On Lincoln's mind
Subtitle: leading the nation to the Gettysburg Address
By: Christian McWhirter, Daniel W. Stowell, Stacy Pratt McDermott, Kelley B. Clausing, Marilyn Mueller, R. Boyd Murphree, Daniel E. Worthington, Edward A. Bradley, David J. Gerleman ; with an introduction by Governor Pat Quinn
Contributors: Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana (Mississippi State University. Libraries); Illinois Historic Preservation Agency; Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum; Abraham Lincoln Association (Springfield, Ill.); University of Illinois at Springfield; National Endowment for the Humanities; United States. National Historical Publications and Records Commission
Publisher: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Springfield, Ill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 56
ISBN-13: 9780942579260
Subjects: Correspondence; Gettysburg address (Lincoln, Abraham)
Description: When the last gun fired at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, few understood what the battle meant to the conduct of the war or the Union cause, including Abraham Lincoln. Surely, Lincoln was elated to learn that his long-beleaguered Army of the Potomac had finally won a significant victory against Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia but it would be 139 days until the President visited the field and made his famous, cogent, and concise summation of the war's cost and promise for America. During that time span, Lincoln considered a host of issues and contended with numerous voices competing for his attention. Indeed, the hundreds of letters he received presented a perfect cacophony of requests, reports, complaints, and commendations. The pages that follow include examples of the correspondence sent to and by Lincoln between July 4 and November 19, 1863. They illustrate how the nation spoke to its leader in a time of crisis and how difficult it must have been for Lincoln to navigate such a range of issues and still complete the "unfinished work" of the men who died on that battle field -- p. 1.
Notes: By the editors of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, which is a project of Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum; co-sponsored by Abraham Lincoln Association and the University of Illinois Springfield; funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities and National Historical Publications & Records Commission.

Document citations (pages 54-55).