Part 8

After its delivery on the day of commemoration, he expressed deep regret that he had not prepared it with greater care. He said to me on the stand, immediately after concluding the speech: “Lamon, that speech won’t scour! It is a flat failure, and the people are disappointed.” (The word “scour” he often used in expressing his conviction that a thing lacked merit, or would not stand the test of close criticism or the wear of time.) He seemed deeply concerned about what the people might think of his address; more deeply, in fact, than I had ever seen him on any public occasion. His frank and regretful condemnation of his effort, and more especially his manner of expressing that regret, struck me as somewhat remarkable; and my own impression was deepened by the fact that the orator of the day, Mr. Everett, and Secretary Seward both coincided with Mr. Lincoln in his unfavorable view of its merits.

The occasion was solemn, impressive, and grandly historic. The people, it is true, stood apparently spellbound; and the vast throng was hushed and awed into profound silence while Mr. Lincoln delivered his brief speech. But it seemed to him that this silence and attention to his words arose more from the solemnity of the ceremonies and the awful scenes which gave rise to them, than anything he had said. He believed that the speech was a failure. He thought so at the time, and he never referred to it afterwards, in conversation with me, without some expression of unqualified regret that he had not made the speech better in every way.

On the platform from which Mr. Lincoln delivered his address, and only a moment after it was concluded, Mr. Seward turned to Mr. Everett and asked him what he thought of the President’s speech. Mr. Everett replied, “It is not what I expected from him. I am disappointed.” Then in his turn Mr. Everett asked, “What do you think of it, Mr. Seward?” The response was, “He has made a failure, and I am sorry for it. His speech is not equal to him.” Mr. Seward then turned to me and asked, “Mr. Marshal, what do you think of it?” I answered, “I am sorry to say that it does not impress me as one of his great speeches.”

In the face of these facts it has been repeatedly published that this speech was received by the audience with loud demonstrations of approval; that “amid the tears, sobs, and cheers it produced in the excited throng, the orator of the day, Mr. Everett, turned to Lincoln, grasped his hand and exclaimed, ‘I congratulate you on your success!’ adding in a transport of heated enthusiasm, ‘Ah, Mr. President, how gladly would I give my hundred pages to be the author of your twenty lines!’” Nothing of the kind occurred. It is a slander on Mr. Everett, an injustice to Mr. Lincoln, and a falsification of history. Mr. Everett would not have used the words attributed to him, in the face of his own condemnation of the speech uttered a moment before, without subjecting himself to the charge of being a toady and a hypocrite; and he was neither one or the other.

As a matter of fact, the silence during the delivery of the speech, and the lack of hearty demonstrations of approval immediately after its close, were taken by Mr. Lincoln as certain proof that it was not well received. In that opinion we all shared. If any person then present saw, or thought he saw, the marvelous beauties of that wonderful speech, as intelligent men in all lands now see and acknowledge them, his superabundant caution closed his lips and stayed his pen. Mr. Lincoln said to me after our return to Washington, “I tell you, Hill, that speech fell on the audience like a wet blanket. I am distressed about it. I ought to have prepared it with more care.” Such continued to be his opinion of that most wonderful of all his platform addresses up to the time of his death.

HARVEST

Only the seasons and the years invade These quiet wheatfields where the Armies crashed. And mockingbirds and quail fly unafraid Within the forest where the rifles flashed. Here where the bladed wings of death have mown And gleaned their harvestry of golden lives, The fruitful seeds of corn and wheat are sown, And where the cannon smoked, an orchard thrives.

Long are the war years over, with their pain, Their passionate tears and fury, and the sun Lies hot and yellow on the heavy grain, And all the fighting on these fields is done. But in their peace, the quivering heart recalls The youth that bled beside these old stone walls.

—Agnes Kendrick Gray. _By Permission of the Author._

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The principal source of data for this work is the “War of the Rebellion Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.” The appended list of other sources has been made for those who wish to make an extended study.

