The Bixby Letter

[David Lockmiller]

(01-13-2021 10:45 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  President Lincoln did acknowledge that there was heroism on both sides of the American Civil War.

“When the Chronicle, of Washington, had the courage to speak well of ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, accidentally shot, as a brave soldier, however mistaken as an American, Lincoln wrote to the editor: ‘I honor you for your generosity to one who, though contending against us in a guilty cause, was nevertheless a gallant man. Let us forget his sins over a fresh-made grave.’” – Henry L. Williams, quoting the Washington Chronicle. (“Lincoln Talks, a Biography in Anecdote, Emanuel Hertz, 1941, page 567)

I had a very difficult time finding an authoritative quote confirming the accuracy of this statement published in the Emanuel Hertz book.

Professor Michael Burlingame wrote in Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Vol. Two, page 498:

"The only consolation to Union forces [following the Battle of Chancellorsville] was the death of Stonewall Jackson, who was accidentally shot by his own men. (When John W. Forney published kind remarks about the fallen Confederate chieftain, Lincoln wrote the journalist: "I honor you for your generosity to one who, though contending against us in a guilty cause, was, nevertheless, a gallant man. Let us forget his sins over his fresh made grave.")

(citation #181: Reminiscences of John W. Forney in a lecture delivered in Nov. 1865 before the Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society of Weldon, Pennsylvania, New York Evening Post, 30 Nov. 1865.)