A Copy Of 'Lincoln Letter' SURFACED !!!

by **J The Kidd** Tue Nov 18, 2008 3:03 pm

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 Dallas Historical Society hopes a document found in its archives is a genuine government copy of a letter President Abraham Lincoln wrote 144 years ago. The document is an eloquent missive Lincoln sent to Lydia Bixby, who is believed 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 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."

"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.

"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."

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."

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