Happy Thanksgiving

[Eva Elisabeth]

That's a wonderful piano version, Betty - it sounds like a modern romantic pop song, not 1844!

[HerbS]

BettyO rules!!!!!!!!!

[BettyO]

Thanks, Herb....and YOU Rock!!

[RJNorton]

Thank you to Anita for sending this link:

Celebrating Thanksgiving in a Civil War Hospital

http://www.civilwarmed.org/thanksgiving/

[Steve]

(11-20-2017 06:57 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thank you to Anita for sending this link:

Celebrating Thanksgiving in a Civil War Hospital

http://www.civilwarmed.org/thanksgiving/

Interesting read. I've always felt the Civil War history of Thanksgiving sometimes gets overlooked.

[David Lockmiller]

(11-20-2017 07:21 PM)Steve Wrote:  

(11-20-2017 06:57 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thank you to Anita for sending this link:

Celebrating Thanksgiving in a Civil War Hospital

http://www.civilwarmed.org/thanksgiving/

Interesting read. I've always felt the Civil War history of Thanksgiving sometimes gets overlooked.

I think in large measure that how the Civil War was conducted in all of its elements is another lasting tribute to President Abraham Lincoln.

“Celebrating Thanksgiving in a Civil War Hospital”

Posted on: November 19th, 2017

Newly re-elected President Abraham Lincoln had set aside the fourth Thursday of the month as a day of thanksgiving. The residents of Frederick, Maryland gathered in the town’s churches that day.

On the southern end of the city, Surgeon Robert F. Weir planned a Thanksgiving celebration that Thursday to benefit those recovering from those “fearful wounds” in the wards of U.S. General Hospital #1. As the head surgeon in the city’s sizeable hospital, it fell to Dr. Weir to suitably mark the occasion.

“A sumptuous dinner will be given by Dr. Weir,” the hospital’s chaplain told the editors of the Frederick Examiner on November 23, 1864. “Let our citizens, who are cordially invited to attend, go prepared to contribute something to the comfort and enjoyment of the soldiers.” The chaplain called on citizens to give donations in money and books to help replenish the hospital’s meager library.

The hospital had been serving the wounded, sick, and dying since the autumn of 1861. It had grown to include an entire campus, with hospital wards radiating outward in a “pavilion-style.” [A photograph or drawing of the buildings and grounds accompanies the article.]

An observer in November 1864 described the conditions in the hospital that month:

I was peculiarly impressed with the capacity and conveniences of this well ordered receptacle of disabled patriots. It is situated in the southern precincts of the city… The grounds are ample, checkered with plain and gravel walks and enclosed with a neat and substantial fence. The buildings are commodious… The balance are wooden, nicely painted and perfectly clean within and without, presenting altogether a picture of architectural uniformity and neatness. There are accommodations for perhaps 1,200 patients.

Every consistent and attainable accommodation, every appliance for the mental or physical comfort of sick and wounded men may be found there.

[RJNorton]

Many thanks to playwright James Still, author of The Widow Lincoln, for sending this poem:

Poem /prayer by MAX COOTS

LET US GIVE THANKS

Let us give thanks for a bounty of people
For children who are our second planting
and though they grow like weeds
and the wind too soon blows them away,
May they forgive us our cultivation
and remember fondly where their roots are.

Let us give thanks:
For generous friends, with hearts as big as hubbards
and smiles as bright as their blossoms;
For feisty friends as tart as apples;
For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers,
keep reminding us we've had them;
For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb
and as indestructible;
For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants
and as elegant as a row of corn,
and the others, as plain as potatoes and so good for you;
For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussels sprouts
and as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes,
and serious friends, as complex as cauliflowers
and as intricate as onions;
For friends as unpretentious as cabbages,
as subtle as summer squash,
as persistent as parsley,
as delightful as dill,
as endless as zucchini,
and who, like parsnips,
can be counted on to see you throughout the winter;
For old friends,
nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time
and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;
For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils
and hold us, despite our blights, wilts, and witherings;
And finally, for those friends now gone,
like gardens past that have been harvested,
but who fed us in their times
that we might have life thereafter;
For all these we give thanks.

