Hail Hale and Lincoln , With Our Thanks

I have long known that President Abraham Lincoln is responsible for Thanksgiving becoming a national holiday, but the name Sarah Josepha Hale was completely unknown to me before today. But, it is she who is credited with inspiring Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day proclamation.

The daughter of a Revolutionary War soldier, Hale “was very patriotic her whole life,” Wood said. “The whole issue for her was patriotism and loyalty to our country.”

Starting in 1846, Hale had written several of Lincoln’s predecessors in the White House about establishing a national Thanksgiving, but her requests were rebuffed.

In a letter to Lincoln from Philadelphia on Sept. 28, 1863, Hale wrote: “You may have observed, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day in all the states; it now needs national recognition and authoritive (sic) fixation only to become permanently an American custom and institution.”

Now that I have made her acquaintance, I have one more thing to be thankful for on this holiday she championed.