speeches in american history, the gettysburg address. >> our first speaker to kick off our conference is martin johnson. he is an associate professor of history at university of miami in ohio. where he teaches courses on abraham lincoln, civil war and modern europe. he earned his ph.d in 1993 from brown university. he is devoted much of his career to studying the 16th president of the united states. he is also the author of a number of books. in fact his first two books are on european history. one is on the paris commune. and the other is on the triefis affairs. very diverse intellectual interest. unlike most of us, can only right between 1861 and 1865. martin certainly is able to go into other fields and to succeed in doing so. in 2014, martin earned the distinguished lincoln prize, lincoln prize as many of you know, is sponsored by gettysburg college. he received that prize for writing the gettysburg address. writing the gettysburg address is a superb book and it is a book that takes readers on lincoln's journey. again, i don't want to give away too much. but i will simply say this, that it reveals how lincoln's intellectual process. and that he was revising, rethinking, as he was coming to gettysburg and once he arrived here, this is a piece of detective work and two years ago, i think that martin and i decided he came here february in dead of winter. just absolutely miserable and snowy and he gave an outstanding talk. so i don't want to inflate expectations too much but it was fantastic. as soon as i heard it, i he needed to come here and talk about important research and findings to the cwi audience. so let's all give a warm welcome to mike johnson. >> thank you very much. such a large audience. i appreciate it. we are here to talk about the gettysburg address and the lincoln and gettysburg moment. i got started on studying the gettysburg address because ways thinking, you know, we have these moments in our american history that we celebrate, moments that make us in many ways who we are. but sometimes you wonder whether these are mythic, whether they are elements that are added, especially for the gettysburg address that lincoln stories of writing the gettysburg address and the train, sudden inspiration or the work of long months of labor. how did he write the gettysburg address? it is a long story. it is part of the journey we have as americans to understanding who we are and the nature of this american experience that, the journey that we're on, really. how we tell the story of who we are makes us who we are. we are the stories that we tell ourselves. as we live those stories, and we live up to those stories, we america and we can make a better america. and one way to see is the slide of lincoln in the temple. i like the word here. in this temple as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved, the memory of abraham lincoln is enshrined forever. adds long as we have stories like stories of lincoln and stories of the civil war and courage. soldiers of the civil war, we can become the americans that we aspire to be. and the story of the lincoln gettysburg address helps us make that journey. so let's go -- well we are at gettysburg, let's get to gettysburg, lincoln got on the train the day before, november 18th. these slides have little to do with lincoln exactly except the slide here is the old union terminal, i believe it's called, in washington that lincoln did depart from. but this gives a sense of the old time frames. took many hours to get to gettysburg, down the track and there are stories on the train of lincoln writing his speech. he stopped along the way. they today pick up water. the train and engines today rest. for example here at hanover junk which is just up the road here, if you haven't been to hanover junction, a wonderful place to visit, real road junk there is an important place. lincoln went through there several times. they have restored the old depot, too. you will see images of hanover junction sometimes associated with lincoln. and they say sometimes lincoln is here on the platform. lincoln is probably not in these pictures. these pictures were probably taken in fact the day before lincoln was there. when a whole group of people, marshals for the parade and ceremonies of gettysburg were going to gettysburg and were stranded there for hours and hours and had nothing to do but take a lot of pictures. there is a tall man in a top hat and most likely it is not lincoln. lincoln went to hanover junction and he rattled down the rails further to get to gettysburg. we know that he didn't write on the train because in a sense he tells us that. and the story of being at the train and at gettysburg. i would like to organize my talk a little bit around the journey that lincoln took and the story that james speed attorney general told. and speed came to washington after the gettysburg ceremony. about a year later in fact. he was not at the ceremony. he did not see anything. what he tells us is what lincoln told him. so listening to james speed we are listening to what lincoln said about his journey to the gettysburg address. and as james speed said, about a year after the ceremony in casual conversation one evening with lincoln, lincoln said he was very uncertain as to whether he could go, whether his duties would not detain him in washington. ank bs anxious to go. important note there, anxious to go. be prepared to say some certain thing. the letter of invitation gave him expectations for a short speech but a speech that had to be appropriate to the occasion one of the most impressive ceremonies of the mid century. battle like this had never taken place. lincoln never had left washington, d.c. in order to give a speech. this is major event. he wanted to sigh some appropriate thing because organizers asked him to say some appropriate thing but he knew this was an important event. but he knew too he wasn't going to be the main speaker. it had to be short and