From The Gettysburg Battlefield To The Appomattox Courthouse

Photograph

Edward Everett. An oration delivered on the battlefield of Gettysburg (November 19, 1863) at the consecration of the cemetery. New York: Baker and Godwin, 1863.

After the Battle of Gettysburg, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania decided to consecrate the cemetery at the battlefield and invited the noted orator Edward Everett (1794-1865) to deliver the main address. Everett, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, as president of Harvard College, governor of Massachusetts, and secretary of state under President Millard Fillmore, ran for vice president on the Constitutional Union ticket in the 1860 election.  Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was first published in several newspapers before it appeared in pamphlet form.  The pamphlet of Everett’s speech shown here includes Lincoln’s address as part of other dedication events, indicating that the historic significance of his remarks had yet to be understood.  This version was one of the first rushed into print in the wake of the dedication ceremony.

Lin 2491.1 The William Whiting Nolen Collection of Lincolniana