The Bixby letter is a brief, consoling message sent by President Abraham Lincoln in November 1864 to Lydia Parker Bixby, a widow living in Boston, Massachusetts, who was thought to have lost five sons in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Along with the Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural address, the letter has been praised as one of Lincoln's finest written works and is often reproduced in memorials, media, and print.

The Sullivan brothers were five brothers from Waterloo, Iowa who served together on the light cruiser USS Juneau. They were all killed in action during and shortly after its sinking around November 13, 1942.