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 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,

Abraham Lincoln