November 19th, 1863: Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
I am a day late in posting this but as they say, better late than never.
November 19th, 1863: a crowd gathers to witness the dedication of the nation’s first national cemetery. The site is Gettysburg Pennsylvania, where less than five moths earlier the Confederate army led by Robert E Lee made its last incursion into Northern territory before being driven south by the Union army which was commanded by General Meade.
This Union victory is considered the turning point in the Civil War, for up until that point while the Union had managed a few victories they were turned back on many occasions and moral in the North was at an all time low before this battle. Ironically the victorious General Meade was relieved by President Lincoln shortly after this battle because he failed to pursue General Lee’s troops and demolish them while they were on the run.
General Meade was replaced by Ulysses S Grant who led the Union into the battle of the Wilderness, and while that battle was considered a draw, it was what happened next that was of the most import. The Union soldiers expected to either fall back into defensive positions or remain where they were as General Lee escaped once again, but they cheered loudly when General Grant declared that they would pursue General Lee and would not stop until victory was achieved. Lincoln had finally found his general and the rest is history.
Edward Everett–who was considered the “key note” speaker and was the great orator of the time–spoke for over two hours before giving way to President Lincoln, but nobody remembers what Edward Everett said that day because his speech was eclipsed in just over two minutes by the man who gave what is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of all time.
Edward Everett himself said this of the Gettysburg address in a letter he wrote to President Lincoln the following day: “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.”
During the Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln stated, “the world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here.” Oh, how wrong he was about that, history has never forgotten what President Lincoln said on that day.
Here is a video tribute to the Gettysburg Address:
America's Watchtower 
Thanks, Steve. It had totally slipped my mind.
Btw, did you know that Daniel Day Lewis was recently cast to play the lead in “Lincoln”? It will be the long-awaited Spielberg movie based on “Team of Rivals”. I think Lewis is a great actor, but I’m not sure he’s the best choice.
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It slipped my mind also, that’s why I was a day late.
I did hear about that just the other day, I don’t know much about him, but I am looking forward to seeing the movie. It is a terrific book!
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That’s a great tribute Steve.
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Thank you so much!
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Putting it into context with what was happening to the country at the time and the speech becomes even more amazing.
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It sure does. While this was the turning point in the war there was still much fighting to be done before the war reached its conclusion. Besides the war, Lincoln faced opposition from within his own party and with the opposition party. While the radical Republicans favored abolition as a war goal most of the Republican party and Lincoln himself did not. Neither did the conservative Democrats. Lincoln managed to pull off a balancing act that allowed the North to remain true to the ultimate purpose of the war–the preserving of the union.
What is lost on most people today is the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation did not free all of the slaves, it allowed slave holding border states which remained true to the union to keep their slaves. It wasn’t until the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment were ratified that slavery was abolished. These were remarkable and interesting times in Unites States history and I honestly cannot read enough about this time.
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My high school history teacher went to great lengths to impress upon us that Lincoln freed the slaves where he couldn’t, and didn’t free them were he could.
But that aside, we knew the importance of this great man to our nation’s greatness, and on his birthday every year, those of us who could recite the Gettysburg Address were excused from classes for the day.
Hope everyone has a cozy and family-oriented Thanksgiving!
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So true GY, it was not lost on his administration either that Lincoln freed the slaves where he didn’t have the authority to so so while allowing the slaves to be kept where he could have freed them either. I believe it was Seward who made that observation when he read the Proclamation, but I could be wrong.
I hope that you also have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
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Thanks for a great find. I am always moved when visiting Gettysburg. The new Visitor’s Center is awesome, and a good reminder of all who have paid so much for what we have. Let us never forget.
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I have not yet visited Gettysburg, but I intend to do so someday. As Lincoln sain in the address, “we must never forget what they did here.”
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