Edward Everett, the Keynote Speaker
by Diana Loski
The Honorable Edward Everett
(National Park Service)
When Judge David Wills procured land for the nation’s first national cemetery at Gettysburg in the fall of 1863, he wanted a solemn ceremony for its dedication. Given permission to secure that ceremony from the Pennsylvania governor, Wills contemplated who would satisfactorily fit the agenda as keynote speaker.
Many students of history only recall that President Abraham Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery on November 19, 1863. As memorable as Lincoln’s visit and befitting as his famed speech became, Lincoln was not the keynote speaker for the occasion. David Wills, who wrote to Lincoln on November 2 that year, requested that the President give “a few, appropriate remarks.” The slot for the main orator had already been chosen. The man for that task was the venerable Edward Everett.1
While he is nearly forgotten today, Edward Everett was famous and beloved, and the fact that the date for the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg was on November 19 was because that day was the first for which the honorable Mr. Everett had free.
How did this man become so popular at a time when the nation was so divided?
Edward Everett was born on April 11, 1794 in Massachusetts, the son of Oliver and Lucy Everett. He was educated at Harvard, and from an early age seemed to show an aptitude as a scholar and a gift for oratory. By the year 1820, he had earned a reputation for public speaking.2
He married Charlotte Brooks in 1822 in Boston. Five children were born to the couple, although two died in childhood.3
In 1825, Everett was elected to Congress, where he served for ten years. He was then elected as the Governor of Massachusetts, from 1835-1839. He became the Minister to Great Britain in 1841, in the Tyler administration. With the election of James K. Polk in 1845, Everett left Washington politics to become the President of Harvard University. He returned to Washington D.C. in 1852, to serve as Secretary of State under President Millard Fillmore. Just as Fillmore had ascended to the Presidency upon the death of President Zachary Taylor, so Everett became Secretary of State with the death of his good friend, Daniel Webster.4
Like Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, Edward Everett was a man of compromise, who sought for peaceful solutions to the increasingly divided nation. When the Fillmore Administration left the Executive Mansion, Everett, now a national figure, was elected to the Senate. He only served one year, as his pacifying stance angered his constituents in Massachusetts who were vehemently opposed to slavery.5
When the Civil War erupted, Everett was recently widowed. His wife, Charlotte, had died in 1859. Restless, with his children now grown, and without his partner, Everett needed to stay busy. He soon found his niche.6
Realizing that the divisions in the country were by that time insurmountable, Everett, who retained his gift for public speaking, decided to tour the nation to remind them of the birth of the nation, and the reason that the republic needed to continue. His speaking venues soon filled universities, churches, and assembly halls as he traveled the circuit from New England to New York and beyond, teaching the populace about the Founding Fathers, with a special emphasis on the still revered George Washington. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales went to refurbish Washington’s beloved estate, Mount Vernon. In this attempt to re-educate the American people, with significant success, Everett gained “a world-wide reputation as a scholar.”7
“For nearly half a century,” wrote one contemporary, “no public occasion has ever seemed complete without his presence.”8
In addition to his hectic speaking schedule, Edward Everett also raised funds to help people in need, whether they came from the North or the South. He also, in his spare time, managed to write three volumes, most of which contained his published speeches.9
It is not surprising, then, that Judge Wills, in selecting a speaker for the dedication of the first national cemetery in Gettysburg, quickly decided that Edward Everett was the perfect choice.
November 19, 1863 was a mild day, more like late spring than late fall in Gettysburg. Some fainted in the massive crowd as they attended the dedication ceremony. Edward Everett, who remained solitary in a tent near the dais to prepare for his speech, emerged and began his oratory.10
“Standing beneath this serene sky,” he began, “…the graves of our brethren beneath our feet, it is with hesitation that I raise my poor voice.” He continued, calling remembrance to ancient history, and the story of humankind from ancient Athens, to Persia and the Peloponnesian War – all detailing the martyrdom of the heroes who built past civilizations. He spoke for nearly two hours – a common length in those days – bringing the past to the present, reminding the people of the cost of victory. “We bid farewell to the dust of these martyr-heroes,” he said, “in the glorious annals of our common country, there will be no brighter page than that which relates the Battle of Gettysburg.”11
After Everett’s speech and a hymn, Lincoln stood. He spoke for just two minutes, having obeyed to the letter Judge Wills’ invitation to give “a few, appropriate remarks.”12
Lincoln’s speech is the one that is remembered, all over the world, to this day. While Lincoln believed at first that his speech had failed, Everett assured Lincoln that it had not. In a letter written to Lincoln a few days later, Everett penned, “I should be glad, if I could flatter myself, that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours, as you did in two minutes.” Lincoln was touched by the kindness of the letter, and saved the missive. It was found among Lincoln’s possessions after his death. In 1923, Robert Lincoln donated Everett’s letter to the Library of Congress, where it resides today.13
Sadly, neither orator of the National Cemetery survived the year 1865. Mr. Everett, who was fifteen years older than Abraham Lincoln, passed away on January 15, 1865. He had been laboring up until his death to bring aid to citizens of Tennessee and Savannah, Georgia, who were in difficult circumstances brought on by the perils of the war. The cause of death was apoplexy, or a stroke, that attacked him suddenly in the middle of the night. The housekeeper related that at “three o’clock Sunday morning, [she] entered his room and found him sleeping peacefully. An hour later, she was alarmed by hearing a heavy fall in his room and found him lying on the floor, breathing rapidly. A physician was promptly summoned, but before he arrived Mr. Everett died.”14
Everett’s passing “has cast a shadow over all the land” wrote one journalist. “He had all knowledge, all gifts, all tongues.” And now that voice was silent.15
Everett was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, in his beloved Cambridge, Massachusetts.
While Edward Everett is mainly remembered as the man who preceded Lincoln before the President uttered the Gettysburg Address, his renown should continue, as he accomplished much more. The stately Mount Vernon, a most historic place, exists today largely to the efforts of the former Harvard President and compassionate Governor of Massachusetts. Like President Lincoln, who also perished just a few months later, Everett worked to keep the nation alive.
And, like Lincoln, his attempts succeeded. The government of the people is still here, with that “brighter page” still being written.
Sources: Ancestry.com: Edward Everett Family Tree. Boston Evening Transcript, 18 January, 1865. Britannica.com/Edward Everett, 2013. Edward Everett Gettysburg Address: Voices of Democracy, voicesofdemocracy/edwardeverett-gettysburg-address-speech-text. Gettysburg Address File, Adams County Historical Society (hereafter ACHS). Letter, Edward Everett to Abraham Lincoln, Library of Congress: LOC.gov. The Wilmington Independent, Wilmington, Illinois, 18 January, 1865.
End Notes:
1. Gettysburg Address File, ACHS.
2. The Wilmington Independent, 18 Jan. 1865.
3. Everett Family Tree, Ancestry.com.
4. Britannica.com.
5. Ibid.
6. bid.
7. Boston Evening Transcript, 18 Jan., 1865.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Gettysburg Address File, ACHS.
11. Voice of Democracy, Everett Speech Text, 1863.
12. Gettysburg Address File, ACHS.
13. Letter, E. Everett to A. Lincoln, Library of Congress, LOC.gov.
14. The Wilmington Independent, 18 Jan., 1865.
15. Boston Evening Transcript, 18 Jan., 1865.
