Out of Our Past: Richmond girl shook Lincoln's hand after Gettysburg address
The president’s short speech reshaped the nation by defining it as one people dedicated to one principle – equality for all.
A 14-year-old Richmond girl lucky enough to have been there shook his hand afterward.
On Nov. 19, 1863 — 155 years ago this week — this teenager, whose family later moved to East Central Indiana, was among the first to shake Abraham Lincoln’s hand after the Gettysburg address.
The Battle of Gettysburg was the largest waged in North America; it was fought from July 1 through July 3, 1863, and marked a turning point in the Civil War in the North’s favor. The total number of casualties numbered about 23,000 for the North and from 25,000 to 28,000 for the South.
Four months later President Abraham Lincoln made a short speech at the battle site.
In the audience was a 14-year-old girl lucky enough to hear the speech and also lucky enough to become one of the first to shake the president’s hand.
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The president had been tasked to formally “set apart the Gettysburg battlegrounds as to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks.” Lincoln accepted, and for weeks gave much thought to what to say. Using White House stationary, he drafted a speech. The writing went smoothly – a sure sign that he had carefully reflected on his words. Toward the end of the first draft page, the short address faltered. On November 18 as Lincoln left the White House, he took a few quick minutes to finish it on the train, scratching out last-second alterations, choosing his words wisely, and preferring short words to long ones.
He let no one read the 272-word draft.
In ceremonies dedicating a Gettysburg cemetery to those who had lost their lives in the greatest battle ever on North American soil — and after speeches of “interminable” length, such as Edward Everett’s two-hour oration of 30 pages— Abraham Lincoln’s small, two-minute speech oratory followed. He uttered short simple direct sentences that have become immortal, “Four score and 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 battlefield 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 and proper that we should do this. But, in a 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.”
Lincoln used the ceremony at Gettysburg as an opportunity to consecrate the cemetery grounds, and to ensure the survival of America's representative democracy.
So brief were his comments that those in the audience at first came away with different recollections, and Lincoln at first thought the address had not been successful. But praise for the speech mounted, and today Lincoln’s Gettysburg address is one of the most profound speeches in American history; it reshaped the nation by defining it as one people dedicated to one principle – that of equality for all.
Mrs. Elizabeth King of 329 South West Third, reported in the Feb. 12, 1926, Richmond Palladium, that she was but a 14-year-old girl at the time living near Gettysburg: “I was living about 10 miles outside of the city … and some time afterwards we heard that Abe Lincoln was going to come and give a speech … We got up rather early and hitched a horse to the buggy and started to Gettysburg.”
After the speech she recalled a prolonged silence. “No one said a word or applauded for quite a while, and the next thing I knew everyone was shoving and pushing trying to get up to shake his hand.” Elizabeth was one of the lucky ones. She got to shake the president’s hand after a speech that has been judged as one of the most significant in American history.
The 14-year-old there later grew up and married and moved to Richmond with her family, fondly remembering she had been one of the first to personally congratulate Abraham Lincoln after his Gettysburg address.
Contact columnist Steve Martin at stephenmonroemartin@gmail.com.