Description

This lithograph features the text in script of President Abraham Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Bixby without the salutation and date and a large head and shoulders portrait of President Abraham. In the bottom margin is a note from the publisher: "This advertisement appeared on Lincoln's Birthday in newspapers in key cities." It was probably published during the years of World War II and was meant for comfort to those who had lost sons overseas. In a paragraph beside President Lincoln's portrait is the offer from the president of the Weatherhead Company to mail a replica of the letter to anyone who writes to ask. He also mentions sending "to the fighting fronts the million undramatic but vital fittings we make each 24 hours." In September of 1864, Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew wrote the War Department suggesting that the President write Mrs. Lydia Bixby, a Boston widow who purportedly had lost five sons in the war, a letter of condolence. President Lincoln wrote the letter on November 21, 1864, which was delivered to Mrs. Bixby by Massachusetts Adjutant-General William Schouler on November 24, 1864. Apparently he had stopped by the Boston Evening Transcript newspaper office on the way to Mrs. Bixby's house because the text of the letter was published in the November 25, 1864, afternoon "second edition" of the newspaper. The text of the letter is known only by the newspaper account as the original handwritten letter has never been found. The Bixby letter is widely regarded as one of Lincoln's finest, although some controversy exists concerning the authorship of the letter. The text reads: To Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass., Dear Madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjustant 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" For more information about this letter, copy and paste into your browser the following URL: http://papersofabrahamlincoln.org/how-you-can-help/our-search-for-documents/notes-on-the-bixby-letter