Abraham Lincoln letter sent days before Christmas 1863 sells at auction for $60K
A letter former president Abraham Lincoln sent days before Christmas sold at auction last week.
Lincoln's 1863 letter asking the U.S. military to allow his wife's cousins to return peacefully to their plantation fetched $60,000 at The Raab Collection, CNN reports.
Lincoln wrote the letter on Dec. 21 to ensure the Craig family's safety during the Civil War. Mrs. Craig was Mary Todd Lincoln’s first cousin.
According to a transcript from Raab, the letter reads: “Mr. and Mrs. Craig, of Arkansas, whose plantation, situated upon the Mississippi River a few miles below Helena, has been desolated during the present war, propose returning to reoccupy and cultivate said plantation; and it is my wish that they be permitted to do so, and that the United States military forces in that vicinity will not molest them or allow them to be molested, as long as the said Mr. and Mrs. Craig shall demean themselves as peaceful, loyal citizens of the United States.”
The document sold for its expected value to an unnamed buyer who lived in the Northwest, CNN reports.
Lincoln documents have historically sold for millions. In 2012, a copy of the Thirteenth Amendment endorsed by the former president sold for nearly $2.5 million at Sotheby’s. In 2016, a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Lincoln also sold at the auction house for more then $2 million.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Abraham Lincoln letter sent days before Christmas 1863 sells at auction for $60K
