Behind the group, along the fencerow, are the previously interned interred graves with different sized, rough wooden head markers for what is apparently the impromptu roadside cemetery.

This sacrifice was what makes the United States of America more special than most other countries and societies. Throughout history most wars created slaves from (or created slavelike conditions for) the persons left alive in the vanquished side of the conflicts. From ancient times to modern eras up to World War 2 and postwar (Soviets keeping some German POWs up to 1955), China's great "re-education", Pol-Pot's imprisonment of intellectuals, etc.

A war was fought to free slaves and the vanquished laid down their arms and were allowed to return home again. And men sacrificed their lives for this.

I was already familiar with Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Bixby, provided by Ad Orientem. It is a powerful letter, regardless of its authenticity. But the information provided by AllenTenn makes me question if the letter was written by anyone in an official capacity. If only two of the five brothers died in combat, then the letter is too error filled to be from either Lincoln or Hay. So, who wrote it? Some journalist wanting to create a story? Mrs. Bixby, looking for outrage and sympathy?

[Um, no. - Dave]

Dave, thanks for the link. The answer I was looking for, how such an error filled letter came into being, was in the sentence, "Mrs. Bixby had presented William Schouler, adjutant general of Massachusetts, documents indicating that five of her sons had died while serving in the Union Army." Shame on Schouler for not fact checking.

Was one of the maxims I picked up at the National Museum of Funeral History. (This picture might seem to challenge that wisdom -- albeit in a transitory sense -- so quibblers my substitute "The worst day above ground is better than the best day under it.")

One of the things I learned at this (surprisingly interesting) place was that the Civil War served as a huge impetus for advancing embalming technology ... admittedly a small comfort to offset a trauma whose scale is difficult to comprehend today. Another was the derivation of the phrase "basket case" (if you can't work thru the etymology, be glad).

First, the letter was not written by Lincoln, but probably by John Hay. Second, of the five brothers, only two died in combat. The third brother was honorably discharged,
the fourth and fifth were deserters. And finally, Mrs. Bixby was a Confederate sympathizer who reportedly found the letter not consoling, but offensive.

Regards,
Allen

[Authorship of the letter is a matter of speculation. - Dave]

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.