Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.
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 overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering 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
That letter by Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Bixbey was used as the prologue to the movie ‘Saving Private Ryan’. General George C. Marshall, on learning that 3 of 4 siblings of a family were killed in the war with Germany, quotes Lincoln and seeks that Private James Ryan be located, saved and returned home. The order to save one soldier for his family is given to a group after they survive a fierce battle during the Normandy landing. Most members of the search party are killed in saving Ryan, including their leader Captain Miller. Here’s how it ended:
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