Edward Everett's Speech (Well a Little Part of It)

This is the start of Edward Everett's speech he gave before Abraham Lincoln gave what is now known as the Gettysburg Address that November19, 1863.

Of course, he spoke for over two hours.  I will not type the whole speech.  But, you can tell just from what little I wrote, the man was quite eloquent.

"Standing beneath this serene sky, overlooking these broad fields now reposing from the labors of the waning year, the almighty Alleghenies towering before us, the graves of our brethren beneath our feet, it is with hesitation that I raise my poor voice to break the eloquent silence of God and Nature.  But the duty to which you call me must be performed; --grant me, I pray you,  your indulgence and your sympathy."

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Then he went into a comparison of ancient Greece and the events of July 1863.  Then:

"We have assembled, friends, fellow-citizens, at the invitation of the Executive of the great central state of Pennsylvania, seconded by the Governors of seventeen other loyal States of the Union, to pay last tribute of respect to the brave men who, in the hard-fought battles of the first, second and third days of July last, laid down their lives for the country on these hillsides and the plains before us, and whose remains have been gathered   into the cemetery we consecrate today."

I don't know, but this kind of sounds a bit like Lincoln's speech.

Eloquent, Eloquent.  --Old Secesh

About That Everett Gettysburg Address-- Part 5: Only 285 Words

When Edward Everett was finished speaking, Abraham Lincoln  rose to speak.  Unlike Everett, he did not relive the battle.  In fact, he never mentioned the battle, the Union or slavery.  Instead, as Garry Wills wrote in his book on the Gettysburg Address, the president reached "beyond the historical particulars, ... [to] derive a new, transcendental, significance from this bloody episode."

In  only 285 words, he "wove a spell that has not, yet, been broken -- he called up a new nation out of the blood and trauma."

Edward Everett was quick to acknowledge the greatness of Lincoln's brief speech.  The day after the ceremony, he wrote to the president praising the "eloquent simplicity & appropriateness" of his remarks.

"I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."

Lincoln sent an immediate and gracious response:  "In our respective parts yesterday, you could not have been excused to make a short address, nor I a long one.  I am pleased to know that, in your judgement, the little that I did say was not entirely a failure."

Very Gracious of Lincoln and Quite a Compliment.  --Old Secesh

About That Everett Gettysburg Address-- Part 4: Preparing for His Oration

Edward Everett's public service gave him many opportunities to demonstrate his power as a public speaker, and his orations became the stuff of legend.  He could hold forth for several hours with such skill and drama that listeners lost all track of time.  

After preparing meticulously  and producing a text for his speech, once at the odium, he set the manuscript aside and spoke from memory.  He had delivered memorable speeches commemorating Revolutionary battlefields at Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill; now he was expected to find the words to dignify and consecrate Gettysburg.

In the weeks before the dedication, he immersed himself in military reports, researching and reconstructing every aspect of the three-day battle so that he could recreate it, step by awful step, for his listeners.  He strove, as always, to be an accurate historian and to stir the emotions of the audience.

As was his habit,  he sought to elevate the oration by evoking connections to Greek antiquity.  On his lengthy speech. Everett  relived the battle and denounced the enemy. Many in the crowd were moved to tears.

--Old Secesh

About That Everett Gettysburg Address-- Part 3: Education and Political Service

Continued from December 15, 2021.

Edward Everett was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts in  1794.  A precocious youth, he graduated from Harvard at age 17, receiving highest honors in spite of being the youngest member of the class.  Three years later, after  earning a Masters of Divinity  degree, he was invited to be the minister of the Brattle Street Church, then Boston's largest and most fashionable congregation and was installed as its minister before reaching his 20th birthday.

After a year in the pulpit, he decided  that he preferred scholarship to the ministry and accepted a faculty appointment in Greek Literature at Harvard.  Since he was only 21 and only had a Master's degree, the university sent him to Europe for two  years of further study.  He completed a Ph.d. in Germany before returning to Harvard in 1819.

Everett was unusual for a 19th century scholar in his having aspirations beyond campus.  He  left teaching to serve five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1825-1835); four (one year) terms as the Massachusetts governor (1836-1839); four years as ambassador to England (1841-1845); Secretary of State  under President Millard Fillmore; one term   in the U.S. Senate (1854-1860)

In the mid 1840s, he took a break from politics to serve as Harvard's  rsident.

A Remarkable Man.  Maj. Charles Winchester Would Be So Proud.  --Old Secesh

About That Everett Gettysburg Address-- Part 2: Establishing a Cemetery and a Speaker

When the armies withdrew after that three-day battle in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, it was a hellish scene of carnage: 8,000 human corpses and 5,000 dead horses strewn across the fields.  The toll would grow to thousands more in the days that followed as men succumbed to their mortal wounds.

In the summer heat, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtain faced a pressing need to identify and bury the dead.  But he also felt compelled to  give meaning to the bloody tragedy and hope to the future.

Curtain enlisted the help of leading Gettysburg citizen, David Wills, who immediately acquired  17 acres for a battlefield cemetery and began planning its dedication.  Looking for someone who could  with "artful words ... sweeten the poisoned air of Gettysburg."    Wills naturally turned to Edward Everett for those words.

Everett had inherited the mantle of Daniel Webster, the nation's leading orator at the time of his death in 1852.  The Bostonian had long  been recognized for his deft and graceful use of language, intuitive dramatic sense, musical voice and magnetic presence.

--Old Secesh

About That Everett Gettysburg Address-- Part 1: Two Hours for One, Three Minutes for the Other

From Mass Movement "Edward Everett gives Gettysburg Address.

November 19, 1863.

The Place:  Gettysburg

Two Major Speeches Given That Day

Of course, the best-known was the shortest by far, the one President Abraham Lincoln gave.  His followed a much, much longer, but eloquent speech nonetheless.

That first one was given by Edward Everett, considered the country's greatest orator and a successor to Daniel Webster.

The Boston orator was  the obvious choice for the occasion.  During his forty year career as professor, diplomat and statesman, he had consistently dazzled audiences.  At Gettysburg that day, he held the crowd spellbound  for two hours.

When the president followed him to the podium, he spoke for just three minutes.  But what a three minutes.  What he said that day has entered into the national memory.

Abraham Lincoln gave a handwritten copy of his speech to Edward Everett and that is the one at the Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

--Old Secesh

Gettysburg Address Is Back (Well, Was)

From the November 19, 2021, Chicago Tribune.

A picture and caption about this important document:

"Exhibits fabricator Tom Conway and registrar Carla Smith lift a copy of the Gettysburg Address into the public display case Thursday at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

"One of five known existing copies in Lincoln's own handwriting, this one s known as the Everett Copy, as Lincoln prepared it for Edward Everett, another speaker on the day that he gave the Gettysburg Address.

"It is installed each year for the anniversary of the November 19, 1863, Gettysburg Address and will remain on public display for the next two weeks.  The Everett Copy was acquired by the state of Illinois in 1944 and is kept in a vault the rest of the year to preserve it."

Something I definitely would like to see, but reckon I'll have to wait until next year to do it.

Oh, Well.  --Old Secesh