Wisdom in a letter from Abraham Lincoln

Soon after President George W. Bush read a letter Abraham Lincoln sent during the Civil War to a mother who lost several sons in combat, the Memorial Plaza opened to the families.

Once at the waterfalls occupying the footprints of the old Twin Towers some families did pencil rubbings of the names of loved ones which are engraved around the top edges of the footprint waterfalls. A few children traced the names with their fingers.

here is the actual letter:

Dear Madam,--

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,

A. Lincoln