Here is an interesting URL connecting the Civil War to Thanksgiving.
http://www.angelfire.com/home/sallinger ... tionAL.htm
I looked up what was going on when Lincoln issued the proclamation on October 3rd, 1863 for Thanksgiving to be observed on the last Thursday in November. On 10/3, Lincoln was a couple of weeks off the loss at Chickamauga and Rosecrans was bottled up in Chattanooga. Grant had not been moved East and the military situation was dire. His (most would say favorite) son, Willie, had died the previous year and the resulting effect on his wife rendered her increasingly unstable mentally.
With all these troubles and more around him, he issued a proclamation for a national Thanksgiving holiday. If he could find the goodness to be thankful for with all that going on, then by comparison we as a people today are incredibly blessed.
11-24-2004, 07:42 PM
Thanksgiving
Linear Mode