appropriate. here is the lincoln white house. at the time of the civil war, you imagine lincoln busy here in the white house. not sure he is going to gettysburg. in fact he only disided at the very last moment possible and most likely. and the very weekend to going to gettysburg because the monday before the ceremony, that's when the newspapers said lincoln finally decided to go to gettysburg. they had the railroad schedule set. it wraelsy a last-minute decision he made that he would go. he wanted to go but wasn't sure he could go. and as he told speed, the day before he left, he found time to write about half a speech. here we have images of lincoln in the, what was at that time, his office. today the lincoln bedroom. he is at the table where the emancipation proclamation was signed, earlier that year, on new year's day that year. and i love the picture of him standing up for example. in some ways it is as close to a candid shot as you can get of lincoln. you don't see him reproduced a lot because his face is obscured and people try to retouch the face and it doesn't do too well. can you see the desk and famous pigeon hole desk. behind him where he kept stories and papers of lincoln. let me find the paper. he would always find it somehow. but he had an amazing filing system. and probably at this desk then that night before leaving for gettysburg, the day before he left, he found time to write about half of his speech. probably that table. probably in what is called today the lincoln bedroom. very appropriate. now the lincoln bedroom has the honor of housing one of the five handwritten copies that lincoln wrote. there are only five handwritten copies of the gettysburg address. the last one, sometimes most important to people, the last one is in the lincoln bedroom. he wrote it there and now it is enshrined there. what does it mean to write about half of a speech? i think this is half of the speech he was talking about. half of the speech today in which is the first page, nickel a copy of the gettysburg address. all in ink on executive mansion letter head. beautifully written. bold hand, no hesitation whatsoever. this is a draft that's the result of thought and this is a final version in many ways or version that was intended to be final. as i note on the side, i call this the washington draft because this is the only fragment we have remaining of the speech as he wrote it in washington before coming to gettysburg. the first page of what is often called the nickel aide copy, all in ink. as you see the last page, it is rather for us, the living, to stand here. you never heard those words, to stand here, in the gettysburg address that you memorized or read. wauz lincobecause lincoln revis this speech when he goats gettysburg. but he doesn't revise it on the train. we know that from what he told james speed. he arrives at the station, which i hope you get the clans to see. it is beautifully remodelled and is part of the park service, i understand. and he was whisked away from the station, greeted bied way edwar everett who would be guest speaker the next day. and an enormous crowd. it was about 6:00 at night or so. but november, so rather dark and the moon was already out. cloudy and had been raining earlier that day. blustery and windy. edward did not go outside that day because he wanted to preserve his voice and not catch a cold or something. they whisked him away to his home host in gettysburg. i don't have to tell many about david wheels. he really is important in the american story in many ways. he was a young lawyer at the time. probably young wler er when lin was engaged. about 33 years old at that time. lived in the grandest house on the main square, as you know. and he had been, for months and months, organized the treatment of the wounded, dying, care for, battlefield and the soldiers. he had been commissioned by the governor of pennsylvania, andrew curtain, commissioned by governor of pennsylvania. to take care of the battlefield debt. and he was then the person who is the main leader behind the gettysburg cemetery and behind the ceremony that lincoln was going to now attend. possibly david wheels was who lincoln thought would maybe raise the level of discourse. and lincoln had not biffgiven t gettysburg address. he was not known as the eloquent speaker. he had not given the second inaugural. he is viewed as a western rube by many people. it is possible david questioned whether or not he could in fact rise to the occasion. at the wheels house there were greetings. there was individuals, notables from the town came to meet lincoln. man who had been wounded. shook lincolns hand. said it was the proudest moment of his life. around the okay 9:00 in the eve arrived out front there. the band for the ninth new york infantry. that was the signal of the grand sir made i serenade. a band would come to the house of a notable visiting town giving a speech and play music and demand that notable come out and say a few words. march around for a little bit. and the notable goes outside and collapse. lincoln made them stand outside for 45 minutes or so, making them howl and yell for him to come out. so it was after coming out to talk to the serenade, say hello, brief word or two. he went back inside. of that he went upstairs and started writing what we think of as the gettysburg address. here is the man who made that possible. i showed you this picture earlier. it turns out that when you magnify it up, i hadn't realized this until the large version. that's david wills there and i think picture was taken about 1892 or so just after david wills had written his account of how lincoln had written the gettysburg address. you notice, this is not a photograph of the wills family, not the 19th century family, this is a picture after house. because david wills wants you to know that's the house that lincoln wrote the gettysburg address in. he had just written the story about what had happened. signed it like an affidavit. wills by this time is a judge. he wanted to make sure he knew that lincoln wrote the gettysburg address in the second floor window. can you visit it on the square. if anybody happens know who the individuals in the photo are, i would be happy to know about that later. thank you. sew went upstairs then. here is what james speed said after the serenade. he took what he had written with him to gettysburg. the half a speech i talked about earlier. then he was put in an upper room and he asked to be left alone for a time. that upper room is interesting. remember speed only knows what lincoln told him. you can tell the story, 1879, this is 16 years or so after the events. 