Abraham Lincoln

Victorian women turned to Godey's Lady's Book for fashion plates and advice for women on cooking, literature and morality. (See a page from the magazine at this blog post.) But the elderly editor of the women's magazine, Sarah Josepha Hale, had more than hoop skirts and parasols on her mind. [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"920", "attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-2586 size-full", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"550", "height":"367", "alt":"godeysfashions"}}]] From Godey's Lady's Book     At the age of 74, Hale wrote a letter to Lincoln on September 28, 1863, urging him to have the "day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival." (Click on the image at left for a larger view.) She explained, "You may have observed that, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritive fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom and institution." Hale had been advocating a national thanksgiving date for 15 years as the editor of Godey's Lady's Book. (The portrait of Hale, below, was done when she was 43 years old.) Yes, the Pilgrims and Native Americans celebrated their harvest with a day of thanksgiving in 1621. George Washington proclaimed Nov. 26, 1789, as a national day of thanksgiving, as well. Since then, each state scheduled its own Thanksgiving holiday at different times, mainly in New England and other Northern states. But President Lincoln agreed with Hale's recommendation and responded to her request almost immediately, unlike several of his predecessors, who ignored her petitions altogether. On October 3, 1863, Lincoln issued his Thanksgiving Proclamation, for the first time setting aside the last Thursday in November as a National Day for giving thanks, setting the precedent for the annual holiday we will celebrate tomorrow. The text of this Proclamation is below. The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.   No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth. Source: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler. Rutgers University Press, 1953. May you all have a truly happy Thanksgiving this year!

You know you're a history nerd when you're more excited about the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address than you were about your own birthday. Guilty, I confess. But today is not just any anniversary--it's the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's most famous speech. An estimated 15,000 attended the Dedication Ceremony of the National Soldiers Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, a little more than four months after the battle of Gettysburg took place in 1863. The photo above, courtesy of the Library of Congress, shows some of the crowd. Thousands of people are in Gettysburg today for the re-enactment of the event, too. If you're quick, you can catch the live stream of the event here!) Though I would love to be part of the crowd, I'm not complaining, since my husband and I were among the thousands who were present for the 150th anniversary of the battle in July. (Check out my Gettysburg trip scrapbook here!) On Nov. 19, 1863, the keynote speaker was the politician and orator Edward Everett, who spoke for two hours, while Abraham Lincoln's speech was closer to two minutes. Read the text of Edward Everett's speech here. Read Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address here. A few observations from Gettysburg residents follow. "[The president was] the most peculiar looking figure on horseback I had ever seen. He rode a medium-sized black horse and wore a black high silk hat. It seemed to be that his feet almost touched the ground, but he was perfectly at ease." ~Daniel Skelly "The chief impression made on me...was the inexpressible sadness on his face, which was in so marked contrast with what was going on...where all was excitement and where everyone was having such a jolly time [referring to a parade before the speeches]." ~Liberty Hollinger In the text of his address, Lincoln said, "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here," but has been proven wrong for 149 years. After Lincoln's remarks, his Attorney General, Wayne McVeagh, told him, "You have made an immortal address!" Lincoln was quick to respond: "Oh, you must not say that. You must not be extravagant about it." McVeagh, however, had it right. Lincoln's words continue to inspire. The final scene of my novel Widow of Gettysburg takes place at the Dedication Ceremony, Nov. 19, 1863. Source for quotes in this blog post: Bennett, Gerald R. Days of Uncertainty and Dread: The Ordeal Endured by the Citizens at Gettysburg. Gettysburg, PA: The Gettysburg Foundation, 1994. About Widow of Gettysburg: When a horrific battle rips through Gettysburg, the farm of Union widow Liberty Holloway is disfigured into a Confederate field hospital, bringing her face to face with unspeakable suffering--and a Rebel scout who awakens her long dormant heart. While Liberty's future crumbles as her home is destroyed, the past comes rushing back to Bella, a former slave and Liberty's hired help, when she finds herself surrounded by Southern soldiers, one of whom knows the secret that would place Liberty in danger if revealed. In the wake of shattered homes and bodies, Liberty and Bella struggle to pick up the pieces the battle has left behind. Will Liberty be defined by the tragedy in her life, or will she find a way to triumph over it? Read more about the book here.