Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. [1915]

98

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

HISTORY OF THE CONSECRATION OF THE NATIONAL CEMETERY AND THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
BY 0. T. CORSON
I can never forget my first visit to the Gettysburg Battle-field, in
1898, in company with President Fess of Antioch College. The day
was ideal in every particular and while every minute of the time was
thoroughly enjoyed, the climax of interest came at the close of the day
when we returned for a last look at the monument, which is located in
the National Cemetery and which marks the place where Lincoln stood
when he delivered his Immortal Address. As we stood by the side of
this monument, facing the graves of 3,555 loyal soldiers who had given
their lives for the Union, and felt in our souls the sublime pathos of
the surroundings, it suddenly occurred to us that the date was November 19, the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Consecration Services
of the National Cemetery, and with bowed heads, moist eyes, appreciative minds, and grateful hearts, we together recited "The Lines" of
Lincoln.
We have both visited Gettysburg several times since 1898, and it was
our rare privilege to spend the entire week of November 18-22, 1912, in
the Adams County Teachers' Institute, held in the historic old town.
Several hours each day were devoted to a careful study of the battle-field,
established as a National Military Park by an act of congress in 1895,
and it was my privilege, on November 19, to have a small part in directing the institute in a brief exercise held in commemoration of the
forty-ninth anniversary of the day. At the close of this exercise, the entire audience of at least one thousand teachers and patrons of the public
schools arose and reverently united in reciting the Gettysburg Address.
So impressive was the scene that I then and there resolved to urge upon
the teachers and pupils of the public schools to commemorate in a fitting
manner, with appropriate exercises, November 19, 1913, the Fiftieth
Anniversary of the Consecration Services of the National Cemetery and
of the delivery of Lincoln's matchless oration.
THI NATIONAL CEMETERY
To Andrew G. Curtin, the great War Governor of Pennsylvania, who
visited the battle-field shortly after the battle of Gettysburg for the purpose of bringing relief to the sick and wounded soldiers, and to David
Wills, a resident of the town and a personal representative of the Gov-.ernor, is due the credit of proposing the establishment of the National
Cemetery at Gettysburg. By the authority of Governor Curtin, Mr.
Wills invited the different states whose soldiers had lost their lives in
the battle, to co-operate in removing their remains from the hastily
made graves in which they had been, in many instances, only partially
buried, to a cemetery, the grounds for which he had purchased, at the
request of the Governor, to be paid for by the State of Pennsylvania.
The grounds, thus purchased at a cost of $2,475.87, consisted of about