Sarah Hale's Letter to Lincoln Saved Thanksgiving

Sarah Hale's 38-year letter writing campaign assured Thanksgiving Day for our nation.

America's Thanksgiving Day holiday is credited to the Pilgrims. The truth is, we have a national celebration thanks to Sarah Hale's 38-year letter writing campaign. Hale wanted Thanksgiving to be a national holiday, and she started a campaign in 1825 to bring it to pass. In Hale's day—two hundred years after the pilgrim's arrival—Thanksgiving had been mostly forgotten. Sarah Josepha Hale was born in Newport, N.H., in 1788.  Her father, disabled Revolutionary War Captain Gordon Buell, and her mother, Martha Whittlesay Buell, believed in equal education for both sexes. According to Laurie Halse Anderson's book "Thank You Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving," Hale grew up listening to her father's Revolutionary War stories.  They made a …

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