Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation

On Nov. 28, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln ordered government offices closed for a day of Thanksgiving, setting a precedent for the national holiday that emerged from a number of observances   held on various dates in different locations around the country.

Two years later, on  Oct. 3, 1863, Lincoln's issued a proclamation inviting "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."

Click here for a link to the proclamation.