President Abe Lincoln issued his powerful Thanksgiving proclamation on Oct. 3, 1863, asking Americans to set aside the last Thursday of November to praise 'our beneficent Father.'
, Lincoln's words of gratitude stood in sharp contrast to the misery of surrounding circumstances.
The United States at the time of Lincoln's holiday decree was just three months removed from the shocking waste of the Battle of Gettysburg, in which 50,000 men from both sides were killed, wounded or went missing in just three days of fighting. The statutory formality came amid another period of trauma in our national history, just 19 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The beauty of the proclamation stands on its own:"In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity … 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 Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 3rd, 1863. Artist Currier and Ives. About 50,000 men were killed, wounded or went missing in the three-day battle.
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