Lincoln's Letter to Mrs. Bixby

As an avid Abraham Lincoln fan, I've heard and read much about his controversial letter to Mrs. Bixby, in the fall of 1864. Lincoln had heard that Mrs. Bixby was the mother of five sons who were killed in battle fighting for the cause of the Union, and he wrote a note of consolation that is beautifully written and conveys his deepest sympathy for her losses. Unfortunately, after the letter was delivered it came to light that Mrs. Bixby hadn't lost five sons--at most two of her sons had died at war--and that she may have actually had Confederate-sympathies. According to a granddaughter of Mrs. Bixby, the woman had much stronger feelings about helping the cause of the South than that of the Union. The letter that Lincoln (or his secretary, even this is unclear) wrote with such good intentions wasn't even preserved after the fact, as most documents related to him have been. No original letter has been found in Mrs. Bixby's possessions and many think it may have been discarded carelessly.

The letter is extremely powerful and reads:

"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."

Not only is the letter heartfelt, well-written and meaningful, but it also becomes an important reminder today of the lives lost by those who fight for our country. At the Ground Zero memorial this morning, commemorating Sept. 11, former President George W. Bush read Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Bixby as a tribute to the men and women who died ten years ago and who have been committing their lives to the US in the armed forces every day since then.