A letter from Lincoln, conclusion
Last week I wrote about a Mrs. Lydia Bixby calling on Adjutant-General Schouler of Massachusetts, in September of 1864, holding five letters that showed she had lost five sons in the Civil War.
This resulted in a series of communications ending with a masterful letter from President Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby.
“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,” Lincoln wrote.
“I feel how weak and fruitless any words of mine would be to attempt to relieve you from the grief of your loss so overwhelming. Yet I can not refrain from sending you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save.
“I pray that our Heavenly Father may lessen 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 on the altar of freedom.”
In addition to the letter, Mrs. Bixby received a “considerable sum of money,” food and a ton of coal to help her through the winter that lay ahead.
This was prompted by information Schouler had obtained from Mrs. Bixby regarding her sons which indicated the following: Charles Bixby, killed at Fredericksburg, May 3, 1863; Henry Bixby killed at Gettysburg, July, 1863; Edward Bixby, died of wounds at Folly Island, S.C.; Oliver Bixby killed before Petersburg, July 30, 1864; and George Way Bixby killed before Petersburg, July 30, 1864.
Lydia Bixby’s family certainly did their share in representing the Union but she didn’t lose five sons in the war as she claimed.
Several years later it was determined that she started stretching the truth while soliciting assistance from churches and Christian families in Boston, where she lived. It wasn’t uncommon for families to have lost two sons but a woman who had lost five sons was indeed worthy.
Actually, Charles Bixby was killed at Fredericksburg and Oliver Bixby served honorably prior to being killed in action near Petersburg, Va., on July 30, 1864.
George Way Bixby enlisted as George Way to keep his wife from knowing of his enlistment. He probably had served previously, as he was listed on his enlistment papers, in 1864, as “a veteran.” He was captured by the enemy July 30, 1864, and, at least for a while, he was listed as having deserted. Other records indicate that he was a prisoner of war and that he died in prison.
In 1878, on a preliminary list of heirs of his Uncle Albert Bixby, “George Bixby of Cuba” appeared, although he took no steps to receive his inheritance the following year.
Edward Bixby did not die from wounds at Folly Island as his mother claimed. He ran away from home when he was 18 years old and joined the Northern army in May 1861. His mother attempted to effect his release the following year, but Edward, not knowing this, deserted.
If he had held out a little longer, his mother, with five sons in the service, undoubtedly would have secured his release and he could have lived his life more openly and respectably. Instead, he spent much of his lifetime hiding from his past.
He didn’t reappear for several years, when records indicate he was living with his mother in the 1870s. He received his share of his Uncle Albert Bixby’s estate in 1878.
Lydia Bixby died on Oct. 27 of that year, and Edward moved to Illinois, where he worked as a cigar-maker. He died in 1909 and was buried in a simple grave that was paid for by his local union.
The whereabouts of President Lincoln’s letter to Lydia Bixby is unknown. She did not value it highly for obvious reasons. She could not have proudly displayed it with two sons present, while the letter indicated that they had been killed in action. She spent a number of years trying to live down these inconsistencies, so she probably discarded it.
Lincoln didn’t find out that the chain of officers and that he, himself, had been duped. Would he have sympathized with a widow who was forced to live on handouts while receiving frequent reports of the death, injury and capture of her five sons while serving the Union Army?
Most feel that Lincoln would have smiled at Lydia Bixby’s resourcefulness and taken some pleasure from having assisted her during her difficult time of need.
Jadon is a freelance writer from Harrogate. Copyright 2022 Jadon Gibson