15 years after lincoln told him. and yet he remembered it was an upper room. that upper room is in no other source as far as i can tell. if james speed knows that lincoln went to an upper room it is because lincoln told him he went to an upper room. and there are many ways we know this is a reliable account. lincoln is talking us to in many ways through james speed. he was in an upper room of the house. asked to be alone. serenaders coming. politicians from all over the country. a dozen governors are expected in town that night. he needs to be left alone for a time. he then prepared a speech according to speed. but he cannot colluded it shortly before it was delivered. but did not have time to memorize it. this is an earlier photo. can you visit the room today. it is set up a little bit differently. in this photo the same bed is there. that seems to be the bed that lincoln did sleep under. there's a small table here. some sources mention a small table where lincoln wrote the gettysburg address. i don't know if that table is still there today but that table very much like that might be the one that lincoln wrote the gettysburg address at. or revised it, at least. >> after revising for a time, he called his host and said i want it talk to william stewart, my secretary of state. how do i get to him. you have this amazing story of david wills, his host. the governor of pennsylvania arrived by that time, andrew curtain. and several guards. gathering in lincoln's room. hustling lincoln out to the street to go to the house where willi willi william seward was staying. lincoln knew there was a huge crowd out there. he didn't want to talk. he didn't like talking a lot. he was afraid he would make a mistake or something. he told the governor of pennsylvania, you good out and keep the people from me. i will good see seward. so seward gaveso /* -- so he ga speech that no one knew what he was saying and lincoln went out to see seward.he gave a speech knew what he was saying and lincoln went out to see seward. so it is likely that seward did lep lincoln with his speech. likely the last few words, the poetry that seward was good at. we know seward help had lincoln with the last few lines of the first inaugural. that idea came from seward and the first phrasing came from seward. lincoln changed it and made it his own. and many people think it is better. it is probably just the same with the gettysburg address. douglas wilson, very fine scholar, also suggested this is the case. one reason i think that might be the case too is that seward used the word perish p. lincoln did you use perish that often. it was not a favorite word of his. he does use it occasionally but perish from the earth, that is, i think, seward through and through. almost poetic but it does add a touch. so lincoln probably reads the speech to seward. after about 45 minutes or so, he talks to people at the house where seward is staying. his body guards have to take him through the crowd once again. back to the wills house. he returns to the wills house again and this again where speed said he concluded so shortly before delivery, did not have time to memorize it, that's when that night after the serenade, after talking to seward, he then finished his revisions, wrote out what he thought was going to be the gettysburg address the next day. but the speech that lincoln wrote that night, that evening at gettysburg, is a draft, in fact. that's not the gettysburg address either. the speech he brought from washington is not the gettysburg address that we learned and memorized and have on the wall of the lincoln memorial and elsewhere. the speech he wrote that night in gettysburg, although lincoln undoubtedly thought as he went to bed that night it was going to be the speech he gave the next day. in fact that's not the speech that gives. because the jurn ooef journey is continuing. he arrives in gettis gurg and continues. because the next morning. next morning before going to the battlefield, lincoln and seward, evidently the night before, cooked up a trip to the battlefield. we knew that because the newspaper the next day after the ceremony, the newspaper quotes seward as saying i visited the ground around the cemetery this morning and mr. lincoln joined me. seward and lincoln traveled up to the seminary ridge and visited some of the key sites known even at the time. i have here an image for william's magnificent photographic history of gettysburg because this image comes from that. and they visited the ground around the seminary for very specific reasons. a already, this is only four months after the battle. already there was a kind of pilgrimage route taking shape. gettysburg entering the historical union of the born united states after the civil war. and this pilgrimage route often started at seminary ridge. recognized to be a key point in the battlefield. of course stories of various officers and looking out over the battlefield and stories in the newspapers at the time of the battle and after of heaps of human limbs outside the seminary which had been used for a hospital for amputations. lincoln and others knew probably that lee's headquarters was quite nearby. he may have known, certainly knew of john burns, but may have known that john burns fought in that