Books and Manuscripts

Philadelphia: (William W. Harding), Saturday, November 21, 1863. Two bifolium sheets folded into eight pages, 19 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (489 x 642 mm). Printed newspaper in five columns, featuring extensive coverage of the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery on November 19, 1863, where President Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address. While the text of the speech is lacking, the issue features a summary of the three-day battle, an overview of the events leading to the cemetery's establishment, an enumeration of the dead, details of the ceremonial procession, and more. Creasing from old folds; disbound; first page starting but still attached.

The idea of establishing a soldier's cemetery at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg began with David Wills (1831-1894), a lawyer and Gettysburg native, who first suggested the idea to Pennsylvania Governor Gregg Curtin immediately after the conflict. He was appointed head of a state committee to oversee the project's completion, and invited Lincoln to the dedication ceremony in order to, as Wills called it, "set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks." (Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, p. 25)

When Lincoln arrived at Gettysburg on November 18, he stayed with Wills, and as this issue describes, "The people remained quiet during the hour succeeding the arrival of the President, but gathered in constantly increasing numbers around the house of Mr. Wills...The band of the Fifth Artillery, under the direction of the officers of the regiment, came upon the ground at nine o'clock and serenaded the President. He appeared after sometime...He spoke briefly as usual. Fellow citizens, 'I appear before you this evening to thank you for your attention and the inference, is that you desire me to make a speech. The only way not to make a foolish speech is to not speak at all. Taking these circumstances into consideration, I shall not say another word..." At the ceremony on November 19, Lincoln was the third speaker in the program's agenda, and in 271 words delivered one of the most revered speeches in American history, extolling the sacrifices of both sides, and charging the nation to not let the deaths be in vain.