Voices of Gettysburg - diary

President Lincoln exchanges letters with Edward Everett, the main orator at Gettysburg. Everett...

Syd Lieberman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

President Lincoln exchanges letters with Edward Everett, the main orator at Gettysburg. Everett writes: “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.”

Lincoln responds, “In our respective parts yesterday, you could not have been excused to make a short address, nor I a long one. I am pleased to know that, in your judgment, the little I did say was not entirely a failure.”

At the dedication ceremonies…I had a seat on the platform within a few feet of the speakers, and...

Syd Lieberman — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

At the dedication ceremonies…I had a seat on the platform within a few feet of the speakers, and could hear not only every word, but could mark every expression on the face of America’s most polished orator, Edward Everett, as he delivered that masterly oragion, and could see every lineament in the sad, earnest face of Mr. Lincoln as he pronounced his immortal “Dedication.”

….To say that Mr. Lincoln arose, can only be appreciated by those who have been near him when he got up to speak; but he had never before seemed to me to be so tall as he did on this occasion. He appeared to continue to arise, as it were, until when he finally stood up I thought that he was the tallest and most awkward man I had ever seen.

….I thought then and still think, it was the shortest, grandest speech, oration, sermon, or what you please to call it, to which I ever listened. It was the whole matter in a nutshell, delivered distinctly and impressively, so that all in that vast concourse could hear him. My own emotions may perhaps be imagined when it is remembered that he was facing the spot where only a short time before we had had our death grapple with Pickett’s men, and he stook almost immediately over the place where I had lain and seen my comrades torn in fragment by the enemy’s cannon-balls.

Think, if you please, how these words fell upon my ears….If at that moment the Supreme Being had appeared with an offer to undo my past life; give back to me a sound body, free from the remembrance even of sufferings past, and the imminence of those that must necessarily embitter all the years to come, I should have indignantly spurned the offer, such was the effect upon me of this immortal ‘Dedication.’

After breakfast at the Wills house, Lincoln retires to his room, where his secretary John Nicolay...

Syd Lieberman — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

After breakfast at the Wills house, Lincoln retires to his room, where his secretary John Nicolay joins him. There he completes the preparation of his speech.

About 10 A.M. the President, dressed in black, wearing white gauntlets and black crepe around his hat in memory of Willie, leaves the Wills house to join the procession.

Lincoln mounts his horse and rides in procession to the cemetery. The head of the procession arrives at the speaker’s platform inside the cemetery at 11:15 A.M. President Lincoln receives a military salute.

The President and members of his cabinet, with group of military and civic dignitaries, occupy the platform. Lincoln takes his place between chairs reserved for Sec. Seward and Edward Everett, the orator who will make the principal address. At 11:40 A.M. Everett arrives, is introduced to President, and program music begins.

Once during Everett’s two-hour oration Lincoln stirs in his chair. “He took out his steel-bowed spectacles, put them on his nose, took two pages of manuscript from his pocket, looked them over and put them back.”

About 2 P.M. Lincoln “in a fine, free way, with more grace than is his wont,” according to his secretary John Nicolay, delivers the Gettysburg Address. He holds his manuscript but does not appear to read from it.

The President decides to hear an address by Lt. Gov.-elect Charles Anderson (Pa.) at 4:30 P.M. in the Presbyterian Church. He meets “old John Burns, the soldier of 1812, and the only man in Gettysburg who volunteered to defend it.” Burns accompanies him and Sec. Seward to hear Anderson speak.

The President’s special train leaves Gettysburg about 7 P.M. and arrives in Washington at 1:10 A.M. on Friday. Lincoln returns from Gettysburg with a mild form of smallpox (varioloid) and remains under half quarantine in White House for nearly three weeks.

(J)ust at dusk we reached Hanover Junction, the station where we were to change for the train that...

Syd Lieberman — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

(J)ust at dusk we reached Hanover Junction, the station where we were to change for the train that would take us to Gettysburg. When our train stopped we immediately boarded another that was standing on the Gettysburg track. We had barely gotten inside when a guard that was placed at the entrance to each car to prevent outsiders from crowding into it, as it was a special train carrying the governors of the several States who were the guests of Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania. Being locked in, as it were, we concluded not to try to break out, and proceeded to find the delegation from our native State, Ohio….In introducing me, the general told the governor (of Ohio) that I had a better right to be there than any of them….The governor then told me that he would like to arrange it so that I could see and hear everything that transpired at the dedication ceremonies, and theat he could best insure that if I and my friend were to accept the position s of aides-de-camp on his staff, which he then tendered….

When we arrived at the station, though it was nearly eleven o’clock at night…(n)early everyone in the village was up, their houses illuminated and open in anticipation of their being called up to entertain the immense crowds of incoming visitors.

The President sad and depressed because Tad is too ill to eat breakfast and Mrs. Lincoln is...

Syd Lieberman — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

The President sad and depressed because Tad is too ill to eat breakfast and Mrs. Lincoln is hysterical. He writes a note that William H. Johnson, his African-American valet, will accompany him to Gettysburg.

