What did abraham lincoln do that was important for the thanksgiving celebration?

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States)

Answer 2

This proclamation was the same year he forbid a prisoner exchange to get his Yankee prisoners out of Anderson ville, and CSA prisoners off of Johnson Island. Both sets of prisoners suffered greatly. I wonder how both sets of war prisoners viewed his "thanksgiving" proclamation...I am fairly certain neither set of prisoners had a thanksgiving feast, given the wartime diet and Ramayana smallpox and typhoid in the camps. Here in the South, we do not view all that Lincoln did as charitable.