On October 3rd, 1863, President Lincoln issued a Proclamation on Thanksgiving establishing the fourth Thursday of November as a national holiday, encouraging every American - at home and abroad - to give pause and give thanks.
Thanksgiving had existed before in America. There was the First Thanksgiving celebrated by the Pilgrims and Native Americans in Massachusetts in 1621, of course, and Presidents George Washington, John Adams, and James Madison also issued proclamations encouraging the celebration of Thanksgiving.
It is interesting that during a time as perilous as the height of the Civil...
