“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, sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln 1864
