Fact Checking a Memorial Day Legend


By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon

Today is a solemn day dedicated to remembering and honoring those who answered our nation's call during time of war and never came home. 

It is important to honor those who have died for their country properly and honestly. In these modern times of "alternative facts" and people making up their own narrative and choosing to believe lies, it is important to get things right.

Today is the day the Bixby Letter makes the rounds on social media and the internet tugging at the heartstrings of those who feel the loss of a service member.

The Bixby Letter is a letter allegedly written by Abraham Lincoln to a lady who lost all five of her sons in combat during the Civil War. The letter is a beautifully written piece of prose expressing the president's condolences.

The letter was published in a Massachusetts newspaper and made famous in recent years after it was used in the  Steven Spielberg war epic Saving Private Ryan.

The issue is, there is no proof Abraham Lincoln ever wrote the letter. 

Historians and scholars believe the letter was written by John Hay, one of Lincoln's secretaries. Also, only two of Bixby's sons died in combat. 

I understand why people want to believe the letter more than anything the truth could ever be, but in a time when so many Americans have a casual relationship with the truth, I believe it is important to be as accurate as possible.

It is important to make a distinction between legend and truth.

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