. [ [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/1/2006_1_41.shtml Emerson, Jason. "America’s Most Famous Letter," "American Heritage " 57:1 (Feb./March 2006)] ]References to this letter
* An extract, "The solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a
sacrifice upon thealtar of Freedom" adorns the statue in theNational Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific .
* In "Saving Private Ryan ", GeneralGeorge Marshall (played byHarve Presnell ) quotes this letter to his officers before ordering them to find Private Ryan.ee also
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Sole Survivor Policy References
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