Annals of the War McClure Attack and Defense of Little Round Top Norton Abraham Lincoln Charnwood Abraham Lincoln, Life of Barton Battles and Leaders, 4 vols. Century Co. Battle of Gettysburg Young Battle of Gettysburg Comte de Paris Battle of Gettysburg Haskell Barlow, Major-General, at Gettysburg N. Y. Mon. Com. Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg Fiebeger Campaigns of the Civil War Geer Civil War Papers Mass. O. L. L. Chancellorsville and Gettysburg Doubleday Confederate Portraits Bradford Four Years with the Army of the Potomac de Trobriand From Manassas to Appomattox Longstreet Gettysburg Then and Now Vanderslice Gregg’s Cavalry Fight at Gettysburg Rawle Hays, Gen. Alexander, Life and Letters Fleming Lee, Gen. R. E., Recollections and Letters of Capt. R. E. Lee Lee, Gen. R. E., Personal Reminiscences of Jones Lee, Gen. R. E., Memoirs of Long Lincoln and His Generals Macartney Maine at Gettysburg Maine Com. Meade, Maj.-Gen., Life of Bache Meade at Gettysburg, With George G. Meade Meade, General George Gordon Pennypacker Military Memoirs of a Confederate Alexander Numbers and Losses in the Civil War Livermore New York at Gettysburg, 3 vols. N. Y. Mon. Com. Pennsylvania at Gettysburg Pa. Mon. Com. Recollections of Lincoln Lamon Regimental Losses in the Civil War Fox The War between the States Stevens The War between the Union and the Confederacy Oates Reminiscences of the Civil War Gordon Stuart’s Cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign Mosby

In addition to the many histories and biographies which include the battle among their subjects, there are novels, short stories, and poems whose authors have made a careful study of Gettysburg as a background. Among them are the following:

John Brown’s Body—Benet Cease Firing—Johnston Gettysburg: Stories of the Red Harvest and the Aftermath—Singmaster _For Young People_ Emmeline—Singmaster A Boy at Gettysburg—Singmaster Sewing Susie—Singmaster

ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC Major-General George G. Meade

First Corps John F. Reynolds, Major General John Newton, Major General

Divisions Brigades 1. James S. Wadsworth 1. Solomon Meredith, Brig. Gen. Brigadier General 2. Lysander Cutler, Brig. Gen. 2. John C. Robinson 1. Gabriel R. Paul, Brig. Gen. Brigadier General 2. Henry Baxter, Brig. Gen. 3. Abner Doubleday 1. Thomas Rowley, Brig. Gen. Major General 2. Roy Stone, Col. 3. George J. Stannard, Brig. Gen.

Second Corps Winfield S. Hancock, Major General

Divisions Brigades 1. John C. Caldwell 1. Edward E. Cross, Col. Brigadier General 2. Patrick Kelly, Col. 3. Samuel K. Zook, Brig. Gen. 4. John R. Brooke, Col. 2. John Gibbon 1. William Harrow, Brig. Gen. Brigadier General 2. Alexander Webb, Brig. Gen. 3. Norman J. Hall, Col. 3. Alexander Hays 1. Samuel S. Carroll, Col. Brigadier General 2. Thomas A. Smyth, Col. 3. George L. Willard, Col.

Third Corps Daniel E. Sickles, Major General

Divisions Brigades 1. David D. Birney 1. Charles K. Graham, Brig. Gen. Major General 2. J. H. Hobart Ward, Brig. Gen. 3. Regis de Trobriand, Col. 2. Andrew A. Humphreys 1. Joseph B. Carr, Brig. Gen. Brigadier General 2. Wm. R. Brewster, Col. 3. George C. Burling, Col.

Fifth Corps George Sykes, Major General

Divisions Brigades 1. James Barnes 1. William S. Tilton, Col. Brigadier General 2. Jacob B. Sweitzer, Col. 3. Strong Vincent, Col. 2. George Sykes 1. Hannibal Day, Col. Major General 2. Sidney Burbank, Col. Romeyne B. Ayres 3. Stephen Weed, Brig. Gen. Brigadier General 3. Samuel W. Crawford 1. William McCandless, Col. Brigadier General 2. Joseph W. Fisher, Col.

Sixth Corps John Sedgwick, Major General

Divisions Brigades 1. Horatio G. Wright 1. Alfred T. A. Torbet, Brig. Gen. Brigadier General 2. Joseph J. Bartlett, Brig. Gen. 3. David A. Russell, Brig. Gen. 2. Albion P. Howe 1. Lewis A. Grant, Col. Brigadier General 2. Thomas H. Neill, Brig. Gen. 3. John Newton 1. Alexander Shaler, Brig. Gen. Major General 2. Henry L. Eustis, Col. Frank Wheaton 3. Frank Wheaton, Brig. Gen. Brigadier General

Eleventh Corps Oliver O. Howard, Major General

Divisions Brigades 1. Francis C. Barlow 1. Leopold von Gilsa, Col. Brigadier General 2. Adelbert Ames, Brig. Gen. 2. Adolph von Steinwehr 1. Charles Coster, Col. Brigadier General 2. Orlando Smith, Col. 3. Carl Schurz 1. Alexander Schimmelfennig, Brig. Gen. Major General 2. W. Krzyzanowski, Col.

