Having agreed upon a plan for the cemetery, the Commissioners believed
it advisable to consecrate the grounds with appropriate ceremonies. Mr.
Wills, representing the Governor of Pennsylvania, was selected to make
proper arrangements for the event. With the approval of the Governors of
the several States, he wrote to Hon. Edward Everett, of Massachusetts,
inviting him to deliver the oration on the occasion and suggested
October 23, 1863, as the date for the ceremony. Mr. Everett stated in
reply that the invitation was a great compliment, but that because of
the time necessary for the preparation of the oration he could not
accept a date earlier than November 19. This was the date agreed upon.
Edward Everett was the outstanding orator of his day. He had been a
prominent Boston minister and later a university professor. A cultured
scholar, he had delivered orations on many notable occasions. In a
distinguished career he became successively President of Harvard,
Governor of Massachusetts, United States Senator, Minister to England,
and Secretary of State.
[Illustration: _The Wills house where Lincoln was a guest when the
national cemetery was dedicated._]
The Gettysburg cemetery, at the time of the dedication, was not under
the authority of the Federal Government. It had not occurred to those in
charge, therefore, that the President of the United States might desire
to attend the ceremony. When formally printed invitations were sent to a
rather extended list of national figures, including the President, the
acceptance from Mr. Lincoln came as a surprise. Mr. Wills was thereupon
instructed to request the President to take part in the program, and, on
November 2, a personal invitation was addressed to him.
[Illustration: _The procession on Baltimore Street en route to the
cemetery for the dedicatory exercises, November 19._]
Throngs filled the town on the evening of November 18. The special train
from Washington bearing the President arrived in Gettysburg at dusk. Mr.
Lincoln was escorted to the spacious home of Mr. Wills on Center Square.
Sometime later in the evening the President was serenaded, and at a late
hour he retired. At 10 o’clock on the following morning, the appointed
time for the procession to begin, Mr. Lincoln was ready. The various
units of the long procession, marshaled by Ward Lamon, began moving on
Baltimore Street, the President riding horseback. The elaborate order of
march also included Cabinet officials, judges of the Supreme Court, high
military officers, Governors, commissioners, the Vice President, the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Members of Congress, and many
local groups.
Difficulty in getting the procession under way and the tardy return of
Mr. Everett from his drive over the battleground accounted for a delay
of an hour in the proceedings. At high noon, with thousands scurrying
about for points of vantage, the ceremonies were begun with the playing
of a dirge by one of the bands. As the audience stood uncovered, a
prayer was offered by Rev. Thomas H. Stockton, Chaplain of the House of
Representatives. “Old Hundred” was played by the Marine Band. Then Mr.
Everett arose, and “stood a moment in silence, regarding the battlefield
and the distant beauty of the South Mountain range.” For nearly 2 hours
he reviewed the funeral customs of Athens, spoke of the purposes of war,
presented a detailed account of the 3-days’ battle, offered tribute to
those who died on the battlefield, and reminded his audience of the
bonds which are common to all Americans. Upon the conclusion of his
address, a hymn was sung.
[Illustration: _First page of the second draft of the Gettysburg
Address. This copy, made by Lincoln on the morning of November 19,
was held in his hand while delivering his address._ Reproduced from
the original in the Library of Congress.]
[Illustration: _This photograph is the only known close-up view of
the rostrum_ (upper left) _at the dedication of the national
cemetery. The view shows a part of the audience which was estimated
at 15,000._ (Bachrach photograph.)]
Then the President arose and spoke his immortal words:
_Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal._
_Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,
or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a
portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here
gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting
and proper that we should do this._
_But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we
cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add
or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say
here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the
living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they
who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us
to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from
these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation,
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of
the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the
earth._
A hymn was then sung and Rev. H. L. Baugher pronounced the benediction.
[Illustration: _Plan of the national cemetery drawn in the autumn of
1863 by the notable landscape gardener, William Saunders._]
_MAP OF_
THE GROUNDS
and
DESIGN FOR THE IMPROVEMENT
of
THE SOLDIERS’ NATIONAL CEMETERY,
GETTYSBURG, PA.
1863.
By
WILLIAM SAUNDERS,
Landscape Gardener Germantown, Penn.
1. UNKNOWN.
2. ILLINOIS.
3. VIRGINIA.
4. DELAWARE.
5. RHODE ISLAND.
6. NEW HAMPSHIRE.
7. VERMONT.
8. NEW JERSEY.
9. WISCONSIN.
10. CONNECTICUT.
11. MINNESOTA.
12. MARYLAND.
13. U. S. REGULARS.
14. UNKNOWN.
15. MAINE.
16. MICHIGAN
17. NEW YORK.
18. PENNSYLVANIA.
19. MASSACHUSETTS.
20. OHIO.
21. INDIANA.
22. UNKNOWN.
23. MONUMENT.
24. GATE-HOUSE.
25. FLAGSTAFF, ETC.
[Illustration: _The Lincoln Address Memorial, the only monument ever
erected to commemorate an address, stands near the west gate of the
national cemetery._]