Authentic Bixby Letter Found?

Dallas Historical Society finds possible copy of Lincoln’s Bixby Letter

12:00 AM CST on Monday, November 17, 2008

The Dallas Morning News
Roy Appleton and Mark Norris

The Dallas Historical Society has a new piece of history. But how big a piece?

Is it a copy of a famous presidential letter penned nearly 150 years ago by a White House secretary? Or was it pulled from a newspaper by a sentimental Texan? Or is it something else?

The experts at Christie’s auction house in New York are looking at it, but one thing is certain: It repeats the famous Bixby Letter, one of the most important pieces of presidential prose.

…read the rest of this news report

The Bixby Letter:

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 (5) 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

I’m not going to suppose whether or not it’s real, time and experts will tell that tale. I’ve gathered some links related to the whole story, to help you decide what you think.

Other Related Links:

• What is the Bixby Letter?
• Modern History Sourcebook
• Saving Private Ryan (History in Film)
• Saving Private Ryan (IMDb)
• Abraham Lincoln Online
• Notorious Forgers – The Bixby Letter
• American Heritage – The Trouble with the Bixby Letter
• The Battle of Gettysburg

If all this history talk has inspired you to head back to school, here’s a break on your textbooks, but if this just makes your head spin and you really don’t care what the Bixby letter is or ever was,
why not relax instead with a steamy romance novel or a hot mystery?

Happy reading!

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