Seven things you may not have known about Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

Abe Lincoln crop 02.jpg
(courtesy Library of Congress)

1. It was NOT written on the train on the way to Gettysburg

The image of Lincoln writing his famous speech on scraps of paper on the train from Washington to Gettysburg the day before the ceremony became "a fixture of the popular imagination for nearly a century" after Mary Shipman Andrews's 1906 short story "The Perfect Tribute" was incorporated into school textbooks, but as Lincoln scholar Martin P. Johnson notes in his recent book "Writing the Gettysburg Address," Andrews "never intended her story to be anything more than fiction."

Gabor Boritt, the former director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, noted in his book, "The Gettysburg Gospel," that Andrews's fiction "became the all-time Lincoln best-seller. It was filmed twice, put on the Internet, and a century after its publication, its influence continues to be felt."

In fact, Johnson notes, "No contemporary account suggests Lincoln wrote anything on the train."

Contemporary records show that Lincoln wrote an early draft of the speech while he was still in Washington, revised it the night he arrived in Gettysburg and then again the next morning after he had toured a portion of the battlefield with his Secretary of State William H. Seward. Lincoln also added some flourishes during delivery - including the words "under God" to the line "that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom."

While the image of Lincoln writing on the train has endured because of Andrews, she did not create it. By the time Andrews wrote her story, it had been a standard part of the Lincoln myth for more than a decade.

The first mention of Lincoln writing on the train came nearly 20 years after the fact - in 1882 - in what appears to have been an elaboration of other written accounts of Lincoln's progress to Gettysburg during a speech given by John P. Usher, Lincoln's secretary of the interior.

Because Usher was on the train with Lincoln, his words carried weight - especially in a time when "the cult of Lincoln" was beginning to take off. Johnson notes that there are no indications in Usher's speech that it was intended to be a recollection of his own experience; in fact, there's evidence to the contrary, but it caught the popular imagination regardless and was further elaborated as it was repeated.

The rapid popularity of this myth aggravated two people in particular: David Wills, with whom Lincoln stayed in Gettysburg, who saw lincoln writing the speech in his house, and who - for his own reasons - wanted people to believe it was composed entirely in his Gettysburg property; and Lincoln's secretary John Nicolay, who knew better because he knew Lincoln left Washington with a draft of the speech, accompanied him on the train and was there when Lincoln finished revising it in Gettysburg.

Both "put up vigorous opposition," but as Johnson notes, "there was no stopping the Lincoln legend."

2. It was not supposed to be a big deal

In fact, there had been argument within the organizing committee whether or not Lincoln should speak at all.

"Opposition to Lincoln's speaking," according to Johnson, "arose mainly from fear that this stump speaker from Illinois, relatively unknown in the East, was at best simply not suited for the elevated proceedings being planned, and at worst might bring the tone down to the level of a frontier tavern."

The compromise - after consultation with Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin - was to ask Lincoln not for a speech, per se, but rather to say something brief to formally dedicate the cemetery - emphasis on brief.

The official invitation - which wasn't sent to the White House until 15 days before the event - stated: "It is the desire that, after the Oration, You, as Chief Executive of the Nation, formally set apart these grounds to their Sacred use by a few appropriate remarks."

A few appropriate remarks, that's all.

3. Lincoln was not the main attraction at Gettysburg

Edward Everett was.

Everett, largely unknown today - apart from having been upstaged by Lincoln at Gettysburg - was the rock star of his day.

As Johnson succinctly put it: "The first American to receive a Ph.D., former professor of Greek, president of Harvard University, five-term member of the House of Representatives, four-term governor of Massachusetts, minister to Great Britain, secretary of state, and U.S. Senator, Everett had attained nearly every honor the nation could confer."

Nobody gave a better "oration" than Everett.

In fact, the date of the Gettysburg ceremony was postponed - from October 23 to November 19 - to accommodate Everett, who was ill and who didn't want to speak at the cemetery dedication without actual dead soldiers buried there, which wouldn't occur until November. Everett told organizers his speech would be "more effective uttered over their remains."

It certainly was for Lincoln.

The most effective line of Lincoln's speech at the event - and the most quoted at the time - was: "The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here."

Before him were mounds of fresh dirt covering the recently re-interred remains of Union soldiers.

The Ohio State Journal reported that when Lincoln uttered those words a "stout, stalwart officer" who'd lost an arm in the war buried his face in his handkerchief: "He sobbed aloud while his manly frame shook with no unmanly emotion." A moment later, according to the news report, the man "lifted his still streaming eyes to heaven and in low and solemn tones exclaimed, "God Almighty bless Abraham Lincoln!"

The next day, Everett famously sent Lincoln a note in which he said, "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."

Less well known is Lincoln's response, in which he told Everett "In our respective parts, yesterday, you could not have been excused to make a short address, nor I a long one."

