A Thanksgiving Proclamation

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and it is a holiday steeped in tradition. I wonder how many of you know that it was Abraham Lincoln who, on October 3, 1863, proclaimed “the last Thursday of November” as Thanksgiving Day. Another interesting bit of information is that a lady by the name of Sara J. Hale, the Editress of the “Ladys Book”, wrote a letter to President Lincoln on September 28, 1863 and asked him proclaim that day in November as a National Thanksgiving Day. I have included a copy of Lincoln's proclamation at the end of this post.

Of course, George Washington also recommended a day of public Thanksgiving in 1789.

In addition, I thought it would be interesting to show the following Alfred Waud sketch from the Library of Congress. This is a sketch of a Union camp on Thanksgiving in 1861. If you look closely you can see a soldier carrying a turkey and a dog waiting for him to drop a scrap. There are pots cooking over fires, and hungry men awaiting at a table on the right hand side. The TIFF version of the photo can be found HERE.



So, while you are watching the parade and eating your turkey, pause and say thanks to the soldiers not only of today but of the Civil War era, for without them, what we have to be thankful for might be vastly different.

A Proclamation

The year that is drawing towards 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 cannot 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 plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the 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 at sea and those who are sojourning 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 interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes 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 Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State

References:
The history place - Abraham Lincoln. Retrieved November 22, 2006, from The History Place Web site: http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/thanks.htm

The Gettysburg Address

“The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” This simple sentence was spoken on November 19, 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln when he gave the now famous Gettysburg Address and it reminds us of how important it is that we take every opportunity to teach our students about the American Civil War. So, as we approach the 143^rd anniversary marking the day of this famous speech, let’s see how we can use technology to learn more about these famous words. There are five known copies of the Gettysburg Address. There is the Nicolay and Hay versions currently held at the Library of Congress, the Edward Everett copy located at the Illinois State Historical Library, the Bancroft version is housed at Cornell University and finally the Bliss copy is on display in the Lincoln Room of the White House (Library of Congress, 2005).

Lincoln was invited to provide “a few appropriate remarks” at the dedication of the new Soldier’s National Cemetery by Gettysburg attorney David Wills (Wills, 1992). In all, some 3,500 Union soldiers would be transferred from shallow graves on the battlefield to this new cemetery by Samuel Weaver (Heiser, 2001). You can read Mr. Wills invitation to President Lincoln on the Library of Congress website.

But President Lincoln was not the featured speaker of the ceremony. That honor belonged to Edward Everett one of the best known orators of the time. Mr. Everett spoke for over two hours and you can read his speech online thanks to the Douglas Archives of American Public Address.

The following photographs were taken during the dedication ceremony and perhaps during the actual time of Lincoln’s speech (Frassanito, 1975). The detailed of the photograph was researched by Josephine Cobb and shows the President among the many people on the platform (Frassanito, 1975).

You can listen to an eyewitness account of the speech by William V. Rathvon. Mr Rathvon was nine years old as he watched President Lincoln’s speech. This recording was found by Quest for Sound curator Jay Allison is is located at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1045619

And what would be any discussion about the Gettysburg Address without actually hearing those famous words. There are several MP3 files available of the Address being read by famous individuals, but my personal favorite is the one done by Jeff Daniels who played Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in the movies Gettysburg and Gods and Generals.

The Gettysburg Address
November 19, 1863

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate;we can not consecrate;we can not hallow;this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom ; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

References:

Heiser, J (2001, May). Soldier's national cemetary at gettysburg. Retrieved November 13, 2006, from Gettysburg National Military Park Web http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/gncem.htm

Frassanito, W. J. (1975). Gettysburg: A journey in time. New York: Macmillan.

Library of Congress, (2005). The Gettysburg Address. Retrieved November 13, 2006, from Library of Congress Web site: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/Wills, G (1992). Lincoln at gettysburg: The words that remade america. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Photo Credits:

Lincoln’s Speech, “The Gettysburg Address.” The Library of Congress. November 13, 2006 http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/gaphot.html>