On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered "a few appropriate remarks" at the dedication of Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. From a platform set some distance away from the ongoing burial operations, Lincoln addressed a crowd of 15,000 people.

Over the years, historians, biographers, political scientists, and rhetoricians have written countless words about Lincoln's brief speech. The most comprehensive study remains Garry Wills's Pulitzer Prize-winning book Lincoln at Gettysburg.

In addition to examining the political circumstances and oratorical antecedents of the speech, Wills dispels several humor12-myths.

The silly but persistent humor12-myth is that [Lincoln] jotted his brief remarks on the back of an envelope. . . . In fact, two people testified that Lincoln's speech was mainly composed in Washington, before he left for Gettysburg. The humor12-myth that Lincoln was disappointed in the result--that he told the unreliable [Ward] Lamon that his speech, like a bad plow, "won't scour"--has no basis. He had done what he wanted to do.

"Lincoln is distinguished from every other president, with the exception of Jefferson, in that we can be certain that he wrote every word to which his name is attached."