Thursday, November 19, 1863 “was a beautiful morning – a cloudless sky, and the sun shone out in glorious splendor.” Abraham Lincoln, who had arrived the previous evening by train, spent the night at the home of David Wills on the square. He had stayed up much of the night, working on his speech for the dedication of the nation’s first National Cemetery, to honor the slain from the Battle of Gettysburg earlier that summer.1

A sizable crowd – as many as 15,000 to 20,000 people – had come to Gettysburg for the dedication, and the unfinished cemetery was crowded to the extreme. “The air was rendered so close,” Robert McLean, one of those in attendance, commented, “that more than one lady and even men fainted.” The ceremony that morning was a sober one, and President Lincoln was well aware of the responsibility he bore to speak that day, although he was not the keynote speaker. That honor fell to the nationally popular Edward Everett. The former governor of Massachusetts, erstwhile Secretary of State, and retired president of Harvard, had traversed the country for several years, speaking to the memory of George Washington. He had resurrected an intense interest in the establishment of America and its Founding Fathers, and was consequently in great demand as a featured orator. The reason for the late date for the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg was because November 19, 1863 was the first date available on Everett’s calendar.2

Lincoln had been invited by Judge Wills on November 2, and was asked only “to give a few, appropriate remarks.”3

“Mr. Lincoln had become very unpopular with the politicians,” Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln’s friend and bodyguard said, “not so with the masses.” Thousands had amassed in the small Pennsylvania town to see their President, surrounding the Wills home as soon as Lincoln had arrived, hoping to catch a glimpse of their Commander-in-Chief. They were also tightly packed into the cemetery on the morning of the dedication.4

Lincoln obeyed Judge Wills’s invitation for brief remarks – his Gettysburg Address contains only 272 words. His speech lasted only a few minutes. In his brief address, he summed up the reason for America to keep going, hoping for its survival, and explaining that the cost was exceedingly high. Yet, those to whom the cemetery was being dedicated had made sacred the cause for a nation of millions to have the right to self-government. If America failed, that great experiment of freedom failed, and the world was watching.

While Mr. Everett spoke for two hours – a typical duration for special addresses of the era, it appears that the crowd expected Lincoln to speak for the same amount of time. When he finished so quickly, it took the crowd by surprise, offering only a smattering of applause. As he returned to his seat, Lincoln remarked to Ward Hill Lamon, “Lamon that speech won’t scour!” He said later to Lamon on the train back to Washington that his speech at Gettysburg “fell on the audience like a wet blanket.” He added, “I am distressed about it.”5

Time would prove Lincoln wrong. While some journalists, most of them against the President in the first place, excoriated the remarks, many others had been awed by the deep, meaningful message of Lincon's Gettysburg Address. “It was the earnest manner of his delivery that impressed me,” remembered Gettysburg youth Daniel Skelly. Josiah Benner, a Gettysburg man who had recently lost his son in the war, said to his daughters, “I want you to stop right now and listen to me. That speech which the President made today will go down in history.”6

As the favorable reaction grew, Edward Everett requested a copy of Lincoln’s speech. David Wills also requested a copy.

In April, 1864, George Bancroft, a former statesman, diplomat and historian who was strongly opposed to slavery, requested a copy of Lincoln’s address for a book entitled Autograph Leaves of our Country’s Fathers. The book was to be sold in Baltimore at its Sanitary Fair, with the proceeds benefitting wounded Union soldiers.  Lincoln, naturally, agreed to give a handwritten copy for the project. He wrote that particular copy on both sides of the paper, rendering it unable to be used. Lincoln then told Bancroft to keep it, and submitted another copy on two pieces of paper. He also gave copies to each of his secretaries, John Hay and John Nicolay.7

So, how many copies exist of The Gettysburg Address written in Lincoln’s hand?

The answer is five for certain – and possibly six. One of them appears to be missing.

The original copy – the one Lincoln most likely used during his speech at Gettysburg, was written in ink on the first page and in pencil on the second page. It is the one Lincoln gave to John Nicolay. The Nicolay copy is housed at the Library of Congress. The Hay copy, which is the probable second copy, remained in the family until 1916, when Hay’s heirs presented it to the United States government. Extensive documentation was required for its authenticity. The watermarks and ink used in the document corroborated the same used by Lincoln in 1863. Moreover, John Hay’s cousin declared that the copy was indeed in Lincoln’s hand, and was given to Hay by the President. He said, “Seeing that the Senate thinks that the text of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is in doubt, I write a line to say that the last time I was in the home of my cousin, Col. John Hay…he showed me the original text of his speech, written by the late President himself; and he remarked that…Lincoln wrote it out immediately after his return from Gettysburg and presented it to Mr. Hay, so that it could go down in time in the language that he had then written.”8

The third extant copy is the Everett copy, which Everett had requested. It currently resides in the Illinois State Historical Library in Springfield, Illinois.