In fact, Lincoln was impressed with Everett's speech, particularly - as Martin Johnson notes - Everett's "refutation of Confederate arguments justifying secession."

Both men shared the complimentary notes from the other with friends afterward, as Johnson says, "each man impressed with himself for having impressed the other."

4. It was political

Lincoln's primary objective in attending the dedication ceremonies for the new national cemetery in Gettysburg was not to give a speech. It was to see and be seen.

A good deal of that had to do with politics.

Lincoln was up for re-election the following year, and that was by no means a foregone conclusion. No president had been re-elected to a second term since Andrew Jackson more than 30 years before.

As Johnson explains: "With the New York governor's mansion in the hands of Democrats, Pennsylvania was the largest Republican state and was vital to the party, to the Union cause, and to Lincoln's upcoming reelection campaign, as the state would account for nearly a quarter of the electoral college votes needed for victory."

Even Lincoln's nomination as the Republican candidate was not assured. His own Secretary of the Treasury, the dour and ambitious Salmon Chase, was openly floating his name as an alternative to Lincoln and wormed out of Lincoln's insistence to join him in Gettysburg. "Let the dead bury the dead," quipped Chase's treasurer Francis Spinner.

Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin had his own ambitions on the White House, and when they were thwarted by the machinations of Simon Cameron, became one of a number who worked for a more radical candidate such as John Fremont to replace Lincoln.

When the invitation to Gettysburg arrived, there was more than "a few appropriate remarks" to sort out.

As Boritt explains, Pennsylvania and Ohio - both crucial to the 1864 election - would have the largest delegations at the ceremony, with New York, also in the balance, close behind. "The first two states would also hold early October elections the following year, before the rest of the states voted, serving as bellwethers and providing inordinate influence over the final outcome."

According to Boritt, Gettysburg offered an opportunity - rare in the mid-1800s - to mingle with opinion makers from multiple states all at once.

Lincoln's decision to attend was "unprecedented," according to Johnson: "Never before in his presidency had he left Washington with the express purpose of participating in a public event or to give a speech."

As Boritt explains: "Lincoln understood the crucial role of personal contacts in politics. He had traveled the circuit in Illinois more than other lawyers, and he rose much higher than any other in the state's political hierarchy. He was very good with people. He took their measure, let them take his, and forged connections that lasted… The presidential campaign was on."

5. Lincoln's right hand man in Gettysburg was black

Lincoln had many close allies with him in Gettysburg, including Secretary of State William Seward and personal secretaries John Nicolay and John Hay, but the closest - his bodyguard William H. Johnson - was black.

Johnson was more than just a bodyguard, as we might imagine, assigned to protect the President: he was, in fact, hand-picked by Lincoln.

Lincoln brought Johnson with him to Washington from Springfield. As Benjamin Quarles noted in his ground-breaking 1953 history "The Negro In The Civil War," Lincoln first arrived in the nation's capital amid fears of an assassination attempt "flanked by this Negro bodyguard and the Pinkerton men."

Boritt quotes a newspaper man's account of that trip, remarking on Johnson's "untiring vigilance" and calling him "the most useful member of the party."

Lincoln intended for Johnson to work in close proximity to him at the White House, but the resident staff - all light-skinned blacks - objected to Johnson, who was dark-skinned. Lincoln then arranged a job for Johnson at the Treasury Department, but several historians have noted that Johnson's first duties remained with the President.

The morning Lincoln left for Gettysburg, he sent a note to Treasury that said simply: "William goes with me."

He may have been the only black man on the Presidential train to Gettysburg.

In fact, Johnson had accompanied Lincoln on other trips, including his visit to General McClellan after the Battle of Antietam.

Johnson was arguably the closest person to Lincoln at Gettysburg, staying with him at the Wills house and acting as messenger within the house when the President needed the services of his host.

"Johnson was close by during the time Lincoln was upstairs (in the Wills House), undoubtedly taking care of the many details involved in an overnight presidential visit," notes historian Martin Johnson. "He almost certainly was one of the very few who witnessed Lincoln working on the speech that would proclaim a 'new birth of freedom.'"

The affinity between Lincoln and Johnson went well beyond that of simple servant, as evidenced by what happened after Gettysburg.

6. Lincoln was coming down with smallpox as he delivered the speech

Lincoln looked "sallow, sunken-eyed, thin, careworn" on the trip to Gettysburg; on the way back to Washington, he took to the bed in the Presidential train car "with a grievous headache," and his bodyguard William Johnson tended him, bathing his forehead with cold water.

Lincoln would be more or less incapacitated for the next three weeks, nursed, apparently still, by Johnson.

The President was sick with smallpox, or its milder form called Variola - the opinions of historians are mixed.

What's clear is that when Lincoln delivered his famous speech, he was not well.

