Abraham Lincoln Establishes Thanksgiving Holiday

Pol Light #68 is when Abraham Lincoln gave a proclamation on October 3, 1863, making a National Holiday for Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November. Thanksgiving Day would subsequently be changed to the 4th Thursday of the month by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865.

The following is a video of a narrator reading the entire text of Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation. 

Abraham Lincoln issued his Thanksgiving Proclamation in the middle of the Civil War. It is believed by historians that Secretary of State William Seward wrote the words to the Thanksgiving Proclamation for President Lincoln  (Abraham Lincoln Online). Sara Josepha Hale was an influential writer and editor of the day whose advocacy for Thanksgiving to become a holiday in the United States impacted Lincoln's decision.

Historian Harold Holzer said, Lincoln is "the father of the whole idea of a nation giving thanks for its advantages and privileges of living in a democracy like this (USA Today, Abraham Lincoln Father of the Thanksgiving Holiday, 11/26/2013)."

Abraham Lincoln has been featured on other Pol Light posts. To view all Abraham Lincoln posts search with Abraham Lincoln label at Pol Light.

Pol Light does not endorse political candidates. We present a brighter side to politics when they are found on either side of the aisle. We don't have to agree with all of a person's politics to recognize these bright moments.

Photo: The photo in this post of Abraham Lincoln is in the Public Domain.

 

Abraham Lincoln Discharges Teen Soldier

Pol Light #63 is when Abraham Lincoln discharged a disabled teenager from the military service on February 7, 1865. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865.

On February 6, 1865, Col. Thomas W. Harris petitioned Illinois Sen. Lyman Trumbull and Gen. John M. Palmer to discharge his son by the way of a telegram that said, "My son Perry Harris 14 years old insane crippled has been mustered in 55th Kentucky regiment. Please have Secretary of War order him discharged. Col. Thos. W. Harris of Shelbyville, Ill."

Perry Harris had enlisted in the army without his parent's permission and he was not the legal age of 18. It was not uncommon in those days for young people to falsify their age both to enlist and to try and get out of the military once they experienced the reality of war. Discharge requests were likely considered with a grain of salt.

General Palmer passed the note to Lincoln with a note that said, "I have no doubt of the truth of this statement. John M. Palmer." When hearing of this situation, Abraham Lincoln ordered that the boy be discharged. He wrote a brief note that said, "Let this boy be discharged. - President Abraham Lincoln. (Source)." The note reached the field and Perry Harris was eventually discharged and released from his regiment in Kentucky ironically on April 15, 1865, the same day Abraham Lincoln was assassinated (Source).

Perry Chiramonte shared this story about Abraham Lincoln in an article for Fox News, when the handwritten letter from Abraham Lincoln about this Pol Light moment was uncovered and put on auction after years in a private collection. Nathan Raab an autograph dealer with the Raab Collection appraised the note at $15,000 and he described the importance of the note to Fox News,

"It shows the type of person [Lincoln] was and how he was defined by clemency. When you see it's involving a father and his son, it strikes a personal chord and likely did for Lincoln. He was a father of four who lost all but one of his sons (Source)."

Abraham Lincoln has been featured on other Pol Light posts. To view all Abraham Lincoln posts search with Abraham Lincoln label at Pol Light.

Pol Light does not endorse political candidates. We present a brighter side to politics when they are found on either side of the aisle. We don't have to agree with all of a person's politics to recognize these bright moments.

Photo: The photo in this post of Abraham Lincoln is in the Public Domain.

Abraham Lincoln Visits Southern Soldiers in Hospital

Pol Light Moment #7 is when Abraham Lincoln visited the Southern soldiers in the hospital during the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln was a wartime President and in this Pol Light Moment we read the story of when he was performing hospital visitation and took the time to not only see Union soldiers but also see sick and wounded prisoners from the Southern army who were being cared for in a Union hospital.

The account of this story is preserved in the writings of Dr. Jerome Walker of Brooklyn who accompanied President Lincoln when he visited the Ninth City Ward Hospital in City Point, Virginia in 1865. President Lincoln visited this hospital just a week before he was assassinated. This is the first person account of Dr. Jerome Walker.

Finally, after visiting the wards occupied by our invalid and convalescing soldiers, we came to three wards occupied by sick and wounded Southern prisoners. With a feeling of patriotic duty, I said, 'Mr. President, you won't want to go in there; they are only rebels.' I will never forget how he stopped and laid his large hand upon my soldier and quietly answered, 'You mean Confederates.' And I have meant Confederates ever since. 

There was nothing left for me to do after the President's remark but to go with him through these three wards; and I could not see but that he was just as kind, his handshakings just as hearty, his interest just as real for welfare of the men, as when he was among our own soldiers.

As we returned to headquarters, the President urged upon me the importance of caring for them as faithfully as I should for our own sick and wounded. (Source)  

Abraham Lincoln has been featured on other Pol Light posts. To view all Abraham Lincoln posts search with Abraham Lincoln label at Pol Light.

Pol Light does not endorse political candidates. We present a brighter side to politics when they are found on either side of the aisle. We don't have to agree with all of a person's politics to recognize these bright moments.

Photo: The photo in this post of Abraham Lincoln is in the Public Domain.