President Lincoln and his party leave Washington about noon on a special train of four cars furnished by the B. & O. Railroad. The Presidential party reaches Bolton Station in Baltimore in 1 hour and 10 minutes. The train is transported to the North Central tracks and proceeds on that line to Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania, where it changes to the Hanover Line for the remainder of the trip.

The train arrives about 5 P.M. in Gettysburg, where Lincoln is a guest of Judge Wills. After supper President Lincoln receives a telegram from Secretary Stanton: “By inquiry Mrs. Lincoln informed me that your son is better this evening.”

At 10 P.M. the 5th New York Artillery band serenades the President at the Wills house. After repeated calls, Lincoln addresses the crowd briefly. Singers from Washington and a choir from Baltimore also serenade the President.

The President watches a parade of 2,500 from the Invalid Corps pass White House. He discusses the...

Syd Lieberman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

The President watches a parade of 2,500 from the Invalid Corps pass White House.

He discusses the train schedule to Gettysburg with Sec. Stanton and alters the original one-day schedule to Gettysburg arranged by Stanton : “I do not like this arrangement. I do not wish to so go that by the slightest accident we fail entirely, and, at the best, the whole to be a mere breathless running of the gauntlet.”

In the evening Lincoln examines a drawing of the burial plot of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg with the designer William Saunders. He informs Attorney General James Speed that he has prepared about half of the Gettysburg Address.

The President’s bodyguard, Marshal Ward Lamon, announces the program for the dedication of...

Syd Lieberman — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

The President’s bodyguard, Marshal Ward Lamon, announces the program for the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863.

Lincoln, accompanied by journalist Noah Brooks, visits Gardner’s Gallery and poses for photographs.

President Lincoln proposes that Judge Logan bring Mrs. W. H. Lamon, his daughter, to the ceremony...

Syd Lieberman — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

President Lincoln proposes that Judge Logan bring Mrs. W. H. Lamon, his daughter, to the ceremony at Gettysburg on November 19th. Lamon will act as marshal on the occasion of dedicating the cemetery there.

The Presidential party attends a performance at Ford’s Theatre starring John Wilkes Booth in “The Marble Heart.”

The President is photographed by Alexander Gardner, both alone and with his secretaries John Nicolay...

Syd Lieberman — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

The President is photographed by Alexander Gardner, both alone and with his secretaries John Nicolay and John Hay.

The President confers with Judge Advocate General Holt in the morning about courtmartial cases.

Syd Lieberman — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

The President confers with Judge Advocate General Holt in the morning about courtmartial cases.

Lincoln writes to General George Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac, to request more...

Syd Lieberman — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Lincoln writes to General George Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac, to request more information about Private Samuel Wellers, who is to be shot for desertion on November 6: “Has he been a good soldier, except the desertion? About how old is he?”

Judge David Wills of Gettysburg invites President Lincoln to dedicate the National Cemetery at...

Syd Lieberman — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Judge David Wills of Gettysburg invites President Lincoln to dedicate the National Cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863 with a “few appropriate remarks.”

I was in the National capital, partly convalescent but still not permitted to rejoin my regiment....

Syd Lieberman — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

I was in the National capital, partly convalescent but still not permitted to rejoin my regiment. While awaiting a decision of the surgeons in my case, the ceremonies that were to take place on the occasion of the dedication of the proposed monument were announced, and I resolved to be present.

The President and Mrs. Lincoln visit Ford’s Theatre to see a performance of “Fanchon,...

Syd Lieberman — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

The President and Mrs. Lincoln visit Ford’s Theatre to see a performance of “Fanchon, the Cricket.”

Lincoln suggests to General Halleck that Army of Potomac “with all possible expedition”...

Syd Lieberman — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Lincoln suggests to General Halleck that Army of Potomac “with all possible expedition” get ready to attack General R. E. Lee.

Lincoln issues a proclamation calling for 300,000 volunteers.

Syd Lieberman — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Lincoln issues a proclamation calling for 300,000 volunteers.

Lincoln writes General Halleck: “If General Meade can now attack him [Lee] on a field no...

Syd Lieberman — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Lincoln writes General Halleck: “If General Meade can now attack him [Lee] on a field no worse than equal for us, and will do so with all the skill and courage, which he, his officers and men possess, the honor will be his if he succeeds, and the blame may be mine if he fails.”

The President writes an order to Sec. Stanton : “This lady, Abigail C. Berea, had a...

Syd Lieberman — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

The President writes an order to Sec. Stanton : “This lady, Abigail C. Berea, had a husband and three sons in the war, and has been a nurse herself, without pay”; and asks to have her youngest son discharged because of poor health. “Let it be done.”

President Lincoln telegraphs General Meade at 9 A.M.: “What news this morning?”

Syd Lieberman — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

President Lincoln telegraphs General Meade at 9 A.M.: “What news this morning?”

At 9:50 A.M. the President telegraphs General Meade again: “How is it now?”

Syd Lieberman — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

At 9:50 A.M. the President telegraphs General Meade again: “How is it now?”