>Thanksgiving as a holiday was instituted by President Lincoln in 1863, to
>give thanks for surviving two terrible years of war.


According to my sources (who may be a bit revisionist), the holiday was
instituted by Lincoln as a morale-booster in 1863 because the Union was
getting sadly trounced--the public needed something to keep their spirits
up.  There were a large number of local celebrations of it anyway, but I
doubt in New Orleans in the 1830s because of the area being largely
French-occupied for so long prior to that time.   It was moved to one week
earlier in the '40s to allow the holiday shopping season an extra week, then
moved back in the '50s (1951?  I have all this written down somewhere, just
not here).


Julia Moore
Indianapolis Art Center