Evening star., 1928-05-13
By WILLIAM RUFUS SCOTT.

In selecting Gettysburg as the scene
of his last Memorial day address while
| in the White House, President Coolidge
draws public interest more intensely to
| the great battlefield and to the famous
Gettysburg address of Abraham Lin
! coin, with which all other speeches
there inevitably are compared.
Other Presidents who have spoken
there or have taken part in exercises,
though not always on Memorial, or
Decoration. day, we're Grant, Harrison.
Hayes. Cleveland, Roosevelt and Wilson.
| Roosevelt was the last TO speak on
Decoration day. The address by Will
son was on the fiftieth anniversary of
| the battle, in 1913. Cleveland did not
| speak on his visit to Gettysburg
The reputation President Coolidge
| had for brevity, before the necessities
of annual messages to Congress made
/ him speak at considerable length In
| addressing joint sessions of Congress,
/ Is fully matched in Lincoln's Gettys-
burg address. which II said to have re-
uuired about two minutes to deliver
There have been various accounts of
Lincoln's preparation and delivery of
the address. but the version now ap-
parently most widely accepted Is as
| follows:
/
Lincoln did not write the address on
the back Of an official Government en-
! velope on the train trip from Wash
ington to Gettysburg. but had carefully
prepared his remarks in the White
House several DAYS before the trip.
However. that he did make some slight
speaking seems likely, and this may
have been the foundation Of the report
that IT. was hastily written en- route to
| the battlefield.
! The date OF delivery was November 49,
1868. The decisive battle Of the Civil
| War lin the opinion Of many au-
| thorities) was fougl at Gettysburg on
| July /, 2 and Of the same year, and
Congress promptly made the scene OF
the severest fighting national military
! cemetery. Lincoln went there to dedi-
cate the cemetery. Nearly 1000 soldiers
we're buried there, of whom about l,60C
we're unidentified.
| A more impressive concept of the
| battle is given in the figures Of the
losses. respectively. by the Union and
| Confederate forces under Meade and
| Lee In killed, wounded, captured OF
| missing, Lee is estimated to have lost
2O.448 men out Of 75.000, although some
authorities place his losses as high a:
| 10000: while Meade's losses have beer
estimated at $4,000 out Of $4,000. His
torians are not agreed on the figures
| however.
The feature of the three-day battle
probably most widely known was thu
| charge by Pickett's Division and tht
sanglinary nature of the fighting MAJ
be illustrated by the estimate that h
lost 3.393 out OF 4,500 officers and mer
| engaged.
/ His soldiers stormed and broke
through the Union line In the face oi
an appalling infantry and artillery fire
but he was unable TO hold the ground
and was forced TO retreat, which the
troops are said TO have done with ar
orderliness that evoked admiration from
| their foes.
In the writings Of Nicolay and Hay
| It is brought out that Lincoln was
greatly disappointed when Meade al
| lowed Lee TO retreat without crushing
| the Confederate army. Lincoln Is said
by these writers to have believed that II
| Meade had taken advantage OF the
victory ut once the Civil War could have
been ended that year. A letter OF