Ward H. Lamon, a personal friend and chief marshal of the ceremonies at Gettysburg, in his “Recollections of Abraham Lincoln,” states that Mr, Lincoln read to him, a day or two before the dedication, what he claims to have been in substance, if not in exact words, what was afterward printed in his famous Gettysburg speech.
Senator Simon Cameron, also asserted, in a newspaper interview, that he had seen a draft of the address in the White House before the President left Washington.
Such are the divergent testimonies concerning the preparation of the Address. Fortunately there exists documentary evidence to substantiate the statements of Noah Brooks, Ward H. Lamon and Senator Cameron and to establish conclusively that the address was the outcome of deliberation and careful thought.
That is further emphasized in the wording of the formal invitation to the President, which was written on November 2, and specifically stated that “it is the desire that you as Chief Executive of the Nation formally set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks.”
The address has been so long and so generously accepted as the highest expression of American oratory, that it is difficult to realize that it ever had less appreciation than now. The testimonies of those who heard the address delivered differ widely as to the reception given and as to the impression it made.
Bates in his “History of the Battle of Gettysburg,” in 1875, says: “Its delivery was more solemn and impressive than is possible to conceive from its perusal.”
Arnold says: “Before the last sentence was completed, a thrill of feeling like an electric spark pervaded the crowd. As he closed, and the tears and sobs and cheers which expressed the emotions of the people subsided, he turned to Everett and, grasping his hand, said, ‘I congratulate you on your success.’ The orator gratefully replied, 'Ah! Mr. President, how gladly would I exchange all my hundred pages to have been the author of your twenty lines’.” Major Nickerson, Robert Miller and many others commented on a similar vein.
The reports of the address, published November 20, 1863, in the Public Ledger, the North American, the Press, and the Bulletin, of Philadelphia, were furnished by the Associated Press, the text is identical in each. But many variations of this address are to be found even today.
Not until the war itself had ended and the great leader had fallen did the Nation realize that this speech had given to Gettysburg another claim to immortality and to American eloquence its highest glory.