Andrew G. Curtin, governor of Pennsylvania, visited Gettysburg immediately after Robert E. Lee had withdrawn his battered Confederate army from the vicinity. He found conditions chaotic. Practically every public building and many private homes had been turned into hospitals. The wreckage of war was strewn over several square miles.
The governor was most shocked at the way in whick some 6,000 dead of both armies were buried in shallow trenches or, in some cases, not buried at all. Before returning to Harrisburg, he commissioned David Wills, a prominent, 32 year old Gettysburg lawyer, to form a committee and buy land for the reburial of the Union dead. On July 24, just three weeks after the battle, Wills submitted a plan, which Curtin approved, for the loyal states to cooperate in the establishment of a fine cemetery.
On August 14, Wills reported to the governor:
The chief executive of 15 of the 17 states have already responded, pledging their states to unite in the movement...I have also at your request selected and purchased the grounds for this cemetery...The grounds embrace about 17 acres on Cemetery Hill, fronting on the Baltimore Turnpike and extending to the Taneytown Road...
Wills paid $2,475.87 for the land. He engaged William Saunders, a prominent landscape artist, to lay out the grounds. And he let a contract to F.W. Biesecker to remove the Union dead and rebury them, at $1.59 per body, in the new "national Soldiers' Cemetery."
With these important details settled, he turned to the dedication ceremony, originally set for October 23. Edward Everett was among the most popular speakers of that time. At 69, he had been president of Harvard University, both U.S. representative and senator from Massachusetts as well as governor of that state, ambassador to Great Britain, unsuccessful candidate for the vice presidency of the United States. He was a natural choice to deliver the dedicatory oration.
Dr. Everett accepted the invitation on condition that the ceremony be postponed to November 19.
Printed invitiations were sent to many public officials-congressmen, diplomats, state officials, and President Abraham Lincoln. No one really expected Lincoln to come. When he accepted, Wills and his committee had no alternative but to suggest that "after the Oration, you, as Chief Executive of the Nation, formally set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks. "In a separate letter sent the same day, November 2, Wills invited Lincoln to "stop with me" while in Gettysburg.
Thaddeus Stevens, the Republican floor leader in the House of Representatives and a former Gettysburg resident, declined to attend. When he heard that Lincoln had accepted, he remarked that it was a case of "the dead going to bury the dead." He though Lincoln would lose the presidential election the next year. Salmaon P.Chase, Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, who hoped to succeed Lincoln as President, gave "imperative public duties" as his excuse. Secretary of War Edwin McM. Stanton likewise begged off attending.
Why did Lincoln accept? No one knows for certain, but these are several theories.
First, the cemetery was a pet project of Governor Curtin and here was a chance to please him without offending the opposing Republican faction in Pennsylvania.
Second, the previous year Lincolln had visited the Antietam battlefield in Maryland and a rumor had been spread that he had called on his crony, Ward Hill Lamon, to sing a bawdy song as he toured the scene. The report hurt Lincoln's feelings and, according to the theory, he wanted to demonstrate his respect for the Union dead.
And, he was eager for an opportunity to restate his faith in the rightness of the Union cause and to destroy any belief that he might give in to Copperhead pressure and make peace on the confederacy's terms of absolute independence.
Despite Stevens' scoffing remarks or suspicions of his motives, there can be no doubt that Lincoln took seriously the little speech he was to deliver. His friends realized that he was concerned about speaking from the same platform as an orator of Dr. Everett's experience and polish. And his anxiety wasn't relieved when Everett sent him a newspaper proof of the main oration twelve days before the ceremony.
Dr. Everett wasn't the old windbag some twentieth-century accounts have made him appear. Even in manuscript his speech was a meaningful document. It presented, for the first time, a clear and accurate account of the "Battles of Gettysburg," based on reports of Union commanders. It marshaled a battery of both logical and emotional arguments against making peace with the Confederacy.
Lincoln would have fallen flat had he tried to emulate the master orator. Instead, as we know now, he fashioned a small gem to fit into Everett's large setting of golden oratory.
Just when, where, and how Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg address remains as debatable as why. It appears that he prepared part of it in Washington. One phrase,"of the people, by the people,"etc., was reminiscent of an impromptu speech he made on the White House lawn just after the Gettysburg victory. Evidently, however, he did not complete his address until he reached Gettysburg.
As for reaching Gettysburg, Lincoln left the details to Secretary of War Stanton, who arranged for a special train to leave Washington early on Thursday, November 19, and arrive just in time for the ceremony. Lincoln overruled Stanton, syaing that he didn't want "to run a gantlet," and ordered that the train leave at noon on the eighteenth.
Evidence of Lincoln's complete sincerity in wanting to speak at Gettysburg came just before departure time. His youngest son, Tad became ill. The Lincolns were perhaps unduly anxious about him. their son Willie had died the previous year. Still, Lincoln didn't back out. And he didn't let his concern becloud his sense of humor.
Stanton sent Provost Marshall Gen.James B. Fry to be Lincoln's military escort, but when that officer arrived at the White House, the President wasn't ready. When Lincoln finally appeared, Fry urged him to hurry... which reminded the President of the story of a man about to be hanged. On his way to the gallows, the man observed people rushing to get a good view of the execution and shouted to them, "Boys, you needn't be in such a hurry; there won't be any fun till I get there."
