Description:

LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG'S WILLS HOUSE
An extraordinary A.L.S., 2pp. 4to., [Gettysburg?], Oct. 28, 1938 in which Jennie Wills [Quimby] physically describes her home when Lincoln stayed there the day before he uttered his famous Gettysburg Address, and where he actually wrote the final draft of his historic speech. In the hand of an elderly lady, she writes, in part: "...When the Soldiers' Cemetery at Gettysburg was dedicated on Nov. 19, 1863, President Lincoln accepted an invitation to be a guest of my parents...The room President Lincoln occupied was on the second floor facing the square...directly above my father's law office..the room...contained a large four poster bed or rose wood. The bed has a carved head board...The room also contained a bureau two rocking chairs, a straight chair a table, a wash stand. A little coal stove stood in front of the fire place. After the death of my parents...the contents were divided among my three sisters and myself...I was given the contents of the room in which the President slept...The bed in which President Lincoln slept...I have given to my daughter...". Very good. When David Wills invited Lincoln to stay in his home before the dedication of the Gettysburg military cemetery, he hardly suspected that America's most famous speech would be completed in his guest bedroom. Wills, a prosperous 32-year-old attorney, owned the largest house on the town square. Under his direction, Pennsylvania purchased 17 acres for a cemetery to honor the dead from the summer's battle. He arranged for the cemetery dedication on November 19, 1863, with Edward Everett as the main speaker. Lincoln was invited to offer "a few appropriate remarks." Lincoln arrived at the Gettysburg railroad station the day before the ceremonies and was escorted to the Wills home. Contrary to popular belief, the painstaking Lincoln had not dashed off this speech on an envelope while enroute to Gettysburg. Historians generally agree that Lincoln produced the final written version in an upstairs bedroom of the Wills house.

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May 13, 2009 10:00 AM EDT
Stamford, CT, US

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