Executive Mansion, Washington.
November 21, 1864.
Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Massachusetts.
Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War
Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts 5
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 10
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 15
sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln.
1. Undoubtedly the most difficult kind of letter to
write is the letter of sympathy, expressing sorrow
for loss by death. Why? Lincoln's little letter to
Mrs. Bixby has long been considered a classic of
its kind. It is sincere, sympathetic, and helpful.
What makes it so?
2. How did Lincoln come to write this letter? What
does the fact that he wrote it show about the man?
What was his object in writing it? Do you think he
succeeded? What consolation did he offer the
mother?