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 word 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.