Hello friends,
To honor the upcoming 4th of July holiday, we would like to share a historical piece inspired by a cherished book and statue in Upham’s Corner from our friend Betty.
Edward Everett / Lincoln
Introduction:
The birth of a nation is always an exciting time when desperate people come together, some who want to share their power with others, some who want to enslave others to advance their own power – so it has been since the Revolutionary War in America. The Civil War is over, but the fight of the powerful over the weak, right over wrong, goes on. This is the story of Edward Everett who sits astride his stallion in the little park near my home in Upham’s Corner, Mass. It cannot be told about himself alone because it is intertwined with the story of our president at that time- Abraham Lincoln.
Edward Everett lived at the time of the Civil War in America. He was born in the year 1794. He was 69 at the time when Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania asked him to speak at the opening of a special ceremony for Union soldiers. Too many of the fallen had lain as neglected cadavers rotting in the open field or thrust into so shallow a resting place that a common farm plow caught in their bones. Now by the order of Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania seventeen acres had been purchased on Cemetery Hill where the Union center stood its colors on the second and third of July, and plots of soil had been allotted each state for its graves.
The scared and delicate duties of orator of the day had fallen on Edward Everett. A cultural figure, perhaps foremost of all distinguished American classical orators, his resume included United States Senator, Governor of Massachusetts, member of Congress, Secretary of State under Fillmore and minister to Great Britain, Phil Beta Kappe, who was also professor of Greek, poet and President at Harvard. He was serene, suave, and handsome, but also a man with a temperament of steel, as when he proclaimed of the former slave man: “If this man passes his admissions test he will be admitted and if the white students choose to withdraw all of the income of the college will be used for his education.” When in September he was notified that the date of the occasion would be October 23rd he replied that he would need more time for preparation. The dedication was then postponed to November 10th.
Lincoln had been an afterthought because it was believed that the responsibilities of his office would not allow him time for such an “imposing and delicate“ project. “After the oration,“ it continued, “you, as Chief Executive of this nation formerly set apart these grounds to that sacred use by a few appropriate remarks.“ In considering such “remarks,“ Lincoln remembered a quotation from Daniel Webster: “Solid men of Boston make no long orations.“
Lincoln:
They were scheduled to start at 10 o´clock and at that hour on the clock Lincoln was there. He wore a black suit, high silk hat, white gloves. A crowd was on hand and he held a reception on horseback.
March to the Cemetery:
Thirty to fifty thousand people were on Cemetery Hill for the exercises the next day when the processtion started from Gettysburg.They arrived by foot and horseback, representing the United States government, the Army, Navy, a regiment of troops, benevolent associations, the press, five departments, citizens of Pennsylvania and other states.
The Speeches:
After the orator of the day delivered his two hour speech, overlooking the beautiful, contemplative countryside, moistened with blood of those who died “… and going on …“ in the annals of history, there will be no brighter page than Gettysburg! Lincoln, having read his speech, took his manuscript from his coat pocket, put on his steel bowed glasses, looked over his manuscript and put it back in his pocket, he rose, holding in one hand two sheets of paper at which he occasionally glanced. He delivered his address in his high pitched, clear carrying voice.
Reaction of the Media to Lincoln’s Address:
The nearby “Patriot and Union“ took it’s fling. They wrote in their paper that the President´s remarks “made no sense“ and were “silly“ and more for the glorification of his party than for the country. Charles Hale of the Boston Advertiser, also representing Governor Andrew of Mass. had notebook and pencil in hand and he took down the slow spoken words of the President…
Written by Betty Craig, Age 87
Friend of Little Brother’s Boston since 2002
Special thanks to Lutz, Age 19 for his transcription
Bibliography
Adventures in American Literature. (1949). Harcourt, Brace, and Company. New York-Chicago.