BigBendFishing.Net

I wish I had a fishing post to write about, but I guess you have to go fishing from time to time to be able to write one

My wife just returned from a month long trip to Pennsylvania to visit her family (with the kids.....and during this time, I still didn't go fishing ). While there, she visited her 96 year old grandma. Grandma thought they may never get another chance to visit again, so she gave my wife some family heirlooms. One of the most fascinating was a post card album she had kept since she was a little girl. Some of the cards dated back to the late 1800's and there was one in particular that caught my attention. It was a card mailed to her grandmother's aunt with a $.01 stamp. It read as follows....

Executive Mansion, Nov. 21, 1864
To Mrs. Bixley, Boston, Mass
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 for 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 secure. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and last, and the solem pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours very sincerely and respectfully, A. Lincoln

people just don't write like that anymore. Thanks for sharing!

MOST YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HE WAS SAYING, SOME HAVE NEVER HEARD SOME OF THE WORDS HE SAID.
PA SEMPER FI

It's a scarry and humbling experience to hold something like that in your hand ... and wish it could speak to where we are today. Your family is both fortunate and privledged to have such a piece of history. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Here is a very quick read and summary of the 1861 - 1865 timeline of significant events and battles that is very good. http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/

Sir reel wrote: Here is a very quick read and summary of the 1861 - 1865 timeline of significant events and battles that is very good. http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/

Great link Sir Reel. Makes me want to pick up a couple of my old books again.

Wow. Have you thought of:

1) Contacting a Lincoln historian? You might start by calling the Lincoln Museum in Hodgenville, KY.
2) Insuring the post card.

That is a great piece of American history. What a great find.

Dolphinatic,

That same quote referenced on your post card was used in the movie Saving Private Ryan. Havre Presnell, who played GEN George C. Marshall (Army Chief of Staff, who was coincidentally from Pennsylvania), used the quote as a motivation for the War Department's mission to find PVT Ryan.

While PVT Ryan was fictional, the Bixley (Bixby, or Bixbey, etc depending on the source) brothers were not. Here is a wikipedia article referencing your find. It states, among other things, that the original was lost:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bixby_letter

This quote is rather famous and can be found in places like an unofficial website for Arlinton National Cemetery:

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/

If you are indeed in possession of the original, you have a genuine treasure which would have virtually every museum in the country foaming at the mouth, all the way up to the Smithsonian.

I am betting it is a reproduction, however, if your grandmother's aunt was named Bixley, you may have a treasure there.

Dubble

Take it by Pawn Stars next time your in Vegas!

Scan it and post it for us Tom.