No one is better fitted to describe the Battle of Gettysburg and the National Park established on its site than Mr. William C. Storrick. Born a short distance from the field, he was seven years old at the time of the battle. He remembers the flight from home as the army drew near; he remembers also the return to a house which had been occupied by troops. Still more distinctly he recalls going to Gettysburg on November 19, standing with his hand clasped in his father’s, watching a doorway from which the President of the United States was shortly to appear. He shook hands with Lincoln, was awed by his great height, and listened eagerly to his plain and simple address.
For more than twenty years Mr. Storrick was connected with the Battlefield Commission, first in charge of the farms, then of the guide service as well. The history of the campaign which forms a part of this volume was prepared at the request of the War Department.
There is no corner of the field which Mr. Storrick does not know; there is no detail of its history which he has not studied; there is no disputed question of which he cannot give both sides. His clear and uncontroversial account of the battle is but an outline of his store of information upon which he plans to draw more largely in a volume of greater scope.
ELSIE SINGMASTER LEWARS.
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
·XIX NOVEMBER·MDCCCLXIII·
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FOURSCORE & SEVEN YEARS AGO OUR FATHERS BROUGHT FORTH ON THIS CONTINENT A NEW NATION·CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY·AND DEDICATED TO THE PROPOSITION THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL·
NOW WE ARE ENGAGED IN A GREAT CIVIL WAR·TESTING WHETHER THAT NATION·OR ANY NATION SO CONCEIVED AND SO DEDICATED·CAN LONG ENDURE·WE ARE MET ON A GREAT BATTLE-FIELD OF THAT WAR·WE HAVE COME TO DEDICATE A PORTION OF THAT FIELD AS A FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR THOSE WHO HERE GAVE THEIR LIVES THAT THAT NATION MIGHT LIVE·IT IS ALTOGETHER FITTING & PROPER THAT WE SHOULD DO THIS·
BUT·IN LARGER SENSE·WE CANNOT DEDICATE—WE CANNOT CONSECRATE—WE CANNOT HALLOW—THIS GROUND· THE BRAVE MEN·LIVING AND DEAD·WHO STRUGGLED HERE HAVE CONSECRATED IT FAR ABOVE OUR POOR POWER TO ADD OR DETRACT·THE WORLD WILL LITTLE NOTE NOR LONG REMEMBER WHAT WE SAY HERE·BUT IT CAN NEVER FORGET WHAT THEY DID HERE·IT IS FOR US·THE LIVING·RATHER· TO BE DEDICATED HERE TO THE UNFINISHED WORK WHICH THEY WHO FOUGHT HERE HAVE THUS FAR SO NOBLY ADVANCED· IT IS RATHER FOR US TO BE HERE DEDICATED TO THE GREAT TASK REMAINING BEFORE US—THAT FROM THESE HONORED DEAD WE TAKE INCREASED DEVOTION TO THAT CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY GAVE THE LAST FULL MEASURE OF DEVOTION·THAT WE HERE HIGHLY RESOLVE THAT THESE DEAD SHALL NOT HAVE DIED IN VAIN·THAT THIS NATION· UNDER GOD·SHALL HAVE A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM·AND THAT GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE·BY THE PEOPLE·FOR THE PEOPLE·SHALL NOT PERISH FROM THE EARTH·
·ABRAHAM LINCOLN·