# The documented route of the Bixby letter, 24 September - 25 November 1864

Primary transcriptions are those printed by Bullard (1946), who examined the documents in the National Archives and the Massachusetts military archives, supplemented by Banning (*Bookman*, Feb. 1922, pp. 516-520, who had copies "furnished in 1910 by AG Wm. H. Brigham") and by Schouler's *History of Massachusetts in the Civil War* (1868) 1:576-578, which first printed the Schouler-Andrew correspondence. Page numbers are Bullard's unless stated.

## 1. Boston, c. 14 September 1864: Mrs Bixby at the Adjutant-General's office
Schouler's letter of 24 Sept. (below) says "About ten days ago, Mrs. Bixby came to my office." Banning dramatizes the visit as 14 Sept. 1864.

## 2. 24 September 1864: Adjutant-General William Schouler to Governor John A. Andrew (report on the Newhall case, with the Bixby postscript)
"Pardon me if I add a word in regard to a still more remarkable case than the one presented by Mr. Newhall. Your Excellency may remember that I had the honor two years ago to speak to you of a widow lady, Mrs. Bixby, in the middle walks of life, who had five sons in the Union army, one of whom was wounded at Antietam, and was sent to a hospital in Baltimore or Washington. She was very anxious to go and see him, and your Excellency was kind enough to draw your check for forty dollars ($40) to pay her expenses; and she made her journey. The boy recovered, and joined his regiment again. About ten days ago, Mrs. Bixby came to my office, and showed me five letters from five different company commanders, and each letter informed the poor woman of the death of one of her sons. Her last remaining son was recently killed in the fight on the Weldon Railroad. Mrs. Bixby is the best specimen of a true-hearted Union woman I have yet seen. She lives now at No. 15 Dover Street Place. Each of her sons, by his good conduct, had been made a sergeant." (Bullard pp. 14-15, n. 12, from Schouler's *History* 1:576-578; also Banning p. 517.) Bullard p. 46 notes Schouler was "in error in referring to the five sons as 'all the children she had.'"

## 3. Governor Andrew's endorsement/covering letter to the War Department (late September 1864)
"I send these copies: 1st, the letter of Mr. Otis Newhall, of Lynn, Mass., father of five sons, all of whom entered the Union army, - one of whom was killed, one of whom is a prisoner held by the rebels, two of whom are at the front, - asking the discharge of the fifth son, who has once been wounded. Under the circumstances, I think that an exercise of the power to discharge at discretion would do good, and be a grateful recognition of the claims of a patriotic family. 2d, A report to me by the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts on this case, in which he mentions the case of a widow, Mrs. Bixby, who sent five sons, all of whom have recently been killed. This is a case so remarkable, that I really wish a letter might be written her by the President of the United States, taking notice of a noble mother of five dead heroes so well deserved." (Bullard p. 16, n. 13.) Bullard: "From him came the original suggestion that Lincoln should write the widow Bixby."

## 4. Washington, 26-27 September 1864: War Department receipt
"Respectfully referred to the Adjutant-General for report  James A. Hardie, Col. Ins. Genl.  War Department, Sept. 26, 1864." and "Received A.G.O., Sept. 27, 1864" (Bullard pp. 16-17).

## 5. 1 October 1864: Maj. Thomas M. Vincent (AAG) to Schouler
Asked for "the names, companies, and regiments of the two groups of five sons." "The original of Major Vincent's request is missing, but the fact is established by the opening sentence of Schouler's reply" (Bullard p. 17).

## 6. 7 October 1864: Schouler to Mrs Bixby (and to Newhall)
"Oct. 7, 1864, Mrs. Bixby, No. 15 Dover St. Place, Boston, Mass. Dear Madam: Will you please give the bearer of this the names of your five noble sons who have fallen for their country and the rights of mankind; also, the regiments, and if possible the companies they were in; also when they died, and the battles in which they were killed or wounded. I want this information for the War Department. Respectfully yours, William Schouler, Adjutant-General." (Bullard pp. 19-20, n. 15: "Massachusetts Military Archives, Boston.")

