Cold Open

It’s late June 1863 in Gettysburg, a town in Southern Pennsylvania.

A teenage girl named Tillie talks with a group of friends in a classroom at the Young Ladies Seminary, a finishing school near the center of town.

As her teacher brings the class to order, the girl’s mind begins to wander to a rumor she’s just heard: the Rebels might be advancing.

America is riven with civil strife. The War Between the States, as it’s sometimes called, began in April of 1861, after decades of simmering tensions between northern and southern states, primarily over the issue of slavery. And over the past year, the Union has suffered a series of crushing defeats. Now, the rumor is that the Confederate Army wishes to press the attack and invade the North. 

And as if to confirm the rumor, Tillie hears a man cry out in the street: The Rebels are coming! 

Tillie and the rest of the students run to the front door and step out onto the portico. 

In the distance, Tillie sees a dark, dense mass of men advancing into town. The teacher tells her students to run home as quickly as they can.

Tillie doesn’t need to be told twice. When she reaches the front door of her house… rebels on horseback begin to flood the streets. 

Tillie slams the door shut just as gunshots begin to ring out. 

Soon, the town square is filled with Confederate soldiers. As the Rebels ransack homes and businesses, and seize the town’s supplies, they meet little resistance. But in a short time, Union troops will march out to meet them. On July 1st, the two armies will collide in what's widely considered one of the most important battles of the Civil War. The fighting will last for three days. Tens of thousands of Americans on both sides will be killed or injured. In the end, the Union will emerge victorious. And months later, this consequential event will inspire President Abraham Lincoln to deliver one of the most famous speeches in American History on November 19th, 1863.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast – every day – we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is November 19th, 1863: The Gettysburg Address.

Act One: Aftermath of Battle

It’s early July 1863 at the War Department.

President Abraham Lincoln paces back and forth in the telegraph office. For days, the president has barely eaten. He hasn’t washed his hands or face or gotten a good night’s sleep. He looks weary and frail, his failing health exacerbated by the stress of presiding over a broken nation.

The American Civil War is at its peak. Over the past year, Confederate General Robert E Lee has scored a string of military victories in his home state of Virginia. Now, Lee sets his sights on invading the North, and bringing the war to a swift end. The Union Army marched out to meet Lee on the field at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Today, Lincoln waits to hear the result of the battle, one that may very well decide the outcome of the war. 

Soon, a telegram arrives from the front. When Lincoln reads the words, a smile stretches across his face. He doesn’t yet know the full details, but it appears the Union is victorious. At 10 AM on July 4th, Lincoln sends out a press release.

The President announces to the country that the news from the Army of the Potomac...  “is such as to cover that Army with the highest honor, to promise a great success to the cause of the Union, and to claim the condolence of all for the many gallant fallen…”

Indeed, as many as 50,000 troops were injured or killed during the Battle of Gettysburg. The cost of the battle is tremendous, but so is the consequence. The Union victory stifles General Lee’s ambitions to invade the North, and turns the tide of the war.

But the celebration doesn't last long. Soon, Lincoln learns that General Meade, the Union officer in command at Gettysburg, did not pursue the retreating Confederate Army. Frustrated, Lincoln sends Meade a direct order: “You will follow up and attack General Lee as soon as possible before he can cross the river.”

***

While Meade chases after General Lee, Lincoln again paces the halls of the telegraph office, his face grave and his mood anxious. As telegrams come in from the front, Lincoln traces the positions of the two armies on a map. 

He worries that Meade will never catch up to Lee’s location. And eventually, Lee does manage to escape across the Potomac River into Virginia. Days later, Lincoln vents to one of his cabinet secretaries, ““If I had gone up there, I would have whipped them myself… Our Army held the war in the hollow of their hand & they would not close it.”

Increasingly frustrated, Lincoln writes another letter to Meade: “My dear general, I do not believe you appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune involved in Lee’s escape. He was within your easy grasp, and to have closed upon him would… have ended the war. As it is, the war will be prolonged indefinitely.” But after penning the letter, Lincoln takes a moment and his cooler head prevails. He decides not to send it. But his prediction is not far off the mark.  

If Meade had given faster pursuit, he might have been able to capture Lee and force a Rebel surrender. Instead, the war will continue for another two years.

Meanwhile, other parts of the nation are in open revolt, especially in the North. In July, the same month as the Battle of Gettysburg, riots break out in New York City in response to a military draft. For three days straight, mobs of working class men, primarily Irish Americans, march through the streets, looting and setting fires to buildings.

Hearing this, Lincoln, a man known for his fits of melancholy, falls into a deep despair. He is so despondent that at a cabinet meeting in mid-July, Lincoln tells his secretaries that he is not in the “right frame of mind to take up” the issues. And besides, Lincoln points out, there is little he can do as president. The Governor of New York has not asked for federal assistance to quell the riots. Some advisors pressure Lincoln to launch a formal investigation, but Lincoln resists. An investigation into the cause of the riots will only fan the flames of discontent in New York and elsewhere. Lincoln states, “One rebellion at a time is about as much as we can conveniently handle.” 

But underneath his dry wit, Lincoln knows the cause of the riots. The people of the North are growing weary of the bloody and costly war. So Lincoln begins to formulate a plan to heal the wounds of his broken Union and rally his people. But Lincoln will not use the mechanisms of federal power. Instead, he will use the power of his pen. 

Act Two: Crafting the speech

It’s late summer 1863 at the White House. 

The First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln, and her children are away for the summer. President Lincoln stayed behind to work. He sits at his desk, his thoughts consumed by two wars: one in the field, and one in the halls of power.

With the prosecution of the war in the capable hands of General Ulysses S Grant, Lincoln allows his thoughts to dwell on the most important political issue of the day: the question of slavery. 

