Gettysburg Eyewitnesses

8/2/2019 Gettysburg Eyewitnesses

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You Were There:

Eyewitness Reponses to the Gettysburg Address

Once you have finished your podcast of the Gettysburg Address,

your next job is to imagine the responses of those who were in theaudience listening. As you can imagine, some people loved it and

some hated it. Usually, these different responses had to do with

political party. For example, The Democratic-leaning Chicago Times

observed,

"The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the

silly, flat and dishwatery utterances of the man who has to be pointed

out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States.

In contrast, the Springfield, Massachusetts Republican newspaper

printed the entire speech, calling it"a perfect gem" that was "deep in feeling, compact in thought and

expression, and tasteful and elegant in every word and comma."

How did others who heard the speech react? How would other Americans who were not present react?

If our founding fathers could have heard this speech, what would they have thought?

Your Tasks:

1. Choose two or three people from the attached chart and add their images into your podcast.

2. Include a transition between the speech and these additions. This transition should include an appropriate

image, a gap where the only sound is some background music, and possibly a spoken explanation of the shift

between the speech and the reactions.

3. Using the attached chart, plan a few lines that each person would have said after hearing the Gettysburg

Address. Write lines in the first person, as if the person is really speaking. Be sure to have the historical figure

introduce him/herself and tell a bit of background information for the audience.


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Name Picture

(A folder containing

these images is on the

desktop of your laptop.)

Background Facts How would this person respond to

the Gettysburg Address? Write 2-3

sentences.

Margaret Palm Margaret Palm was an African American woman who lived in

Gettysburg. Before the Civil War she served as a conductor along the

local branch of the Underground Railroad, earning the nicknameMaggie Bluecoat for the blue circa-1812 military uniform coat she

wore while conducting fugitive slaves north from the area. Manyfugitive slaves remained in Gettysburg, because they were able to findwork there. When the Confederates invaded in 1863, most of these

African Americans fled, because the Confederates were known for

capturing all African Americans, even children, and sending them tobe slaves in the South. Although Palm was a resident of Gettysburg, it

is not known whether she was present at the Gettysburg Address.

Sallie Ann

LaSalle CorbellPickett

Wife of George Pickett, the Confederate General who led Picketts

Charge, a daring uphill attack on the Union-held high ground at theBattle of Gettysburg. After the war, she was known as a speaker andauthor. Sallie was totally devoted to her husband, and spent the

remainder of her life trying to preserve his legacy as a hero of the

South. She was not present at the Gettysburg Address.

Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth was a well-known advocate for womens rights and

abolition. During the Civil War, she moved to Washington, D.C., where

she began working with former slaves in the newly createdFreedmans Village. When President Lincoln announced the

Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, thousands of slaves fromVirginia and Maryland fled to Washington, D.C. seeking freedom. Afterthe Civil War, Sojourner worked tirelessly for the newly freed

southern slaves. She petitioned Congress to grant land in the "new

West" to former slaves, but it did not pass. She was not present at the

Gettysburg Address.

Clara Barton Clara Barton was known as the angel of the battlefield during the

Civil War. She gained permission to go to the front lines to tend

soldiers and was eventually given the responsibility of running army

hospitals. In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln placed Barton incharge of the search for the missing men of the Union Army, a task to

which she dedicated several years. Later, she founded the American

Red Cross, a disaster-relief organization. She was not present at theGettysburg Address.


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Edward G.

Roddy

Edward G. Roddy, owner of the Uniontown, Pennsylvania Genius of

Liberty. He was an intensely partisan Democrat who saw black people

as an inferior race and Abraham Lincoln as a despot and dunce. These

anti-war northern Democrats were called Copperheads or Peace

Democrats. Although he supported the war effort in 1861, he blamed

abolitionists for prolonging the war and denounced the governmentas increasingly despotic. By 1864 he was calling for peace at any price.

It is not known whether he was present at the Gettysburg Address.

GovernorAugustusBradford,

Maryland

The Governor of Maryland during the Civil War. He was a staunchsupporter of the Union during the Civil War, even though much ofeastern Maryland supported the Confederacy. During his four years

in office, Augustus Bradford released Samuel Green, a freedman, from

jail. (Green was an African-American slave and minister who wasjailed in 1857 for possessing a copy of the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.)

Bradford was present at the Gettysburg Address.

GovernorAndrew Gregg

Curtin of

Pennsylvania

The Governor of Pennsylvania during the Civil War. During the war,Curtin organized the Pennsylvania reserves into combat units, and

oversaw the construction of the firstUnion military camp for training

militia. After the Battle of Gettysburg, Governor Curtin was theprincipal force behind the establishment of the National Cemetery

there. Curtin procured the attendance of PresidentAbraham Lincoln

at the dedication of the cemetery. Governor Curtin was sitting with

Lincoln on the platform when Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg

Address.