## 7. 12 October 1864: Schouler to Vincent (received 18 October)
"I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the first instant requesting me to send you the names of the five sons of Mrs. Bixby, and of Otis Newhall, who were in the military service; also the regiments and companies to which they belonged." Followed by the two lists of names and "Very respectfully, Your obedient servant." (Bullard pp. 17-18, n. 14: National Archives; the five-son list is printed by Banning p. 518.) Received in Washington 18 Oct. (Bullard p. 20).

## 8. 28 October 1864: Col. Samuel Breck (AAG) to the Secretary of War; papers taken by Stanton
On a sheet attached to the 12 Oct. letter, a statement dated 28 Oct., "respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War," recapitulating the two cases, recommending Newhall's discharge, and ending: "Governor Andrew desires that a letter may be written Mrs. Bixby by the President - such as the noble mother of five dead heroes so well deserves." Below, in pencil: "Mr. Dana: Please look at these remarkable cases. J. A. H." and "App'd. C. A. D." and "Coe. Is there anything to be done with Gov. Andrew's recommendation? L. H. P." (Bullard pp. 20-21.) The War Department records show the papers were "charged out to ... Stanton, on Oct. 28, 1864" (*New York Times*, 5 Aug. 1925; Bullard pp. 22-25, 35-37). Newhall's discharge was ordered 9 Nov. and effected 15 Nov. (Bullard p. 26).

## 9. 5 November 1864: Schouler calls on Lincoln
Schouler's own report of his tour: "November 5th. - Called upon the President, whom I had not seen since he was inaugurated. I had known him when in Congress, and when I lived in the West. He knew me, and I passed an agreeable half hour with him." (*Annual Report of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts for 1864*, pp. 146-148, archive.org `annualreportofad1864mass`; Bullard pp. 36-37 quoting Schouler's *History* pp. 591-607, quotation p. 606.) Neither Schouler's report nor his *History* says the Bixby case was discussed.

## 10. 21 November 1864: the letter
Dated "Executive Mansion, Washington, Nov. 21, 1864." No manuscript, draft, copy or letter-book entry has ever been found (Bullard pp. 49-50: Barbee "is right in saying that 'it may, with the greatest confidence, be stated, that the original of the Bixby letter is lost'"; Basler, CW 8:117 n.). Bullard p. 142: "We do not know, nor does anyone know, why there was an interval of twenty-three days between the removal of the Bixby papers from the files of the War Department by Secretary Stanton and the writing of the letter" (28 Oct. to 21 Nov. is in fact 24 days). Robert Lincoln's conjecture (24 Feb. 1917): "it is entirely possible that my father wrote this letter at his desk, folded it, addressed it and gave it to General [William] Shouler ... without anybody else about him knowing about it" (Emerson 2008 p. 104). How the letter travelled from Washington to Schouler's office is undocumented.

## 11. Friday 25 November 1864: delivery and same-day printing in Boston
Schouler's *History* 1:578: "President Lincoln wrote Mrs. Bixby a letter full of sympathy and deep feeling, which we had the pleasure of placing in her hands." (Bullard p. 26.) The *Boston Evening Transcript*, first edition, Friday 25 Nov. 1864: "Mrs. Bixby, - a lady in the southern portion of this city whose case has excited much sympathy - had six sons enlisted in the Union army, five of whom have been killed in battle, and the sixth is now at the U. S. Hospital at Readville. Being in indigent circumstances, she has received assistance from some of the churches and Christian women of Boston. Her lonely abode was made cheerful this morning by the receipt of the following letter from President Lincoln" (Bullard pp. 50-51). Bullard: "We italicize the sentence above because it determines the date of the delivery of the letter to Mrs. Bixby. Mr. Wakefield is in error in stating that this publication occurred on the day after the letter was handed to her. Either General Schouler sent word to the office of the Transcript or a reporter had called at his office on 'The Hill,' and a copy had come in one way or the other into the possession of the paper." Same afternoon: *Boston Traveller* second edition (with the five sons' records); next day: *Boston Journal*, *New York Tribune* (front page); *Army and Navy Journal* 3 Dec. 1864 (vol. 2 p. 228, per Wakefield 1948) - "often ... credited with its first publication" but a week late (Bullard p. 51). The Traveller of 26 Nov. said Schouler "called yesterday to see that she had everything comfortable for Thanksgiving" (Bullard p. 43). Wakefield 1947 argued for delivery on Thanksgiving Day, 24 Nov., following Barton p. 49; Nickell (LH 91:137) repeats "This was the day after Adjutant-General Schouler delivered the letter"; Bullard's reading of "this morning" is the better-supported one.

