A Texas museum hopes a document found in its archives turns
out to be an authentic government copy of Abraham Lincoln's
eloquent letter consoling a mother thought to have lost five
sons in the Civil War.
The famed Bixby Letter, which the Dallas Historical Society
is getting appraised as it prays for a potential windfall,
has a fascinating history.
The original has never been found. Historians debate whether
Lincoln wrote it. Its recipient, Lydia Bixby, was no fan of
the president. And not all her sons died in the war.
The letter, written with "the best of intentions" 144 years ago
next week, is "considered one of the finest pieces of American
presidential prose," said Alan Olson, curator for the Dallas
group. "It's still a great piece of writing, regardless of the
truth in the back story."
Historians say Lincoln wrote the letter at the request of a
Massachusetts official, who passed along news of a Boston woman
grieving the loss of her five sons. The letter is addressed to
"Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass." and begins with an acknowledgment
that nothing written could possibly make a grief-stricken mother
feel better about such a horrific loss.
"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," Lincoln wrote.
After thanking Bixby on behalf of a grateful nation, Lincoln wrote
that he would pray that God relieve her anguish and leave her with
only the "cherished memory of the loved" along with "the solemn
pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon
the altar of freedom."
The letter, as was the president's custom in his personal corres-
pondence, is signed "A Lincoln."
"It is so beautifully written," said James Cornelius, curator of
the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield,
Ill. "It is an extraordinarily sensitive expression of condolence."
There was renewed interest in the letter after it was read in the
1998 film "Saving Private Ryan." It also sparked a new round of
debate centering on Lincoln's authorship and the fate of Bixby's
sons.
Evidence indicates two of Bixby's sons died, a third was a deserter
and a fourth ended up in a prisoner-of-war camp, Cornelius said.
A fifth is believed to have received a discharge, but his fate is
unknown.
Historians have also argued that John Hay, one of Lincoln's secretaries,
wrote the letter. Hay was an accomplished writer who wrote a biography
of Lincoln and later became ambassador to the United Kingdom.
"Lincoln probably wrote it," Cornelius said. "Hay did on some occasions
write letters in Lincoln's name and sign them — or have Lincoln sign
them — but probably not something like this that purports to be so
personal and individual and heartfelt."
The letter received widespread attention days after it was written.
Bixby either sent it to the Boston Evening Transcript or a postal worker intercepted it and tipped off the newspaper, which reprinted the letter, Cornelius said.
The touching note came about two months after Gen. William Tecumseh
Sherman had broken through Atlanta on his march to the coast and about
two weeks after Lincoln won re-election. Union spirits were high,
Cornelius said.
"The letter was so popular that it was published in newspapers and
people copied and sent it to relatives," Olson said. "That letter
and the words in it affected the nation. It tugged at people's
hearts at the time of a really bloody period in America."
Olson hopes he has an official government copy of the Bixby Letter
and not something one relative sent to another. In an era before
photocopiers or carbon paper, secretaries hand-copied documents
to be retained for their files, he said.
The paper and ink appear authentic to the Civil War era, he said.
The historical society has asked an expert at Christie's auction
house in New York for an opinion.
Stacy McDermott, an assistant editor at The Papers of Abraham
Lincoln, estimated that an official government copy of the Bixby
Letter would fetch millions of dollars.
But Cornelius doubts the letter is authentic. He said the Lincoln
White House would have been unlikely to make a copy of such a
personal letter and points out that a pair of rival New York
companies sold copies of the letter as keepsakes beginning in
the 1890s.
Olson said he stumbled across the letter over the summer in the
historical society archives, which contain about 3 million items.
He said he does not know how or why the letter ended up in the
archives.
The discovery, Olson said, will provide a teachable moment even
if it doesn't prove to be a bankable one.
"If it's not worth a lot of money — too bad," Olson said. "It's
still a fascinating story and it's still a great display piece."
Full Text of Lincoln Letter to Lydia Bixby:
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.
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