Sarah A. Cooke

Myers

Sarah Myers was 19 years old when she heard the Gettysburg

Address. She was a Quaker who lived with her family 11 miles north

of Gettysburg. A great admirer of Lincoln, she attended a reception

held in Lincolns honor on the morning of the speech, where she hadthe honor of shaking the presidents hand. Along with her sister,

Elmira Jane, she attended the ceremony and speech at the Gettysburg

Cemetery. She wrote her recollection of the event at the age of 87.

Frederick

Douglass

Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery to become a prominent

abolitionist and publisher of a newspaper, The North Star. He was a

firm believer in the equality of all people, whether black, female,

Native American, or recentimmigrant. He was fond of saying, "I would

unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong." Afterthe Emancipation Proclamation, Douglass worked with Abraham

Lincoln to move the liberated slaves out of the South. He was not

present at the Gettysburg Address.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniontown,_Pennsylvaniahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_%28American_Civil_War%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marylandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_States_of_Americahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Armyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincolnhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Addresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Addresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egalitarianismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Womanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Womanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egalitarianismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Addresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Addresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincolnhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Armyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_States_of_Americahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marylandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_%28American_Civil_War%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniontown,_Pennsylvania


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Robert Smalls Robert Smalls was a slave in Charleston, South Carolina. During the

Civil War, he worked as the captain of a Confederate gunboat. Hemade a daring escape and was able to provide the Union Navy with

valuable assistance. Smalls personally met Abraham Lincoln in late

May 1862. His deeds became a major argument for allowing African

Americans to serve in the Union Army. Later, Smalls went on to serve

as a Congressman from South Carolina. He was not present at the

Gettysburg Address.

Robert E. Lee Robert E. Lee was the Confederate General of the Army of NorthernVirginia. Before the war, in early 1861, President Abraham Lincolninvited Lee to take command of the entire Union Army. Lee declined

because his home state of Virginia was seceding from the Union, despite

Lee's wishes. When Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861, Lee

chose to follow his home state. He was charged with defending

Virginia, especially Richmond, against the invading Union. He was

able to turn back Union armies time and again until General Ulysses S.Grant was finally able to force him to surrender. Lee was not present atthe Gettysburg Address.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Armyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Army


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Presidents from the Past: How would they respond to Lincoln?

George

Washington

1stUnited States President, Commander of the Continental Army,

from Virginia, slaveholder.

Washington strongly felt that political parties would damage the

newly formed American republic, but he did tend to side with theFederalists. In 1786, Washington wrote to Robert Morris, saying,

"There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to

see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery. The Fugitive Slave

Act, signed into law by Washington in 1793, made assisting an

escaped slave a federal crime and allowed slave catchers into every

U.S. state and territory.

Washington was the only prominent, slaveholding Founding Father

who emancipated his slaves, although this did not take place until

after his death. He included a provision in his will to free his slavesupon the death of his wife.

It has been argued that Washington did not speak out publiclyagainst slavery because he did not wish to create a split in the new

republic, with an issue that was sensitive and divisive. In 1850, The

prominent Southern leader John C. Calhoun invoked Washington's

memory in support of the Southern cause, saying, "The illustrious

Southerner whose mortal remains repose on the western bank of the

Potomac was one of us - a slave-holder and a planter"

John Adams 2nd United States President, Federalist Party, from Massachusetts.

Active supporter of the American Revolution and adoption of the

Declaration of Independence. Adams never bought a slave and

declined on principle to employ slave labor. Abigail Adams opposedslavery and employed free blacks in preference to her father's two

domestic slaves. Despite his anti-slavery beliefs, John Adams spoke

out against a bill to emancipate slaves in Massachusetts, opposed useof black soldiers in the Revolution, and tried to keep the issue out of

national politics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Calhounhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Calhoun


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ThomasJefferson

3rd United States President, Democratic-Republican Party, fromVirginia, slaveholder. Author of the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson's very strong defense of States' rights, especially in the

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, set the tone for hostility

to expansion of federal powers. After the Revolutionary War,Jefferson advocated restraining government via rebellion and

violence when necessary, in order to protect individual freedoms. Ina letter to James Madison on January 30, 1787, Jefferson wrote, "A

little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in thepolitical world as storms in the physicalIt is a medicine necessary

for the sound health of government." 1787, Jefferson wrote:Andwhat country can preserve its liberties, if the rulers are not warned

from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let

them take arms.

JamesMadison

4th United States President, Democratic-Republican Party, fromVirginia, slaveholder. Major author of the United States Constitution

and known as the "Father of the Bill of Rights". Madison believed

that the new republic needed checks and balances to protect

individual rights from the tyranny of the majority. Madison's politicsremained closely aligned with Jefferson's until the experience of a

weak national government during the War of 1812 caused Madison

to appreciate the need for a strong central government to aidnational defense.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rightshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights

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