Even after his arrival at Gettysburg the President continued to put
finishing touches to his address. The first page of the original text
was written in ink on a sheet of Executive Mansion paper. The second
page, either written or revised at the Wills residence, was in pencil on
a sheet of foolscap, and, according to Lincoln’s secretary, Nicolay, the
few words changed in pencil at the bottom of the first page were added
while in Gettysburg. The second draft of the address was written in
Gettysburg probably on the morning of its delivery, as it contains
certain phrases that are not in the first draft but are in the reports
of the address as delivered and in subsequent copies made by Lincoln. It
is probable, as stated in the explanatory note accompanying the original
copies of the first and second drafts in the Library of Congress, that
it was the second draft which Lincoln held in his hand when he delivered
the address.
Quite opposite to Lincoln’s feeling, expressed soon after the delivery
of the address, that it “would not scour,” the President lived long
enough to think better of it himself and to see it widely accepted as a
masterpiece. Early in 1864, Mr. Everett requested him to join in
presenting manuscripts of the two addresses given at Gettysburg to be
bound in a volume and sold for the benefit of stricken soldiers at a
Sanitary Commission Fair in New York. The draft Lincoln sent became the
third autograph copy, known as the Everett-Keyes copy, and it is now in
the possession of the Illinois State Historical Library.
George Bancroft requested a copy in April 1864, to be included in
_Autograph Leaves of Our Country’s Authors_. This volume was to be sold
at a Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Sanitary Fair in Baltimore. As this fourth
copy was written on both sides of the paper, it proved unusable for this
purpose, and Mr. Bancroft was allowed to keep it. This autograph draft
is known as the Bancroft copy, as it remained in that family for many
years. It has recently been presented to the Cornell University Library.
Finding that the copy written for _Autograph Leaves_ could not be used,
Mr. Lincoln wrote another, a fifth draft, which was accepted for the
purpose requested. It is the only draft to which he affixed his
signature. In all probability it was the last copy written by Lincoln,
and because of the apparent care in its preparation it has become the
standard version of the address. The fifth draft, which long remained in
the hands of the family of Col. Alexander Bliss, publisher of _Autograph
Leaves_, is known as the Bliss copy. It was purchased in 1949 by Oscar
B. Cintas, of Havana, Cuba.