Back in January, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which ended slavery in the rebel states. By doing so, many in his party believe Lincoln has gone too far. Many others believe he hasn’t gone far enough in pursuing true racial equality in all states. With the fall elections right around the corner, Lincoln knows he needs to unite his party. If the Democrats win the fall midterm elections, it will hurt his chances of winning reelection as president in 1864.   

Lincoln was recently invited to attend a political rally in his home-town of Springfield, Illinois. He longs to see his beloved Springfield again, but he knows he can’t attend. There is too much work to be done in Washington. So Lincoln pens a speech to be read in his absence.  

He extols the virtues of fighting for the cause of the Union, but he also implores the people not to forget that he promised the slaves freedom, and that “the promise being made, it must be kept.” To those who would not fight for the freed slave, Lincoln warns that after the war, “there will be some black men who can remember that, with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great consummation; while, I fear, there will be some white ones, unable to forget that, with malignant heart, and deceitful speech, they have strove to hinder it.” 

Lincoln ends the letter with a unifying tone, writing “For the great republic—for the principle it lives by, and keeps alive—for man’s vast future,—thanks to all.”

Over 50,000 people attend the rally in Springfield. After hearing Lincoln’s words, they leap to their feet. Lincoln’s supporters call it a noble, patriotic letter. His detractors call it a stump speech. They accuse Lincoln of openly campaigning for office, a cardinal sin in Lincoln’s time. Either way, the speech has the desired effect. Lincoln’s words are published in newspapers far and wide, and they help Republicans all across the country gain victories at the polls. 

But this will not be the last time Lincoln will utilize the power of his words. Before the year is out, he will once again use language to change the course of history.

***

In mid-November 1863, all is quiet on the war front. The flurry of the 1863 election has died down. And once again, President Lincoln is in his office alone, lost in his thoughts. 

He has a yearning to write another address; not a political speech like the one he wrote for the Springfield rally. He wants this one to be different. 

Lincoln first had the notion back in early July, right after the Battle of Gettysburg. He told the crowd outside the White House then, “I am very glad indeed to see you to-night…” Then Lincoln reflected on the fact that the Battle of Gettysburg was won on the anniversary of America’s Independence. He asked the crowd, “How long ago is it -- eighty odd years -- since the first time in the history of the world a nation by its representatives, assembled and declared as a self-evident truth that "all men are created equal." Lincoln then told the crowd he wanted to give a speech, but that he wasn’t prepared to make one “worthy of the occasion.” 

At the time, Lincoln didn’t have the right words, and now he still doesn’t. But he does have the perfect occasion coming up: the dedication of the new cemetery at Gettysburg, set to take place in just a few days time on November 19th, 1863. 

So as he sits at his desk, Lincoln reflects on the many letters he’s received from people imploring him to offer some words of comfort and purpose; to remind the people why their loved ones are fighting and dying.

Lincoln has spent weeks reflecting on what to write. And now, finally, he lets loose his pen. The first sentence comes quickly, “Four Score and Seven Years Ago…” The rest of the speech flows from his pen without interruption, until he writes the sentence, “It is rather for us, the living, to stand here…” At this, he pauses for a moment, then crosses out the last three words, replacing them. But he doesn’t like the alternate version either. Stymied, he decides to take a break.

In the days that follow, Lincoln continues to wrestle with the address, in search of a perfect combination of thoughts and the words to express them. He doesn’t ask for help. He doesn't show or read the incomplete work to anyone. Instead, on November 18th, 1863, he leaves the White House on a train bound for Gettysburg, with his unfinished address in tow, on his way to make history.  

Act Three: Wrap-up

It's just after 5:00 PM on November 18th, 1863 in Gettysburg.

Lincoln has just arrived at the rail station. A man named David Wills, a local attorney, is there to greet him.

Wills is a wealthy, powerful man. And at his behest, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania bought 17 acres for a cemetery to honor the dead from the battle. Wills invited Lincoln to come to Gettysburg and say a few words at the dedication ceremony tomorrow. But unbeknownst to Wills, Lincoln hasn’t finished his speech yet.

And already it's a frantic morning. Just before he boarded the train, Lincoln learned that his son Tad had taken ill, and that the First Lady was hysterical. Still, duty called, so Lincoln boarded the train to make the trip anyway. Now, shortly after his arrival, Lincoln receives a telegram from one of his cabinet secretaries, reading: “Mrs. Lincoln informed me that your son is better this evening.” 

Lincoln is relieved to hear the news, but he also knows he still has work to do. So after arriving at Wills’ home where Lincoln is staying the night, the president retires early. The next morning, on November 19th, 1863, Lincoln makes a few final touches to the speech before heading to the ceremony.

Near the end of the event, after hours of parades, songs and speeches, 10,000 people watch as President Lincoln takes his place at the speaker’s podium dressed in a black suit and his signature stovepipe hat. The gentleman who spoke right before Lincoln talked for over two hours. Lincoln speaks for two minutes. But his 272 word speech moves the crowd to tears. 

But after delivering the address, Lincoln is disappointed. He remarks to a friend that the speech is a “flat failure” and that “the people are disappointed." 

Perhaps, Lincoln’s tireless work, his failing health and lack of proper sleep contributed to his cloudy assessment. In his speech, Lincoln said, “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” In the end, the world remembered both. The Gettysburg Address is considered one of the most important speeches in American history. It served as a rallying cry for the Union in Lincoln’s own time, and it continues to inspire Americans today more than 150 years after the President spoke those immortal words on November 19th, 1863. 

Outro

Next on History Daily. November 20th, 1992. Windsor Castle is devastated by a fire, raising questions about the cost and future of the British monarchy.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing and sound design by Mollie Baack.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Steven Walters.

Executive Producers are Steven Walters for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.