The Dedication of a National Cemetery: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

         

            On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered what is perhaps 

his most famous  and arguably the most well-known speech in American history; 

TheGettysburg Address. The occasion for the speech was the dedication of a portion 

of the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania as a national cemetery for the 

honored dead killed in the battle of Gettysburg, which had occurred several months

earlier that year over a three-day period from July 1^st to July 3^rd. 

Just as was the case far too often after numerous Civil War battles, many of the dead soldiers were hastily buried on or near the field of battle, typically in rather poorly marked graves; such too was the case at Gettysburg. An attorney whom was local to the area by the name of David Wills, was the main champion whom focused efforts to create a national cemetery at Gettysburg in order that proper respect could be shown to the Union dead. 

The Battle of Gettysburg was and still remains the largest military clash in North America to this day. The battle’s terrible cost resulted in the Union losing 23,000 men, while the Confederates suffered losses of 28,000 men, which was more than a third of Robert E. Lee’s army at the time.

The fact is that the Battle of Gettysburg, and Ulysses S. Grant’s win at Vicksburg the following day on July 4^th, finally stemmed the momentum that the Confederacy had and ultimately changed the course of the war in favor of the Union. President Lincoln, who was not even the primary guest speaker at the dedication of the cemetery, realized and expounded on the significance of this mighty battle and thought it was “altogether fitting” to honor the dead in this, their final resting place.

Wills and the Gettysburg Cemetery Commission had originally chosen October 23, 1863 as the date for the cemetery’s dedication, but relented and postponed it until November 19^th at the request of their chosen pick as the main speaker at the event, Edward Everett, whom was a former senator, secretary of state, and president of Harvard College. Everett was a noted orator in the day and asked for the delay in order that he be given more time to prepare his speech.  Everett ended up speaking for two hours at the dedication. 

On November 2^nd, which was only a little more than two weeks before the event, Mr. Wills also decided to invite President Lincoln to attend and “formally [to] set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks.” President Lincoln accepted the invitation and was met by a crowd of 15,000 people whom were there for the dedication. President Lincoln’s famous address took only two minutes to deliver.

The day after the dedication, Edward Everett wrote to Lincoln, “Permit me also to express my great admiration of the thoughts expressed by you, with such eloquent simplicity & appropriateness, at the consecration of the Cemetery. I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”

The white slave owners of the time were always quick to point out that nowhere within the United States Constitution did it prohibit slavery. President Lincoln, however, took what was a more radical approach at the time and referred to our nation’s founding document which stated that “all men are created equal.” He again stated this sentiment in his magnificent address.  President Lincoln saw the Civil War as a gargantuan struggle for “a new birth of freedom”. No longer was the nation to be dominated simply by state’s rights, but rather he saw the need for a unified nation that provided and protected the equality of all men as he defined our democratic republic in the terms of “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

President Lincoln hoped to properly honor the dead that fought to preserve the Union by fighting for the equality of all under the law. He was hopeful that this great battle, as General Lee retreated with his Army back to Virginia, was the turning point in the war. After this point, the South would not win another major battle and never again would go on the offensive into Union territory. While the war was far from decided still, Lincoln saw this loss for Lee and the South as finally changing the momentum of the war back in the Union’s favor. Lincoln realized the momentousness of the sacrifice made by the soldiers on the field in Gettysburg accordingly.

In April of 1865, after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner wrote regarding Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, “That speech, uttered at the field of Gettysburg…and now sanctified by the martyrdom of its author, is a monumental act. In the modesty of his nature he said ‘the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here.’ He was mistaken. The world at once noted what he said, and will never cease to remember it.” 

Sumner was indeed correct.