-- Max Coots

[Steve]

I want to wish all the American Forum members (and any other members in a grateful state of mind) a Happy Thanksgiving!

[L Verge]

(11-22-2017 01:47 PM)Steve Wrote:  I want to wish all the American Forum members (and any other members in a grateful state of mind) a Happy Thanksgiving!

Me, too! And, check this out if you are still in a quandary as to what to fix for a historic Thanksgiving dinner: http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.c...ing-foods/

[Thomas Kearney]

Pizza! If you haven't seen the movie Free Birds, than you should. Funny movie. The presidential pardoned Turkey goes back in time with another turkey to Plymouth, MA to prevent turkey from being the main course at the first Thanksgiving. And since the pardoned turkey ordered hundreds of pizzas while vacationing at Camp David with the First Family, he brought pizza to the Pilgrims. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

[L Verge]

The recently widowed Mrs. Turkey was chastising her disruptive little turkeys for their bad behavior. Very frustrated, she gobbled loudly, "If your father could see you now, he'd roll over in his gravy!"

Say good night, Gracie...

P.S. I guess most of you heard that the two turkeys pardoned by the President (Wishbone and Drumstick) spent the last few days in the lap of luxury at Willard's Hotel in D.C. Wonder who footed that bill and who cleaned up after them.

[Gencor]

(11-21-2012 11:58 AM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  From Abraham Lincoln:

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,

courtesy of the Snellers' wonderful website "Abraham Lincoln Online."

AND TO ALL MY NEWFOUND AND OLD FRIENDS FROM THIS FORUM, MAY YOU HAVE A PEACEFUL AND MEANINGFUL HOLIDAY WEEKEND.

Thanks for posting this, Laurie. Happy Thanksgiving!

---

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE.

I HOPE THAT YOU ALL HAVE A BLESSED AND HAPPY DAY OF HEARTFELT WARMTH AND GIVING THANKS AND GATHERING WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

---

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!!!

I HOPE THAT ALL OF YOU HAVE A VERY HEARTFELT DAY FILLED WITH SHARING AND WARMTH WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

---

(11-22-2017 05:49 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Many thanks to playwright James Still, author of The Widow Lincoln, for sending this poem:

Poem /prayer by MAX COOTS

LET US GIVE THANKS

Let us give thanks for a bounty of people
For children who are our second planting
and though they grow like weeds
and the wind too soon blows them away,
May they forgive us our cultivation
and remember fondly where their roots are.

Let us give thanks:
For generous friends, with hearts as big as hubbards
and smiles as bright as their blossoms;
For feisty friends as tart as apples;
For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers,
keep reminding us we've had them;
For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb
and as indestructible;
For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants
and as elegant as a row of corn,
and the others, as plain as potatoes and so good for you;
For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussels sprouts
and as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes,
and serious friends, as complex as cauliflowers
and as intricate as onions;
For friends as unpretentious as cabbages,
as subtle as summer squash,
as persistent as parsley,
as delightful as dill,
as endless as zucchini,
and who, like parsnips,
can be counted on to see you throughout the winter;
For old friends,
nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time
and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;
For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils
and hold us, despite our blights, wilts, and witherings;
And finally, for those friends now gone,
like gardens past that have been harvested,
but who fed us in their times
that we might have life thereafter;
For all these we give thanks.

-- Max Coots

Thanks for posting this. It really does explain the reason for the giving of thanks and the spirit of why we celebrate our neighbors, friends and good fortune in this bountiful country we live in.

[David Lockmiller]

I am thankful that President Abraham Lincoln will continue to be an inspiration to so many good people. He has been a great inspiration to me when I have had to face difficult times and circumstances. Happy Thanksgiving.

[Steve]

Happy Thanksgiving 2019!

[RJNorton]

I second Steve and am re-posting an image Joe Di Cola sent 7 years ago: