Letter From President Lincoln Found in Dallas

Letter from Lincoln went to grieving mother.

A Dallas museum hopes a document found in its archives turns out to be an authentic government copy of a famous letter from Abraham Lincoln.

The Bixby Letter was an eloquent letter in which the president consoled a mother thought to have lost five sons in the Civil War.

The Dallas Historical Society is having the document appraised and prays for a potential windfall.

The famed Bixby Letter has a fascinating history.

The original has never been found, and historians debate whether Lincoln actually wrote it. Its recipient, Lydia Bixby, was no fan of the president, and not all her sons died in the war.

Society curator Alan Olson hopes he has an official government copy of the Bixby Letter and not something one relative sent to another. He says that in an era before photocopiers or carbon paper, secretaries hand-copied documents to be retained for their files.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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