region, so-called hero of gettysburg. what other denson of gettysburg made the cover of harper's weekly? i don't think any. so john burns of course who fought in the war of 1812, fought in mexican american war, grabbed his musket and went out to bat etlefield to defend his home and farm. he has a statue and poem and he has fame. he was out by the seminary ridge. but lincoln certainly knew about another event on seminary ridge. the death of john reynolds. john reynolds, lincoln called to the white house before the battle and offered command of the army of the potomac that went out before the battle. reynolds knew he was a battlefield general. and he didn't like the political aspect of being the commander of the entire army of the potomac. he declined. meade was given command. reynolds was out in front. in control of battlefield. he had two corps in command of the battlefield. he was in front of his soldiers, perhaps 50 yards from approaching confederate forces. and when he was shot from his horse in the ground around the seminary in what is today called reynolds woods. that event was instantly famous. he was on the cover of of course harper's weekly. his death was immortalized in a series of first drawings and etchings. lincoln called him my friend john reynolds. he knew of his death. he telegraphed immediately after jett reynolds news, telegraphed about what had happened and received word that body was carried back first to lancaster for a large precession and funeral. so lincoln knew of john reynolds and knew it had taken place in these woods. certainly that's where seward and lincoln went when they knew they were visiting the battlefield. these images were hanging in the art gallery for the photographic studio that gardner of course the photographer that gardner had in washington when lincoln visited the studio. they were in his catalog that had just paired appeared in sep. just paired in the september catalog that gardner issued. these are notable pictures. these are among the first to show the battlefield dead and of course gettysburg battlefield inspired tremendous interest. the gallery saw those images undoubtedly because they were on the walls when we is there. this of course is the picture, one of the photos taken of lincoln, so-called gettysburg portrait because it shows lincoln when we think of lincoln and gettysburg, this is one of the images to have on our mind. this lincoln is the lincoln that john hay, his secretary, called backwards jupiter. commanding armies. making strong generals quail. enforcing his will upon senators and representatives alike. so it is after visiting the battlefield lincoln returns to the wills home. up to the upper level room. the morning of the speech then and instead of simply looking over the words he had written the night before, he engages in what i think is a crash revision of the gettysburg address. a crash revision that shows he was finding a new understanding of the war. coming to words that we will find inspiring and that we will etch in stone. this is the document he created up in the upper level room in gettysburg. the first half is the part that came from washington. so-called washington draft. this is together is known as the nickel aid copy. the second page is different paper. in pencil, not ink. and it shows, again, but no revisions on the second page either. only revision to this document here, instead of it is for us, it is for us the living to stand here, he has written instead it is rather for us, the living, we hear be dedicate, then goes to the next page, it is ungrammatical. we here be dedicated. you haven't heard that in your gettysburg address either. this is a crash revision. but there is another change i makes probably at that same time, too. having returned from the battlefield. having seen the sights that reynolds saw as he was shot from a horse, his horse, as he walked the same ground that army of the potom potomac and soldiers of the union and confederacy fought over. another change he made that morning after walking the bat elt field, just small one but i think it speaks volumes. he is underlined in pencil what they did here. that, and the change here, the onlied its to this document, this first page, because i think lincoln is looking over his speech when he underlines "d he underlines one word here. because the power is more strong in washington and lincoln and the office he was using. when he was in washington, it was in his imagination, his m d mind's eye, walking gettysburg. why did he make that transition between two very different pages? there's one element i think in the second page that is new novel and astonishing. that is the second page that contains the page, new birth of freedom. and i think if that phrase, that phrase that lincoln knew he was aiming for when he was revising the first page. he had written the second page. then he had it make this work. and change we here -- so stand here in we here be dedicated, dedicated is an emotion. standing is status. it is passive no matter how you think about it. sta standing is passive stance. to be dedicated is an emotional commitment. i think that's the idea, that's the emotional commitment that lincoln was feeling. where does the new birth of freedom come from? how did he draw up that phrase? it came from his thinking about what the war meant and was. because at the very time he went to gettysburg, lincoln was thinking about and writing, what we call his state of the union speech for when he got back it washington, then called the annual message. but essentially state of union. this is the first time that lincoln issues a general reconstruction policy. widely anticipated. lincoln had been thinking about it for a long time. and the gettysburg address and this reconstruction policy in the december message of 1863 were written at exactly the same moment. they illuminate each other. so in the december message which we date to december 8 was actually written the same