Real Notes of Deliverance to a Groaning Nation

One attendee of the dedication ceremonies of the Gettysburg National Cemetery got it 100% wrong. 

After hearing Edward Everett’s two-hour long oration, he was spellbound. “I will not attempt to describe the oration or the impression produced by its delivery,” he noted. “Every American should procure it- read it and preserve it for others to read. The oration was followed by a dedicatory speech by the President of the United States. The announcement of the President’s name was the occasion of prolonged and deafening applause.” Speaking of the Gettysburg Address, our correspondent simply said, “His remarks were brief but appropriate and impressive.”  While Everett's speech is now barely remembered, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has come down as one of the greatest speeches in American political history. 

          This eyewitness report of the dedication ceremonies first appeared in the December 2, 1863, edition of the Wellsboro Agitator.

In this image taken at the conclusion of delivering the Gettysburg Address, a bareheaded President Abraham Lincoln steps down from the podium with his bodyguard Ward Lamon on his right. 

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

November 21, 1863

          Tuesday was a proud day for the little village of Gettysburg. It was feared that the day appointed for the dedication, being so far in the usually stormy month of November, we should have unpleasant weather for the occasion. In this we were happily disappointed. No brighter morning ever dawned on those hills when on the memorable first, send, and third so many of our devoted countrymen fought and died upon the fertile and once lovely plain so lately drenched by the blood of our brothers. The morning sky was clear, the sun shone unobscured upon the great field where thundered first and loudest the real notes of deliverance to a groaning nation.

          The President and suite arrived early on the morning of the 18th; the governors of the loyal states about midnight, and early on the morning of the 19th it became evident that a large crowd would be present to witness the solemn ceremonies which should consecrate a portion of the blood-stained field to the use of its brave defenders. A full account of the general proceedings you will have seen in the daily papers before this reaches you; of them I will say but little.

          At 10:30, the procession formed near the north end of town and marched through the principal streets to the cemetery. A large stand had been erected in the center, handsomely decorated by appropriate banners, wreathes, and trophies. While the procession was moving to the ground, the sun, as if he too would mourn with the gathering multitude of fathers, mothers, sisters, and friends in their solemn duties, was covered by a thin haze setting over the whole sky which rendered it none the less pleasant as the atmosphere was warm and still.

          At precisely noon the ceremonies were begun by the performance of the funeral military dirge by Bergfild’s band. Then an impressive prayer of consecration and dedication was offered up by the Rev. Mr. Stockton, chaplain to Congress. Then followed the oration by Edward Everett. I will not attempt to describe the oration or the impression produced by its delivery. Every American should procure it- read it and preserve it for others to read. The oration was followed by a dedicatory speech by the President of the United States. The announcement of the President’s name was the occasion of prolonged and deafening applause. His remarks were brief but appropriate and impressive.

Edward Everett

The dedicatory hymn was sung by the Baltimore Musical Association and at 3 o’clock the services were concluded by singing and performing a sweet and mournful dirge prepared expressly for the occasion. After the conclusion, the President, members of the Cabinet, and governors of the states were conducted by the military to their quarters in town. A large portion of the crowd lingered about the cemetery and other portions of the battlefield till nightfall.

          It is proposed that a monument be erected in the center of the burial ground in honor of the occupants; also small monuments upon the spots where fell some of our brave leaders and also that the breastworks and redoubts erected by our men be preserved in as near their original condition as possible, all of which seems highly appropriate. Gettysburg will hence be Pennsylvania’s proudest word as well as the proudest word written upon our country’s banner- written as it is in the blood of some of her noblest sons and at a time, too, when victory was doubly hailed by anxious millions as salvation and glory.

          Most of the dead have been removed to the cemetery. Captain [Alfred] Sofield [Co. A, 149th Pennsylvania] is buried at the head of the outer tier of Pennsylvania’s plot which is to the right of the outer center of the semicircle, his face looking to the very spot where he fell. Many interesting incidents I could not help witnessing in the short time that I lingered about the newly made graves. An aged mother from Ohio sat at the head of a fresh pile of earth and with a rough board clasped in her arms was kissing letters rudely cut upon it which spelled John Vaughn. A little further a lady dressed in black was planting a sweet bouquet upon a grave marked Private Allen Conley, 72nd N.Y. A silver-haired man at the grave of a Minnesota volunteer (his son I was told) reading aloud from his pocket Bible, his face brightening as though sure his son heard and understood. And thus with Heaven and Earth so closely linked, I reluctantly left the battlefield of Gettysburg.

Source:

“Consecration of the Gettysburg Battlefield,” Wellsboro Agitator (Pennsylvania), December 2, 1863, pg. 2


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