## 12. The text as first printed (Boston Evening Transcript, 25 November 1864; Bullard pp. 26-27 and n. 19)
"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 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.
Mrs. Bixby."
Bullard n. 19 (pp. 146-147): three paragraphs, addressee at foot, signature "A. Lincoln"; the 1894 Nicolay-Hay text is one paragraph, addressed at top "Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Massachusetts," signed "Abraham Lincoln," "Adjutant-General" hyphenated, "heavenly" lower-case; the 1905 Gettysburg edition (10:274) drops "Washington" from the dateline; both editions print "freedom" lower-case. Basler (CW 8:116-117) reprints the Transcript text: "there is no reason to question the authenticity of the text of the letter which appeared in the Transcript and other contemporary sources." The Transcript is therefore the sole textual authority; the "any word of mine" / "tendering you" / "republic" / "freedom" readings in Banning, Nickell and the facsimiles derive from the forgeries (Bullard n. 19; Grieve et al. 2019 note the variants "any word(s) of mine" and "tendering (to) you").

## 13. Where the surviving documents are
- Schouler's 24 Sept. report, Andrew's covering letter, the War Department endorsements of 26-27 Sept., Schouler's 12 Oct. reply with the son lists, Breck's 28 Oct. statement and the Hardie/Dana/Pelouze pencil notes: National Archives, Washington (Bullard pp. 17-25; the NYT reporter saw them 6 Aug. 1925 and the Times printed them 7 Aug. 1925; Justice Wilkins re-examined them 20 July 1945). Vincent's 1 Oct. request is missing (Bullard p. 17).
- Schouler's 7 Oct. notes to Mrs Bixby and Newhall: Massachusetts Military Archives, Boston (Bullard n. 15).
- Schouler's letter-press copies were the basis of his 1868 *History* 1:576-578 and of the copies Brigham gave Banning in 1910.
- The letter to Mrs Bixby itself: lost. Mrs Bixby's great-grandson said she "destroyed [the letter] in anger" (Arthur M. Bixby to D. C. Mearns, 31 Aug. 1948, Mearns Papers, LC; Emerson 2008 n. 4); the 1925 worldwide search (Library of Congress, Illinois State Historical Society, Oxford, War Department, Pension Bureau, Massachusetts State House, J. P. Morgan collection, Bixby descendants) found nothing (Emerson 2008 p. 98 and n. 52-53; Bullard pp. 49-50). Butler 2:392: "It has been publicly stated that the original Bixby letter is in the collection of J. Pierpont Morgan. It is not and never was."

## 14. The facsimiles are forgeries
Michael Tobin, New York print dealer, copyrighted a "facsimile" on 25 April 1891 (sold at $2) and again on 1 Aug. 1904; Huber's Museum sold a variant at $1 (Bullard pp. 54-58; Wakefield 1948; Emerson 2008 n. 48). Canfield (Columbia, 1 Mar. 1909) found the Huber "original" to be a lithograph (Emerson 2008 p. 97); Paltsits (1925), A. S. Osborn and later Charles Hamilton, *Great Forgers and Famous Fakes* (1980) pp. 29-37 ("Retraced, labored, erased and thoroughly unconvincing ... the paper was not of the variety used by Lincoln, the ink was modern, the folds were not correct ... the letter itself had first been drawn in pencil and then traced in ink," quoted Nickell LH 91:135) pronounced them forgeries. Bullard n. 19 lists the facsimiles' textual departures (omitting "to" after "tendering," lower-case "republic" and "freedom," capital "Heavenly," single paragraph). The forgery was nevertheless reproduced in the 1905 Gettysburg edition (vol. 11 facing p. 44) as the "Original Manuscript on Exhibition at Huber's Museum."