Gratitude In Grief

The first national Thanksgiving Day inside 1863 Civil War Gettysburg.

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God concerning you.” I Thess. 5:18

In November 1863, in the midst of the Civil War’s brutal devastation, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation establishing Thanksgiving as a national holiday.

We usually think of “giving thanks to God” during good times. When Lincoln issued his proclamation, however, the nation was in a very dark time. 1863 was the middle of what became known as America’s Civil War (1861-1865). The war was anything but civil. Over 600,000 Americans would perish in the conflict.

In that climate, the first national Thanksgiving Day began the American annual holiday when Americans are asked to “give thanks to God,” displaying the power of gratitude in grief.

One little known story from 1863 stands out as an illustration of how “Thanksgiving” is a choice that must be made, and when it is, a beacon of hope shines in the darkness.

In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, a town ravaged by the war’s most infamous battle just months earlier, a widow named Sarah Broadhead played an unexpected role in shaping the day’s meaning for her city.

After the July battle that left more than 50,000 soldiers dead, wounded, or missing, Sarah opened her home to care for injured soldiers, regardless of their allegiance.

Sarah’s journal, written with raw emotion, describes the horrors she witnessed in her family, friends, and city. Death and suffering surrounded her.

Yet, after hearing of Lincoln’s proclamation, and as the set aside day of Thanksgiving approached, Sarah chose to focus on small blessings: the courage of the soldiers, the generosity of neighbors, and the moments of humanity even amid the war.

On November 26, 1863, Thanksgiving Day, she and other women in Gettysburg organized a simple but profound feast in the town square.

The women invited recovering Union and Confederate soldiers to come to the city square, setting aside personal animosities for a moment of shared gratitude.

That first Thanksgiving meal in Gettysburg was modest—bread, preserved fruits, and roasted game donated by locals—but it carried immense symbolic weight.

Union and Confederate soldiers, many with bandaged wounds and haunted eyes, sat side by side, united not as enemies but as human beings grateful for life.

Sarah described the day in her journal: "Though we are surrounded by loss, the sight of men who once fought against one another now sharing a meal fills my heart with hope that peace may one day come."

Hope that peace one day comes is the wish of all amid despair. Lincoln’s proclamation that year had called on Americans to "heal the wounds of the nation."

Sarah Broadhead’s impromptu Gettysburg Thanksgiving feast embodied that spirit.

Her act of compassion in the face of unimaginable pain reminded all who attended that even in tragedy, gratitude can shine a light of hope on humanity. The Gettysburg Thanksgiving in 1863 was a small but poignant reminder that the promise of hope remains even in the darkest of times.

You may not understand how making a choice of “Giving Thanks to God” amid your grief and despair allows hope and joy to penetrate your darkness, but it does. Don’t wait till you understand why it works to give thanks. When you enter a dark room you don’t understand how electricity works, yet you “flip the switch.”

Go ahead. Let’s flip the switch this Thanksgiving and give God thanks in everything. Let’s then go help others like Sarah Broadhead. This year’s Thanksgiving could be the most impactful Thanksgiving we’ve ever head.

Today, Sarah’s story is largely forgotten, overshadowed by the broader narrative of the war. Thanksgiving 1863 was not just a moment to give thanks but a step toward healing, a fragile yet profound acknowledgment of the resilience that binds humans together.

In the spirit of that first Thanksgiving, let’s go help others and find peace amid our grief.