I can't possibly tell you how much those words mean to me.
It is an Honor to meet you.
and Thank you.
This time I'll defer to a finer writer than any of us. I think you'll recognize the pen, and know that these words are as much yours as they were Mrs. Bixby's.
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Dear Madame, 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 words of mine that should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming.
But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.
I pray 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.
Sincerely yours,
Abraham Lincoln
God bless and keep you
May his face shine upon you
May he look upon you with His Countenance
and give you peace.
Thank you, BriansDad, and bless the eternal soul of your son.
RBJ