Du Quoin woman attends ceremony for 150th anniversary of Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address. It is arguably one of history's greatest speeches and certainly the most recited in classrooms all across this country.
Last Tuesday, Nov. 19, retired Du Quoin educator Pat Ferrari stood on the same ground where Abraham Lincoln stood at the national memorial in Gettysburg, Pa. to give the Gettysburg Address. Historically, it doesn't get any better than this.
"Lincoln wasn't the main speaker. He was an afterthought," says Ferrari. Edward Everett of Harvard College gave a two-hour speech before Lincoln stepped to the podium.
Yet, Lincoln's soft spoken 272-word address did more to heal a nation than Everett did.
There was reason for the national cemetery at Gettysburg. Out of roughly 170,000 Union and Confederate soldiers, there were 23,000 Union casualties (more than one-quarter of the army's effective forces) and 28,000 Confederates killed, wounded or missing. As in previous battles, thousands of Union soldiers killed at Gettysburg were quickly buried, many in poorly marked graves. In the months that followed, however, local attorney David Wills spearheaded efforts to create a national cemetery at Gettysburg.
When Lincoln received the invitation to make the remarks at Gettysburg, he saw an opportunity to make a broad statement to the American people on the enormous significance of the war, and he prepared carefully. Though long-running popular legend holds that he wrote the speech on the train while traveling to Pennsylvania, he probably wrote about half of it before leaving the White House on November 18, and completed writing and revising it that night, after talking with Secretary of State William H. Seward, who had accompanied him to Gettysburg.
Lincoln rose to the podium and addressed the crowd of some 15,000 people. He spoke for less than two minutes, and the entire speech was only 272 words long. Beginning by invoking the image of the founding fathers and the new nation, Lincoln eloquently expressed his conviction that the Civil War was the ultimate test of whether the Union created in 1776 would survive, or whether it would "perish from the earth." The dead at Gettysburg had laid down their lives for this noble cause, he said, and it was up to the living to confront the "great task" before them: ensuring that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
"The battle of Gettysburg took pace earlier on July 1-3, 1863. The National Cemetery was established in the months after the battle and dedicated on November 19 of that same year," says Ferrari. "History teachers have talked about it as part of the Civil War and students have had to memorize it as part of their curriculum"
"I had to memorize the speech during my junior year of American History in high school. To this day, I can still recite it (on a good day). I was privileged to take an eight day trip to Gettysburg (November 13-20 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. The trip was provided by Presley Tours, and was one of the best trips I have been on thanks to tour director Marilyn Schild," she said.
Miss Ferrari visited the homes of President Monroe (Ash-Lawn Highland), president Jefferson (Monticello), President Madison (Montpelier) and President Eisenhower at Gettysburg. "We traveled to Harper's Ferry National Historic Park where John Brown's raid took place. We were at the battle site of Antietam, the Civil War's bloodiest day. While in Gettysburg we toured the American Civil War Museum, the David Wills House, where Lincoln stayed the night before the address, the Shriver House Museum and the National Cemetery.
The group toured the Gettysburg National Military Park (Cyclorama, film, book store and museum) and had breakfast with General and Mrs. Grant re-enactors.
"We toured the Seminary Ridge Museum, saw the film "Fields of Freedom," and finally attended the dedication program at the National Cemetery. There we heard many speakers including James Getty, a Lincoln impersonator, who delivered the Gettysburg Address.
"On the way back home we stopped at Shanksville, Pa. to visit the Flight 93 memorial. This is the flight that went down on 9-11 in 2001. Two planes were flown into the World Trade Center towers and one into the Pentagon."
"This trip was historical in nature and definitely educational. It brought back many things that I had learned in American history, but had put aside in my mind. It made me appreciate being on American, a citizen of Illinois and a member of the Du Quoin community. After all this is the time of year we should be thankful," she said.