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Edward Everett, the scheduled main speaker: ..." In his two-hour formal oration he compared the Battle of Gettysburg to battles of antiquity such as Marathon, and spoke about how opposing sides in previous civil wars (such as the War of the Roses and the Thirty Years' War) were able to reconcile their differences afterward. Everett's oration was followed by the now far more famous Gettysburg Address of President Lincoln. For his part, Everett was deeply impressed by the concise speech and wrote to Lincoln noting "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"...
The program organized for that day by Wills and his committee included:
Edward Everett, the scheduled main speaker: ..." In his two-hour formal oration he compared the Battle of Gettysburg to battles of antiquity such as Marathon, and spoke about how opposing sides in previous civil wars (such as the War of the Roses and the Thirty Years' War) were able to reconcile their differences afterward. Everett's oration was followed by the now far more famous Gettysburg Address of President Lincoln. For his part, Everett was deeply impressed by the concise speech and wrote to Lincoln noting "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"...
The program organized for that day by Wills and his committee included:
- Music, by Birgfeld's Band ("Homage d'uns Heros" by Adolph Birgfeld)
- Prayer, by Reverend T.H. Stockton, D.D.
- Music, by the Marine Band ("Old Hundred"), directed by Francis Scala
- Oration, by Hon. Edward Everett ("The Battles of Gettysburg")
- Music, Hymn ('Consecration Chant') by B.B. French, Esq., music by Wilson G Horner, sung by Baltimore Glee Club
- Dedicatory Remarks, by the President of the United States
- Dirge ("Oh! It is Great for Our Country to Die", words by James G. Percival, music by Alfred Delaney), sung by Choir selected for the occasion
- Benediction, by Reverend H.L. Baugher, D.D.[9]
- "While it is Lincoln's short speech that has gone down in history as one of the finest examples of English public oratory, it was Everett's two-hour oration that was slated to be the "Gettysburg address" that day. His now seldom-read 13,607-word oration began:...
- Everett, “Gettysburg Address,” Speech Text "1] STANDING beneath this serene sky, overlooking these broad fields now reposing from the labors of the waning year, the mighty Alleghenies dimly towering before us, the graves of our brethren beneath our feet, it is with hesitation that I raise my poor voice to break the eloquent silence of God and Nature. But the duty to which you have called me must be performed;–grant me, I pray you, your indulgence and your sympathy."....
From Voices of Democracy Oratory Report
Two hours later, when Everett's well-received speech was finished and two more musical events of the ceremony had been completed, President Abraham Lincoln rose to make his "few appropriate remarks."
More detail on the ceremonies. The Confusing Gettysburg Address Memorial