time as gettysburg address or bracketing the same weekend. in the december message, lincoln tells us some of the things he's thinking about when he is thinking about the new birth of freedom. for example in the december message he talks about the problems that emancipation caused originally. he knew there was problem with emancipation. the dark days would come because political opposition. we know, too, that the elections that occurred after the emancipation proclamation was announced, those elections were a tremendous blow to the republican party. lincoln and those around him believe that if the same political movement and continued in 1863 as a notification of the war of 1862, the war cannot not sustain fed they had similar electoral losses in 1863 as in 1862. the i maemancipation proclamatie shoe would cause political difficulty. even with the emancipation proclamation, we all understand, it was a limited measure, military measure, un union reconstructed, union slavery in the slave union states. i pans nation was not a thorough solution, not a reconstruction program. it was a military measure to get soldiers on the field and to make sure that britain and france didn't intervene and to make this war a war about freedom. in lincoln's mess achbage of 18 said the soldiers had proven their worth. as good as soldiers as any, he said. that's an important phrasing for lincoln as good as any. that's basically saying putting the metric is one of equality or inequality. and he's saying as good as soldiers as any. on the battlefield, proven to people like lincoln and others who had originally questioned whether african-american troops would be an as tote union forces. he knew the politically it would cause difficulty. and around the time, lincoln is beginning to think about and people are talking about what will become the 13th amendment, anti-slavery amendment. he has not spoken publicly about it at this point. but there are indications that in november, december and certainly january just after gettysburg lincoln is speaking in ways which suggest he is favorable to it. however he is moving slowly and cautiously. this is one of those examples where lincoln is being prudent, not getting out in front of certain issues because in this case, there's a sense that maybe if he was too much for it that some democrats who were also for it that time might turn against it. he was worried about partisan politics involved in the 13th amendment. these are the things lincoln was thinking about. emancipation, slavery, american soldiers. when he said in 1863 at the time of gettysburg the crisis which threatened to divide the friends of the union has passed. gettysburg has been won. vicksburg has won. armies are victorious and on the offensive. thus we have as he wrote in the message of 1863 the new wreckon pg. does that sound familiar? the new wreckoning it is at gettysburg where he puts these together in a more poetic way as the new birth of of freedom. the key provision, key political change of the key policy change and in december message of 1863 is lincoln won't accept slave in the union. any slave states have to apolish slavery as part of hitheir constitutions. where as the emancipation proclamation abolished slaves, the new policy was to end slavery, that, we don't understand the transition that has to occur across from 1862 to 1863. in 1864 is t is over, right? slavery is done with. no. many people thought o reconstructed with slavery well into 1864. in many wayes it is only the electoral victory that solved that question. but lincoln saying, the birth of freedom is a union prout slavery. not the union as it was and not the union of four score and seven years ago. it is a union of a new birth of freedom. and that phrase, as far as we know, first time he comes with that phrase, is the morning of the speech at gettysburg. in the upper room. after visiting the battlefield. when he wroits in pencil. here it is in pencil. that nation shall have a new birth of freedom. and the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. you see the new birth of freedom associated with this eternal vision of an american union which is now cleansed of its greatest stain. this new birth of freedom then tucks the document and folded in third. can you see the fold marks on the document itself. puts it in his coat pocket. goes out to the central square here at gettysburg. we have all walked around it today and yesterday and in days ahead. you have to imagine horses, groups, civic organizations. odd fellows wearing outlandish attire. it was bed lamb dolam out there square. it is a babout a mile south of town. lincoln on this trip smiles. he's greeting people. somebody lifts the child up to him and gives a kiss and hands her down to the father, the proud father. on this trip lincoln starts out in a joyful mood. people are laughing. it is kind of ruckus, it is celebration. as they get towards the cemetery where the graves with be seen on the hillside, a new tone begins to be felt. here we're south looking up north towards the center of town. you can see these are are the bayonets of the guarding troops and they turn right here, turn right here, so they go sort of around to the cemetery. another image is like this, three images, this third image is one however that when you focus in, wane pointed this out, when you focus in, i'm sorry -- when you focus in, you can see it, a man on a horse and top hat and he does not have a sash. most of it, marshals the others were wearing sashes. we would see an example coming up of a tall man in a top hat on a horse wearing a sash. not lincoln. this is undoubtedly lincoln and the photographer set up his station exactly to catch this scene exactly. he knew as he turned this way, people in front of lincoln would be momentarily out of way and lincoln would come into view and that's when he snapped this shot. this is not, as far as i know, as recognized as one of the official photographs of