The president wrote the first draft of the famous dedication address on executive mansion stationery. Perhaps he read it to his wife and his two sons--for practice and for approval. Perhaps his wife, Mary, suggested the words "under God", which the president added by way of improvisation when he spoke at the Consecration of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg.
On November 18, 1863, the ride by train from Washington, D.C. to Gettysburg took six hours. The president rode with his secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay, and cabinet members William Seward, John Usher and Montgomery Blair. President Lincoln stayed at the Wills' house at Gettysburg.
The next day, November 19, 1863, President Lincoln told his secretaries that he wasn't feeling well. He complained of headache or fever. Despite his unwell condition, he performed all the functions required of him that day. He toured the battle sites by carriage in the morning, and at 11 A.M. he mounted a horse and joined a parade to Cemetery Hill where 15,000 people waited for the dedication.
A printed program provided the schedule of events:
Music, by Birgfield's Band.
Prayer, by Rev. T. H. Stockton, D.D.
Music, by the Marine Band.
Oration, by Hon. Edward Everett.
Music, Hymn composed by B. B. French, Esq.
Dedicatory Remarks, by the President of the United States.
Dirge, sung by choir selected for the occasion.
Benediction, by Rev. H. L. Baugher, D.D.
Edward Everett would speak for two hours. He was a Unitarian clergyman from Boston. He was also a Harvard professor, a diplomat, a former Congressman and a statesman. He spoke eloquently about the history of the conflict between Union and Confederate States, European parallels, the three-day battle at Gettysburg, state sovereignty and the Constitution. Newspaper reports claimed that his oratory instilled patriotism, pride and purpose among those gathered at the cemetery.
When it was his turn to speak, President Lincoln reached under his coat and took out two pages which contained his brief dedication remarks. He stood tall on the speaker's platform and addressed the crowd:
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 battlefield 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 do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate--we can not consecrate--we can not 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 or 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.
There was an uneasy silence in the crowd at the conclusion of the dedication address. "It seemed short...There was no applause when he stopped speaking," commented Sarah Cook, a Pennsylvanian who attended the Consecration.
The following day, Edward Everett wrote to President Lincoln: "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."
On his return trip by train to Washington, D. C., the president continued to complain of headache or fever. His illness included a developing vesicular rash. When a doctor diagnosed his condition, President Lincoln was informed that he had a mild case of small pox.
References:
1) Wikipedia--Gettysburg Address
2) Lincoln at Gettysburg by Garry Wills
3) Untitled
4) Edward Everett's Speech
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