Martin Johnson notes in his recent history that the afternoon of the ceremony "a reporter saw Lincoln 'sweating' and looking 'discouraged,' and another recalled Lincoln as 'listless.'"

Johnson writes: "Abraham Lincoln, when he gave the speech that helped raise him to near-demigod status in the popular imagination, may well have been feeling tired, achy and feverish."

By the time Lincoln recovered, Johnson had become seriously ill with the disease and had to be hospitalized.

As Boritt put it: "Now (Johnson) had the smallpox and it was the president's turn to take care of him."

Since Johnson could not gather his paycheck from his job at Treasury because he could not sign his name for it in person, Lincoln got the money for him - and discovered first-hand the frustrations of Washington bureaucracy.

Boritt describes a scene in which a reporter from the Chicago Tribune found Lincoln counting out greenbacks and putting them into envelopes and labeling them according to Johnson's wishes. The President explained the situation to the reporter, saying "I have been at considerable trouble to overcome the difficulty and get it for him, and have at length succeeded in cutting the red tape, as you newspaper men say."

"A President of the United States has a multiplicity of duties not specified in the Constitution or acts of Congress," said Lincoln. "This is one of them."

An epidemic was ravaging Washington, but the thought that Johnson might have caught the disease while tending Lincoln appeared to be on the President's mind.

Lincoln told the reporter: "He did not catch it from me, however; at least I think not."

Johnson died the following month.

Lincoln personally settled Johnson's debts and paid to have him buried.

7. The speech didn't become famous until long after Lincoln was dead

Lincoln's speech was a hit on the scene in Gettysburg. His brief delivery was interrupted five times by applause from the crowd, with long applause afterward. But Everett was the headliner, and Everett got most of the attention in the daily press.

As Boritt recounts in his history of the speech, Democratic newspapers tended to downplay Lincoln's speech "which they regarded as the start of the presidential campaign," and even Republican editors made little of it, which suggests most of them "understood the president's remarks at Gettysburg to be routine."

What's more, other news competed for space - both news from the war front and items of more local interest. Boritt notes "The 'Maine Farmer' paid more attention to an eight-foot woman supposedly roaming the woods than what took place in faraway Gettysburg."

Although a few people at the time - notably Oxford historian Goldwin Smith and Elizabeth Granville, Duchess of Argyll during Lincoln's lifetime and Ralph Waldo Emerson and Harriet Beecher Stowe shortly after his death - recognized the speech as truly great, it was not the big deal then that it is today.

In the years after his death, Boritt says, "Lincoln's Gettysburg words were mostly forgotten."

Lincoln believed he would be known for his Emancipation Proclamation, and for years after his death, that was indeed how he was most often depicted in sculpture and painting: as The Emancipator, the man who freed the slaves.

Only with the end of Reconstruction, the re-subjugation of blacks through Jim Crow laws and the rise of the "noble Lost Cause" narrative in the South did the Gettysburg Address rise to prominence in the American imagination.

Boritt documents how in the 1880s "Lincoln the Emancipator" dropped out of fashion and the meaning of Lincoln's words at Gettysburg were "sanitized" and raised to national prominence.

"The 'new birth of freedom' referred henceforth not to a nation that had, 'under God,' ascended through Emancipation in a crucible of war and so was reborn, but rather to a nation that had been threatened by disunion in war but, 'under God,' was saved," writes Boritt. "The Gettysburg speech came to be understood as addressed equally to Federal and Confederate soldiers, and also as a peace message. Indeed, it was said that a dove of peace flew up as Lincoln began to speak. When asked about this, Robert Todd Lincoln grumbled sarcastically about the confusion between 'the helmet of Mars' and 'a dove's nest.'"

Succeeding generations found their own meaning in the Gettysburg Address. Teddy Roosevelt's Progressives focused on its crusade for the common man and equated "Slave Power" with "The Money Power."

Lincoln's words about fighting for a 'new birth of freedom' took on new significance during World War I, and again during World War II, and phrases from the Address were featured on war bonds in both eras.

It was no coincidence that Martin Luther King delivered his "Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Lincoln's words took on new and eerie significance as recently as 2002, when the Governor of New York read the full text of the speech during ceremonies commemorating the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Boritt notes that "Lincoln's words have lived forcefully beyond the culture's flight from the heroes of the past… The deeper message that helped Lincoln's words live, exalted popular government and the equality of people. They were meant to encompass all people, including black people, indeed the people of the world."

Principal sources for this article:

  • Gabor Boritt, "The Gettysburg Gospel," Simon & Schuster 2006
  • Martin P. Johnson, "Writing the Gettysburg Address," University of Kansas Press 2013
  • Benjamin Quarles, "The Negro In The Civil War," 1953, reprinted Da Capo Press 1989