Audio
Ranger Reflections: The Gettysburg Address
Transcript
This is Michael Kelly, a Park Ranger at National Mall and Memorial Parks interpreting the Gettysburg Address. On July 4, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln celebrated the nation’s birthday with double Union victories, one at Vicksburg, Mississippi and the other at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The nation’s hopes for a speedy end to the war had to be tempered and the president knew it and he wanted the country to know it. The question remained, however, how could he do it. Gettysburg had been the costliest civil war battle to date with more than 53,000 casualties including 10,000 Union and Confederate soldiers killed and mortally wounded. Within weeks of the battle, torrential rainstorms and foraging animals had opened the thousands of poorly dug, shallow and temporary battlefield graves. Mortified, several Union states representatives banded together to create a soldier’s cemetery into which the Union dead could be reinterred with proper ceremony and respect. Considering that the war still raged, little thought was given to the Confederate dead in their temporary graves. That issue would have to await the end of the war. Following site selection of the Union soldier’s new cemetery, state commissioners determined that a fitting ceremony must inaugurate the reburial process. Northern state governors as well as prominent civilian and military leaders would attend the ceremony whose capstone would be an address delivered by the Honorable Edward Everett, a prominent American statesman, politician, educator, and orator. A near last-minute invitation also was extended to President Lincoln who, as Commander and Chief, may wish to offer what were described as a few appropriate remarks. President Lincoln accepted his invitation as his opportunity to pay tribute to the fallen while reminding Americans that war was far from being over. Lincoln thought hard about what he would say and how he would say it in as few words as possible, especially when he learned that Everett’s address alone would dominant more than two hours of the ceremony. Inside the White House Lincoln crafted the simple, powerful words into a speech that arguably became the most famous speech in history.
Description
Listen to a brief reflection on the famous speech by Park Ranger Michael Kelly.
Duration
2 minutes, 22 seconds
Date Created
04/21/2015
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