lincoln. possibly there is maybe some doubt. in fact i think it should be added to that list. well, i maybe don't have to show this to many of you here, of course lincoln was coming down this way. this is an aerial view. the turn that he made is here. came around this way to the cemetery. evergreen is over here. they did not go through evergreen cemetery. wills made sure they ignored every cemetery. he was not happy with the leader of the evergreen cemetery. so they went this way and probably up the center of what we think of now as tcenter of te cemetery. maybe up this way here. there is a sunken road. this picture is taken from one of the houses that is over here. probably from second floor window. in the local hanover area. a relatively little known photo. and i'm showing it here. and we're looking up the hill perhaps i don't know if you see perhaps, probably see a flag here. large flagpole. and just on the other side of the hill from here. so they -- the parade came up this way and probably up one of these spokes here. as they got to the top of the hill, this is what greeted them. we're approaching the cemetery grounds that flagpole that is here is now on our left. the evergreen cemetery house straight ahead. there it is. we have come up the hill to this point approximately here. now we look straight upon this is one of the alexander gardner photos. straight on through the arch of the evergreen gate house. he set it up for that purpose. it is absolutely clear that's why this camera is here at this point. and it is raking almost across the front of the speaker stand. probably the speaker stand is pointed a little bit towards this direction over here, not just down towards the flag. it is here's the speaker stand. behind the speaker stand is a tent that edward everett asked for. he was 72 years old. he knew it would be hours and hours out there and he wanted to mike sure he had the accommodations necessary. he asked for a tent, for a chamber pot. he was given the run of the tent just beforehand. there was a group of people in there with him. he had a hard time shushing them out to he could take care of business. there is edward's tent behind the speaker stand. so many people believed they could find lincoln insome ways. perhaps. personally, i don't think so. so again we look from above. we go to the other side of the field. we came up this way and now we do the other side towards the gate house which is over here. durnt gate house. this is a magnificent vista. this is 1863. beautiful, as far as i can tell, virtually everything in here is accurate except maybe this try, having lots of leaves on it, which probably didn't happen in november. there were stories of people selling lemonade and souvenirs and things like this along baltimore pike. but the parade had come up the other side and this way perhaps. there's the front of the speaker stand. they walked in front of the stand and filled in this area here which soldiers kept open. this box created by soldiers to keep that area reserved for the parade to come in. so let's, and here we have another image. same image photographically basically from almost the same place except on this photograph you're probably in one of the upper windows of this building here looking out on to the field. here is the flagpole right there right there, maybe you can't see it in that, the plflagpole goes right there. the speak er is here. this is what you are are viewing from this angle. let's get closer into this area here. there's the flagpole. let's stand here with the flagpole on our right. right in here, closer, there we go. there's the flagpole. the speaker stand in front of us is very distinct. many of you know the story. in 1954, national archives is looking at this pike our ennobody knows where the picture was taken from. some people thought it was an teet yum when it was dedicated under andrew johnson. looked closer. blew it up a little bit and of course we know there on the speaker stand is none other than abraham lincoln sitting on the platform at gettysburg, about to give the gettysburg address. undoubtedly this is beforehand. i talked about that he is right -- i think i have another image but not very distinct -- there he is there. let me go back to the other one. here is lincoln. here is that man in the tall man on the horse with the sash i was talking about. somebody was telling me that he doesn't have a beard at this time. i'm concerned about that. but i thought it was ward lambon. and i will go with ward lambon until i have another photograph to pell me differently. as they sit on the stand, they today wait a few minutes and edward everett emerged from his tent. there was difficulty there. emerged from his tent. he came forward. everybody stood up of course. main speaker of the day. edward everett was man who held every major office that nation could bestow except president and vice president. senator of massachusetts. on the down side of his career at this point but still somewhat a controversial figure. especially abolitionists and other anti-slavery and attempts through the 1840s and 1850s and kept the union together by not emphasizing anti-slavery. he was one of those wigs that hoped that problem would take care of itself if it wasn't talked about much. and of course as you know in the 1850s, that's not getting you very far in massachusetts. he retired from politics some what under a cloud. he then took to public speaking. he is one of the people who is very much important for creating national -- historical memory about washington's mount vernon for example. known as perhaps a little bit of the bygone era, 1863. associated with with webster and orders of 1840s and 1850s perhaps. but his speech is often compared to lincoln's, to of course not to the advantage of everett. but everett gave a speech that brought lincoln to tears. you have to imagine, they are sitting on the battlefield, seeing these kinds of sights. this is taken in november of 1863 