On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation establishing the last Thursday of November as: “a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” He continued:
“In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, 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 theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.”
Thanksgiving in Camp
As the nation was enduring its great Civil War, Abraham Lincoln believed that giving thanks for our nation was in order. He went on to write:
“Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax 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 battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.”
He took time to recognize that country, despite a brutal and bloody war, was still making progress, and he went on to state:
“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.”
All of us at The National Civil War Museum want to thank you for your support over the years, and we hope that you and your family have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.
If you have friends and family in town for the holiday, we hope you will bring them to the museum over the holiday weekend to explore our museum. Please visit our website for more information.
Photo Credit:
Waud, Alfred R. , Artist.Thanksgiving in camp sketched Thursday 28th. United States, 1861. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004660226/.