Lincoln links
Rare Gettysburg Address manuscript on display in Chicago April 1-May 3
On Wednesday, April 1, a manuscript copy of Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” will begin a month-long display at the Chicago History Museum.
Only five such manuscripts in the 16th president’s handwriting exist. This one will be on loan through May 3 from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. A viewing and lecture for members only will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 9.
Lincoln delivered what he called his “little speech” on Nov. 19, 1863, during a dedication ceremony for the cemetery in which victims of the Battle of Gettysburg were interred. He intended it to be somewhat of a benediction.
Only 10 sentences long and two-minutes in duration, Lincoln’s remarks followed a two-hour oration by Edward Everett. The polite response that followed led the president to consider his words as a “flat-failure.” History has proven him wrong.
The battle had started June 25 with raids on Gettysburg by Confederate Generals J E B Stuart and Jubal Early. They were met by Gen. Joseph Hooker’s federal Army troops. Two days later, Hooker resigned after one of his orders was countermanded.
On June 28, General George Meade was appointed to Hooker’s command. He moved the Army of the Potomac into Gettysburg, where it would meet Gen. Robert E. Lee’s rebel forces on July 1.
Soundly defeated, Lee’s troops withdrew to Virginia on July 4 and later became entrenched at Hagerstown, Md., waiting for the swollen Potomac River to recede.
Lincoln was bitterly disappointed, and furious, that Meade had been too cautious to pursue and capture the trapped Lee. He put his thoughts in a letter to the general.
“He was within our easy grasp, and to have closed upon him would, in connection with our other late successes, have ended the war. As it is, the war will be prolonged indefinitely.”
Then Lincoln reconsidered his criticism and decided not to send his letter to Meade. The draft was discovered among papers left by the president after his death.
At Gettysburg, 3,903 of the 75,000-member Confederate army died, 18,735 were wounded, and 5,425 were missing. Of 88,289 Union soldiers, 3,155 died, 14,529 were wounded, and 5,365 were missing. The death toll for both sides was 7,058.
Asking “that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion,” Lincoln resolved that the nation “shall have a new birth of freedom.”
The Chicago History Museum display of those words is part of its ongoing “Lincoln Treasures” exhibition. For more information, access www.chicagohistory.org.
• • •
Charles Lachman, author of “The Last Lincolns” and executive director of television’s “Inside Edition,” will speak at the History Museum at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 31.
He also will sign copies of his work, which covers largely unknown hostility among family members after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Purchasers of the book in the gift shop will be admitted to the lecture at no charge.
Lincoln office rehab is funded by ‘Greenbacks’
Restoration and preservation of the former Springfield law offices of Abraham Lincoln is the goal of the campaign, “A Greenback for a Great Cause,” being conducted by the Old State Capitol Foundation (OSCF).
Supported by the Illinois State Bar Association as part of its participation in the Lincoln Bicentennial, the campaign seeks contributions from lawyers and law firms.
The OSCF hopes to accurately restore and interpret the 1840s federal court complex in Springfield, including the Lincoln-Herndon law offices, and focus new attention on their historical significance.
Contributions to the endowment fund may be mailed to Old State Capitol Foundation, Greenback for a Great Cause, P.O. Box 502, Springfield, IL 62705-0502.
For more information, or to schedule a brief presentation on the project, mailto:info@oldstatecapitol.org.