at battle of gettysburg. the freshly dug graves were in front of them. one reporter described it like flower beds freshly dug. the scene became somber and the gafs themselves set the tone for this being a sacred ceremony. everett rose to the occasion. those accounts that we have that den gating of everett or accounts generally by newspaper editors back home reading the speech, if you were there during that hour and half or two hours, there is universal praise, universal praise for everett's speech because it did bring people to tears. lincoln then stepped forward. it is a void when you know so much about what happened before. what happened after. but you have to fill in. these are some. but maybe this is what we should be thinking about. on the platform. standing with no gestures. maybe the sweep of his right hand at one point. this image here, this lincoln in chicago and elsewhere, that perhaps is a very good impression, too. standing and speaking his words in a loud clear ringing voice. a voice heard by hundreds and thousands in front of him. of course he knew how to speak in the open air. he still had two eastern ears. he still had that kentucky accent. he called it chair, what you're sitting in, he called that a cheer, stofor example. but that voice is one that could be heard across the battlefield. when he stepped forward he then spoke and gave to the speech his new dedication, which he felt that morning. he imagined being there in washington. he walked now the battle feeltd. and now he had heard everett's speech and heard the prayer. heard the hymns. seen the graves. he had stood on that platform for two hours. looking at the scene around it. beautiful scenery. beautiful fall day by the time the ceremony took place.52 degr probably. what he said had impressed everett so much that everett, who was the premiere critic of oratory at the time perhaps, said the next day, i should be glad, if i could flatter myself, i came as near to the central idea of the occasion two hours as you did in two minutes. that distinction, two hours, two minutes, speech that was forgotten a speech that was remembered, those kinds of comparisons have lasted to the present day and everett was among the first to make them, the poor fellow, didn't work out to his benefit. but lincoln took to heart everett's words. and james speed remembered, this is the culmination in many ways of lincoln's experience, of lincoln's telling the story to james speed. lincoln told james speed about the story, and lincoln told me according to speed he never received a compliment he prized more highly. because lincoln had endowed that speech, not just the words, but with his feeling. he had been to the battlefield. and we can see that, when we try to understand what he said there. we have the words on the page. but what did he say? that we have to look to the newspapers and other sources. and here, the second half of this phrase here was added by lincoln on the battlefield, on the stand. he had already underlined this word here here. the world will little remember what we say here, or what can never forget what they did here. that was the most quoted phrase of the speech at the time and for years afterwards. that was the part of the speech, because they were commemorating real living dead, many of the thousand s in front of lincoln were sons, brothers, wives, daughters, parents, of soldiers who had died or been injured at gettysburg. so this spoke to them. it spoke to lincoln too. and then he added, it is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work they have so far nobly carried on. the second page also has two words that are new and original to this document. devotion. they're not found in the first page. it is at gettysburg he adds those words to his speech. the speech that he brought from washington had dedicated in it. the speech that he wrote that morning contained the word dedicated. the revision that he made in gettysburg he added a word, the word dedicated. and then when he spoke, he added another version of the word dedicated. six times he put the word dedicated in a speech, even on the stand, feeling those emotions, feeling the power of that moment, the word came to him for a sixth time. and so it is in that phrase that occurs here, you see, from here to here, the spoken words, that join together the washington version of lincoln's words and the gettysburg version of lincoln words. the thinking about the founding, the revolutionary era, the four score and seven years ago, those thoughts are from the first page that he wrote in washington. but the dedication, the devotion, the emotional power is in the second page and it is in a phrase, the people at the time did not remark upon, a phrase that was not in his written draft, a phrase that he added while standing on the battlefield, while standing on the platform. he added, you know, various -- a number of versions the gettysburg address and different newspapers here. this is the draft he held on the battlefield draft, these are other newspaper versions. and the newspaper versions pretty much all agree that he said that the nation shall, under god, later on when we revised it, he moved the under god, here's where he moved it. and that phrase under god then is -- shows the power of that gettysburg moment for lincoln, the power of the speeches, the prayers, seeing the graves, and this is why we have that phrase in our pledge of allegiance. it was added, of course in the 1950s as part of our fight against communism. godless communism, they called it at the time. and one nation under god was added in 1954 as part of that -- and much of the argument in favor was on the basis that lincoln spoke those words at gettysburg, which he undoubtedly did. so this is how lincoln got to gettysburg. the journey he made starting with one text in washington, ending with another text in gettysburg, the revisions, even on the battlefield itself, those revisions made the gettysburg