At the Baltimore and Ohio station, Lincoln found that the rear third of the last car of the four-car train had been reserved for him. At Baltimore. the train was transferred to the Northern Central Railway. A baggage care was added to serve as a dining room for the President and his entourage, which inclued a number of Washington officials, diplomats, and others. Again at Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania, the car was shifted to the Hanover Junction and Gettysburg line. Along the way, people gatered to see the President. One little girl who brought him a bouquet got a presidential kiss and the compliment that she was a "sweet little rosebud herself."
The train arrived in Gettysburg about dusk and a carriage was waiting to take Lincoln to the home of David Wills, which faced "The Diamond," or public square. There he was given a bedroom on the second floor. Secretary of State William H. Seward was lodged next door at the home of Robert G. Harper, owner of The Adams Sentinel.After eating supper and conversing with Wills and the other guests, Lincoln withdrew to his bedroom to work on his "little speech." It turned out this wasn't easy to do.
Gettysburg was in a gala mood, or at least the several thousands of visitors were. Bands palyed in the streets. Crowds tramped up and down, shouting and calling upon the various dignitaries to make speeches. One group halted below Lincoln's window and he stuck his head out to acknowledge their cries. They wanted a speech but he was too wrapped up in what he would say on the morrow to make one that night. So he made a few off-the-cuff remarks about how it was better to say nothing if you had nothing to say and the crowd went off grumbling next door, where Seward obliged them with a longer speech.
Lincoln worked on his speech for approximately an hour. About 10p.m., he took the manuscript next door to show Seward. He and his cabinet member talked for more than half an hour. By the time Lincoln was ready for bed, evidently he had his "few appropriate remarks" ready for delivery the next day. That was one worry off his mind. Another was concern for his son's health, and that was relieved by a telegram from Secretary of War Stanton saying, "On Inquiry, Mrs. Lincoln informs me that your son is better this evening."
And so Abraham Lincoln turned in at the home of David Wills unaware that the words he would utter the next day would become immortal.
The next morning, after breakfast, Lincoln again retired to his room to go over his speech. Arrangements called for a procession to leave the square at 10 a.m. and for the ceremony to begin as soon as the dignitaries reached the cemetery. It was a mild autumn day.
Dressed in his familiar stovepipe hat, black suit, and white gloves, the President went out and found a horse saddled and waiting for him. It was a nice enough steed but of only average size according to most accounts. But Lincoln, six feet four wearing a high silk hat, made the horse look more like a pony. The spectacle made some onlookers titter as Lincoln mounted the horse and waited. Evidently parades in 1863 were like parades in 1963 never on time. This one was an hour late in beginning. While he waited astride the horse, Lincoln chatted and shook hands with the people who crowded about.
At last the parade started. Out Baltimore Street it moved to the Emmitsburg Road (now Highway 15) and thence to the Taneytown Road up Cemetery Hill-a distance of about three-quarters of a mile. Minute guns posted along the way signaled the President's approach. From the spectators cam cries of "Hurrah for Old Abe" and "We aare coming, Father Abraham," all of which amused Lincoln.
The procession took 15 minutes. By this time, about 11:15a.m., most of the estimated 15,000 spectotors had already crowded about the speaker's platform, which stood in the center of the semicircle of grave plots.
Again Lincoln had to wait. Dr. Everett had wanted to make a last minute check of the battlefield terrain with Prof. Michael Jacobs of Pennsylvania College and it was nearly noon before he arrived and the ceremony could begin with a prayer by the Rev. Thomas H. Stockton, chaplain of the U.S. Senate, the text of which later filled a column of type in the Adams Sentinel. Then the band played Luther's "Old Hundredth" hymn and Benjamin B. French, custodian of public buildings in Washington, introduced Dr. Everett.
Apparently Dr. Everett used neither notes nor manuscript during the next two hours. He harkened back first to Greek history and then to more recent European history. He reclled the events of July 1 to 4 at Gettysburg.
He ripped into the arguments for secession and absolute states' rights. He appealed to anti-Confederate sentiment in the South and ended his oration with praise for the dead of Gettysburg.
A hymn written by the same Benjamin French who had introduced Everett was then sung by the Baltimore Glee Club. Then Col. Ward Hill Lamon, marshal of the day, and a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, presented the President.
Memories of men are unreliable instruments. To this day-or especially in this day-it cannot be said for certain whether Lincoln read his speech verbatim, glanced occasionally at notes or whether he followed Everett's example and repeated it from memory.
We do not know whether his voice boomed out so that every one of the 15,000 heard him or whether they had to strain to hear. The Associated Press story noted applause several times and some present said later that the applause was frequent and thunderous. But others said the response was an awed hush. And still others said the speech made no impact at all.
There were about 270 words in the speech. It took Lincoln perhaps two minutes to say them.
A dirge was sung, the benediction pronounced, and history had been made without those present being aware of it. And that included Abraham Lincoln, who turned to his friend Lamon and commented that "the thing won't scour, meaning his speech had been a flop.
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