Ten Things You Might Not Know About Abraham Lincoln-- Part 2

4.  The famous BIXBY LETTER written by Lincoln was intended to express sympathy to a Boston mother who had lost five sons in the Civil War.  This letter was featured in the Tom Hanks film "Saving Private Ryan" and read by President George W. Bush at 9-11's Ground Zero in New York City.

In fact, Lydia Bixby lost only two sons (still two too many) in battle.  A third got an honorable discharge, a fourth deserted and a fifth was captured and later listed as a deserter.

Mrs. Bixby was a Southern sympathizer suspected of running a house of prostitution may have claimed here sons' deaths to get sympathy and perhaps donations.  I have also read that Mrs. Bixby destroyed the letter after she let the local paper reprint it to show her disgust with Lincoln.  There is also some question as to whether Lincoln wrote the letter in the first place.  Some believe it was his personal secretary, John Hay.

Fact or Fiction?  --Old Secesh