The Bixby Letter

[Eva Elisabeth]

(07-25-2017 12:37 PM)Steve Wrote:  ...while definitely being known to have been penned by Lincoln since it still survives:
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?col...b&recNum=0

I'm afraid don't get the logic of something being penned by someone excludes the piece being a joint venture? Nevertheless I don't doubt the letter to the parents was entirely composed by Abraham Lincoln, and to me this one is very different to the Bixby letter. What strikes me is that in the latter letter he "stepped back" and sort of excluded himself from the thanks of the Republic as considering himself almost "unworthy". I cannnot recall he did similar elsewhere, usually he put himself or something of himself - thoughts, feelings, experiences, anecdotes - into a message or speech, at least an unquestioned "we". The Bixby letter, while linguistically highly praised, appears somehow sterile to me.