In July 1863 the Union armies threw back the Confederate forces at Gettysburg. This was the only battle on Northern soil .
On Nov. 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln dedicated a national cemetery on the battlefield at Gettysburg, where a few months earlier over 7,000 men had died, the battlefield was dedicated as a national cemetery. The chief speaker was Edward Everett, a noted orator.
As an afterthought, President Lincoln was invited "to make a few appropriate remarks." He worked and reworked his speech, seeking to make it as perfect as possible. The crowd listened for two hours to Everett's extravagant oratory. Lincoln then rose slowly, put on his glasses, glanced at a slip of paper, then spoke gravely in his clear, high-pitched voice. In a little less than three minutes he finished his Gettysburg Address. He thought it a failure, as did most of the newspapers. Although his address received little attention at the time, it has come to be esteemed as one of the finest speeches in the English language. Only a few recognized it as one of the noblest speeches ever made by any man.
Everett wrote to him: "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes."
Transcription of Wills' letter inviting Lincoln to participate in ceremonies:
The Several States having Soldiers in the Army of the Potomac, who
were killed at the Battle of Gettysburg, or have since died at the various
hospitals which were established in the vicinity, have procured grounds
on a prominent part of the Battle Field for a Cemetery, and are having
the dead removed to them and properly buried.
These Grounds will be Consecrated and set apart to this Sacred purpose, by appropriate Ceremonies, on Thursday, the 19th instant. Hon Edward Everett will deliver the Oration.
I am authorized by the Governors of the different States to invite
you to be present, and participate in these Ceremonies, which will doubtless
be very imposing and solemnly impressive.
It is the desire 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.
It will be a source of great gratification to the many widows and orphans that have been made almost friendless by the Great Battle here, to have you here personally; and it will kindle anew in the breasts of the Comrades of these brave dead, who are now in the tented field or nobly meeting the foe in the front, a confidence that they who sleep in death on the Battle Field are not forgotten by those highest in Authority; and they will feel that, should their fate be the same, their remains will not be uncared for.
We hope you will be able to be present to perform this last solemn
act to the Soldeirs dead on this Battle Field.
Transcription of Wills' note inviting Lincoln to stay in his home:
Sir,
As the Hotels in our town will be crowded and in confusion at the time referred to in the enclosed invitation, I write to invite you to stop with me.
I hope you will feel it your duty to lay aside pressing business for a day to come on here to perform this last sad rite to our brave Soldier dead on the 19th instant.
Governor Curtin and Hon Edward Everett will be my guests at that time and if you come you will please join them at my house.
You will confer a favor if you advise me early of your intentions.
With great Respect Your Obedient Servant David WillsGettysburg Address
Bibliography: Berns, Laurence, et al., Abraham Lincoln: The Gettysburg Address and American Constitutionalism (1976); Nevins, Allan, ed., Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address (1964); Wills, Garry, Lincoln at Gettysburg (1992).Excerpts from Compton's Living Encyclopedia and Grolier's Encyclopedia and The Library of Congress Archives.
