Abraham Lincoln with Union Soldiers and Generals. Lincoln is shown here wearing a top hat and standing outside a tent while speaking with Union soldiers and generals, including George McClellan in the foreground.

10. This legendary example of Abraham Lincoln’s writing and language skills may have been written by someone else.
A. The Second Inaugural Address
B. The letter to Grace Bedell
C. The Gettyburg Address
D. The letter to Lydia Bixby

D. THE LETTER TO LYDIA BIXBY. This letter, made famous in recent times by its recitation in the film Saving Private Ryan, is said to be a perfect example of English Language usage. It was written at the behest of the Governor of Massachusetts, was sent to Mrs. Lydia Bixby after hearing that all five of her sons had been killed in battle during the Civil War. However, Lincoln’s personal secretary John Hay claimed that he had in fact written the letter and not Lincoln.

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 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 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

In recent years, the theory that Hay actually wrote this letter has fallen out of favor, based on evidence that he told Lincoln’s son Robert that he had nothing to do with the letter. The original letter no longer exists; it is speculated that Mrs. Bixby destroyed it as she was a Confederate sympathizer who resented receiving the letter from Lincoln in the first place.