The Everett copy contains the addition of the words “under God.” Since Lincoln had indeed uttered those words during his address, he nevertheless had not originally written them in the document. Since Mr. Everett had requested the copy after Lincoln had returned to Washington, and newspaper accounts had been written about the now famous address, the President asked his secretaries to make copies of the newspaper prints of it. He then took his original, and “with fresh recollection made a new copy.”9

The fourth copy, which Lincoln had given to George Bancroft, written on both sides of paper, is located at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. 

The fifth existing copy, known as the Bliss copy, which had been included in the book for the Baltimore Sanitary Commission, has made a colorful journey for the past one hundred and sixty-three years. In 1949, it was sold at auction for $54,000. A wealthy Cuban businessman, Oscar Cintas, purchased it for his private collection. He stated in his will that upon his death, the copy should return to the White House, and be “deposited in the Lincoln Room with my compliments.” When Mr. Cintas died in 1959, his wish was granted, and the copy that was the one reproduced for the masses now resides in the Lincoln bedroom at the White House.10

These are the five known copies, written in Lincoln’s hand, of his famous Gettysburg Address. David Wills, Lincoln’s host at Gettysburg, had also requested a copy, and it was supposed that Lincoln gave him one. However, at the judge’s death in 1894, no paper was found among his effects. A meticulous man, David Wills kept copious records. If he received a copy of Lincoln’s address, would it not have been discovered among his possessions? Would his wife and daughters have known about it? They claimed to know nothing about Wills receiving a copy of Lincoln’s famous speech.

In 1990, a single sheet that contained half of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address turned up at the National Archives. On the back of the sheet was the name of David Wills. A careful study of the paper and ink was examined and claimed to be genuine. If David Wills did send his copy to the National Archives – as he certainly could have done – where is the first page of the document? The mystery has only deepened with the passage of time.11

Today, the ink on the original copies written in Lincoln’s hand is barely visible. His message, however, remains indelible. That great experiment called America is still here, continuously tested. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, his greatest speech, remains a living document that attests to the importance of the continuation, and ultimately the survival, of the government of the people – given by a President who knew only too well the price of tearing it asunder.

Sources: Annie Benner Account, Josiah Benner Farm File, Adams County Historical Society (hereafter ACHS). Carr, Clark E. Lincoln at Gettysburg. Copy, ACHS. The Gettysburg Times, February 19, 1959. The Gettysburg Address File, Gettysburg National Military Park (hereafter GNMP). Holloway, H.C. “Recollections of H.C. Holloway”, Gettysburg Address File, GNMP. Lamon, Ward Hill. Recollections of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1994 (first published in 1895). “Long Remembered: The Gettysburg Address in Facsimile”, the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 1963. Copy, Gettysburg Address File, GNMP. Letter, Nelson Thomasson to Elihu Root, 1913. Copy, Gettysburg Address File, GNMP. “The Lincoln Legacy”, vol. 4, no. 3, Fall 1990. Copy, GNMP. McClean, Robert. “A Boy in Gettysburg 1863”, The Gettysburg Compiler, June 30, 1909. Sheads, Col. J.M. “Copies of the Gettysburg Address”, ACHS. Daniel Skelly Account, Civilian Accounts File, ACHS.

End Notes: 

1. Holloway, “Recollections,” GNMP.

2. McClean, Gettysburg Compiler, June 30, 1909. 

3. Carr, p 121. 

4. Lamon, p. xxxvii. Carr, p. 95. 

5. Lamon, pp. 173 175. 

6. Skelly Account, ACHS. Annie Benner Account, Josiah Benner File, ACHS. 

7. Sheads, p. 2. 

8. Letter, Nelson Thomasson to Elihu Root, copy GNMP. 

9. “Long Remembered”, p. 9. 

10. The Gettysburg Times, Feb. 19, 1959. 

11. The Lincoln Legacy, vol. 4, no. 3, 1990.