Twelfth Corps Henry W. Slocum, Major General

Divisions Brigades 1. Alpheus S. Williams 1. Archibald L. McDougal, Col. Brigadier General 2. Henry H. Lockwood, Brig. Gen. 3. Thomas H. Huger, Brig. Gen. 2. John W. Geary 1. Charles Candy, Col. Brigadier General 2. George A. Cobham, Col.

Cavalry Alfred Pleasanton, Major General

Divisions Brigades 1. John Buford 1. William Gamble, Col. Brigadier General 2. Thomas C. Devin, Col. 3. Wesley Merritt, Brig. Gen. 2. David McM. Gregg 1. John B. McIntosh, Col. Brigadier General 2. Pennock Ruey, Col. 3. J. Irvin Gregg, Col. 3. Judson Kilpatrick 1. Elon J. Farnsworth, Brig. Gen. Brigadier General 2. George A. Custer, Brig. Gen.

Chief of Artillery, Brigadier-General Henry J. Hunt Number of guns belonging to the Artillery, 362 Number of guns at Gettysburg, 354

ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA General Robert E. Lee

First Corps James E. Longstreet, Lieutenant General

Divisions Brigades 1. Lafayette McLaws 1. John B. Kershaw, Brig. Gen. Major General 2. William Barksdale, Brig. Gen. 3. Paul J. Semmes, Brig. Gen. 4. William T. Wofford, Brig. Gen. 2. George E. Pickett 1. Richard B. Garnett, Brig. Gen. Major General 2. James L. Kemper, Brig. Gen. 3. Lewis A. Armistead, Brig. Gen. 3. John B. Hood 1. Evander Law, Brig. Gen. Major General 2. Jerome B. Robertson, Brig. Gen. 3. George T. Anderson, Brig. Gen. 4. Henry L. Benning, Brig. Gen.

Second Corps Richard S. Ewell, Lieutenant General

Divisions Brigades 1. Jubal A. Early 1. Harry T. Hays, Brig. Gen. Major General 2. Robert F. Hoke (Isaac E. Avery), Brig. Gen. 3. William Smith, Brig. Gen. 4. John B. Gordon, Brig. Gen. 2. Edward Johnson 1. George H. Steuart, Brig. Gen. Major General 2. James A. Walker, Brig. Gen. 3. Francis T. Nicholls (J. M. Williams), Brig. Gen. 4. John M. Jones, Brig. Gen. 3. Robert E. Rodes 1. Junius Daniel, Brig. Gen. Major General 2. Alfred Iverson, Brig. Gen. 3. George Doles, Brig. Gen. 4. Stephen D. Ramseur, Brig. Gen. 5. Edward A. O’Neil, Brig. Gen.

Third Corps Ambrose P. Hill, Lieutenant General

Divisions Brigades 1. Richard H. Anderson 1. Cadmus M. Wilcox, Brig. Gen. Major General 2. Ambrose R. Wright, Brig. Gen. 3. William Mahone, Brig. Gen. 4. Edward A. Perry (David Lang), Brig. Gen. 5. Garnet Posey, Brig. Gen. 2. Henry Heth 1. James J. Pettigrew, Brig. Gen. Major General 2. John M. Brockenbrough, Col. 3. James J. Archer, Brig. Gen. 4. Joseph R. Davis, Brig. Gen. 3. William D. Pender 1. James H. Lane, Brig. Gen. Major General 2. Edward L. Thomas, Brig. Gen. 3. Alfred M. Scales, Brig. Gen. 4. Samuel McGowan (Abner Perrin), Brig. Gen. 4. James E. B. Stuart 1. Wade Hampton, Brig. Gen. Major General (Cavalry) 2. Beverly H. Robertson, Brig. Gen. 3. Fitzhugh Lee, Brig. Gen. 4. Wm. H. F. Lee (John R. Chambliss), Brig. Gen. 5. William E. Jones, Brig. Gen. Valley District and Department of Western Virginia (Cavalry and mounted Infantry). 1. Albert G. Jenkins, Brig. Gen. 2. John D. Imboden, Brig. Gen.

Chief of Artillery, William N. Pendleton Number of guns, 272

Transcriber’s Notes

—Silently corrected a few typographical errors.

—Retained copyright information from the printed edition (which has entered the public domain in the U.S.)

—In the text versions, enclosed italicized text within _underscore characters_.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Battle of Gettysburg, by William C. Storrick