This week in history

November 21, 1864, a letter from President Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby

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 from the grief of a loss so overwhelmin...