address we have today and even the words that our children recite in class rooms all over the country today. so i thank you very much for that. [ applause ] >> we have time for questions and they need to go to the microphones. >> okay. i'm told that there is time for questions if there are any and use the microphones if you have any questions. don't leave me hanging up here. >> they're going right there. they're there. >> there they are. thank you. >> hey, martin. in your book you said that lincoln was talking moderate, but leaning radical. eric phoner would argue that lincoln's thinking on slavery actually evolved over the course of his presidency. do you agree with that? or do you think that lincoln always intended to abolish slavery or was just looking for the right political moment? >> good question. i don't think, like, in the start of the war he was thinking about abolishing slavery by hook or by crook. i think his credentials are clear before the war. i think he took advantage of every opportunity and when he saw , especially in 1862, he believed that anti-slavery was, of course, deeply controversial, and he feared, as i believe he was right from the elections of 1862 that taking anti-slavery measures might hurt the union, and maintaining the union was the overall goal. but it had to be -- here's where the tension comes, it has to be a union worth fighting for. the ideals have to be preserved. so you cannot, you cannot allow slavery to be extended. if he hadn't been anti-slavery, a compromise could have been reached easily before the war started. got going really. so the -- the ideals are the most important element, but in practical reality, they had to be preserved through the constitution and that requires political support. so you have to move slowly and he did take advantage of his opportunities, i think. but there was no plan in advance, i don't believe. >> hi. al mackey from mechanicsburg, pennsylvania. where do you stand on the accuracy of lehman's claim that lincoln had come back from giving the speech and sat down next to him and said, lehman, that speech won't scowl. >> the won't scowl story first emerges in the late 1870s. and it was much discussed at the time. and people like david wills and james speed, in fact ja, they s, no, lincoln did not feel that way. i, in the -- in the book i argue that lincoln probably, as he did, often spoke deprecatingly of his words in some ways. he talk ed about them short, short, short, that kind of thing, the few remarks i gave, those kinds of things came to him easily. he was not one to puff up his achievements or accomplishments. so when you talk to him about his speech, you could easily say, yes, these few words or something of this sort. and people might have heard him saying these aren't -- not so great, i'm not that -- but what he said to james speed about the compliment that everett gave him and later on, other indications that i give in the book that lincoln did understand that his speech was something that the people talk ed about, and recognized, and that lincoln himself came to understand was something that had been more than just a speech. i do believe lincoln, before the end of his life, did see the emerging legend grow and told that story to james speed in part to account for that. >> you said that david wills did not get along with -- i imagine you mean elizabeth thorn, running the -- >> no, mcconaughey was the person. >> sorry? >> mcconaughey was the person he did not get along with. >> what was the issue they had? >> i would like to hear from a local lore and legend if i could. i looked high and low for specifics about that. david wills and david mcconaughey seemed to be republicans. mcconaughey went to the republican convention in 1864 and supported lincoln. wills might have been a little more in support of freemonte or others, may have been political shading there. their problem, as one of the gettysburg committees that was looking into it at the time, told the governor of pennsylvania, you know, it is the peculiar relations between these men that are causing trouble. but they did not say what the peculiar relations were. some people think there must be a romance involved. maybe, you know, there has been suggestions of that. so i've been looking at that. and it is just a very interesting problem. but mcconaughey was nowhere near lincoln when lincoln came to gettysburg as far as i could tell. s will kes kept him away from lincoln. >> all right, thank you very much. [ applause ] our focus on abraham lincoln and the civil war continues from the gettysburg college civil war institute conference in just a moment. next time, on american history tv, in primetime, we'll be back at gettysburg college for a look at president james beau cuchana southern secession. c-span's coverage of the solar eclipse on monday starts at 7:00 a.m. eastern, with the washington journal, live at nasa's goddard space flight center in green belt, maryland. our guests are shawn donegal goldman and jim garvin, the chief scientist at goddard. at noon, we join nasa tv as they provide live views of the eclipse shadow passing over north america. and at 4:00 p.m. eastern, viewer reaction to this rare solar eclipse over the continental united states. live, all day coverage, of the solar eclipse on monday, starting at 7:00 a.m. eastern, on c-span and c-span.org. listen live on the free c-span radio app. and this saturday, we'll take a look at preparations for the first solar eclipse over the united states in 100 years. plus, programs on the nasa budget, mars exploration and more. beginning at noon eastern, on c-span. interested in american history tv? visit our website, c-span.org/history. you can view our tv schedule, preview upcoming programs, and watch college lectures, museum tours, archival films and more. american history tv, at c-span.org/history. next, u.s. army war college professor michael neiberg talks about the civil war, world war i, and the conce