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Table of Contents > Historic Autographs > Lot 24 |
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Lot Number: 24
Click for a Printable PageSign-in to Bid or Register to Bid Estimate Range: $1,200 - $1,800 |
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Edward Everett Writes to the Selectmen of Concord, Massachusetts about Creating a Statue to Commemorate the 1775 Revolutionary War First Battle at Concord |
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EDWARD EVERETT (1794-1865). American politician, pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator, U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, 15th Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, United States Secretary of State, and Harvard University President. Great American Orator best remembered for his dedication at the Gettysburg National Cemetery in 1863, where he spoke for over two hours before President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous two-minute Gettysburg Address. March 8, 1825-Dated Autograph Letter Signed, “Edward Everett” sent to the Selectmen of Concord, Massachusetts, regarding the Creating a Statue to Commemorate the April 19th, 1775 Revolutionary War Battle at Concord, sent from Cambridge, MA., Choice Very Fine. An extensive letter of 3 pages + address and docketing. In this Letter, Secretary Edward Everett, of the “Bunker Hill Monument Association” notifies the Selectmen of Concord that the Association has offered a donation of $500 toward a project to build a Monument in Commemoration of the events "of the 19th of April 1775.""The Committee believe that for this sum a very Substantial and Ornamental Monument of Granite may be set up, well adapted to mark the memorable spot, where the British troops were so heavily resisted by American militia." The monument was erected eleven years later. The Complete Transcript reads: “Cambridge March 8, 1825 -- To the Selectmen of Concord, - Gentlemen, --- By order of the Standing Committee of the directors of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, as expressed in their vote passed this day, I beg leave to inform you, that, in pursuance of One of their original objects they are desirous of taking immediate measures for the erection of a Monument in Concord, in Commemoration of the all important Events of the 19th of April 1775; and that for this purpose, they have made an Appropriation of Five Hundred Dollars. It would have been highly agreeable to the Committee to be able to appropriate a larger sum; but the erection of the Monument on Bunker Hill being the leading design of the institution, and an object to which not only very many individuals throughout the State, by their donations, but the Commonwealth itself, by its late grant, has become a party, the Committee has not thought itself authorized to go beyond the sum named. The Committee believe that for this sum a very Substantial and Ornamental Monument (2) of Granite may be set up, well adapted to mark the memorable spot, where the British troops were so heavily resisted by American militia. They have, however, resolved, in order as far as possible to meet the wishes of the Citizens of Concord, that, if any farther sums shall be hereafter subscribed by the Citizens of Concord to the fund of the Bunker hill Monument Association, said sum shall exclusively be appropriated to the Concord Monument; at the same time, that the subscribers shall possess the usual privileges of the Members of the B. H. M. Association, in their fullest extent. The Committee conceive that the approaching Anniversary of the 19th April will present a most suitable opportunity for laying the Corner Stone of the Monument, & that there is yet ample time for making seasonable Arrangements for that purpose. They would very respectfully invite the Selectmen of the town to take the subject into their Consideration, and afford to the Committee their Counsel and Co-operation in Carrying into execution a design highly interesting to the B. H. M. Association and Calculated to be not less so to the town of Concord. --- On behalf of the Standing Committee of (3) the Directors, I have the honor to be -- Gentlemen, - Your Most faithful humble Servant - (Signed) Edward Everett / Sec'y.” On April 19, 1775, British soldiers and American militiamen faced off across the North Bridge near Concord, Massachusetts. A shot from an unknown musket, "the shot heard 'round the world," began the battle earlier at Lexington Green, which resulted in a dozen British casualties and their retreat. On their march back to Boston, the British soldiers came under attack by American Minutemen, who employed a guerrilla style of warfare in contrast to the orderly ranks of European battles. The result was hundreds of British casualties and a severe blow to their morale. In 1823, a group of Bostonians formed the Bunker Hill Monument Association to raise funds for the creation of a monument to commemorate the June 17, 1775, Battle of Bunker Hill. By 1825, the Association had purchased property and selected a design-a 221-foot granite obelisk designed by Solomon Willard. On June 17, 1825, the fiftieth anniversary of the battle, the Marquis de Lafayette performed the cornerstone-laying ceremony, and Congressman Daniel Webster delivered an oration. On June 17, 1843, the Bunker Hill Monument Association held a celebration for the dedication of the monument, and former and future U.S. Senator and former and future Secretary of State Daniel Webster was again the principal speaker, with President John Tyler in attendance. As this letter makes clear, the Bunker Hill Monument Association also contributed to a monument at the Old North Bridge site in Concord. On April 17, 1825, the fiftieth anniversary of the battle, and disregarding much local opinion, officials laid the cornerstone for a monument at the square in the center of town, nearly half a mile from the site of the North Bridge. Edward Everett delivered an Oration on the occasion. Over the next several years, little progress was made. One local resident recalled, "the reason being that the funds collected in Concord by the Bunker Hill Monument Association, and appropriated to building the Concord monument were withheld or squandered so that ours was left-this huge granite block some 4 feet cube [and] was a favorite climb for the boys... and I can just remember the alarm of the great illumination, the bonfire of huge tar barrels that were piled up on it by some of the rowdy element a few years after its dedication, and burnt one dark night, in mockery of its unfinished condition." The fire damaged the cornerstone beyond repair. Several years later, Reverend Ezra Ripley donated a segment of the original battlefield to the town of Concord, including the roadbed leading to the dismantled North Bridge and the graves of two British soldiers killed in the battle. A town committee worked with Solomon Willard, designer of the Bunker Hill Monument, to design a twenty-five-foot obelisk. The Monument was finally erected there in 1836. It carries the inscription: "Here, on the 19th of April, 1775, was made the first forcible resistance to British aggression. On the opposite bank stood the American Militia. Here stood the invading Army and on this spot the First of the Enemy fell in the War of that Revolution which gave Independence to these United States. In gratitude to God and in the love of Freedom, this monument was erected AD. 1836." For the dedication of the monument on July 4, 1837, Concord resident Ralph Waldo Emerson composed the poem entitled "Concord Hymn," which was read and then sung by a local choir. Edward Everett (1794-1865) was born in Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard College in 1811, at age 17, as the valedictorian of his class. He studied for the Christian ministry and earned a Master's degree from Harvard in 1813. After graduation, he became a highly popular Unitarian preacher for one year in Boston. In 1814, he accepted a position as professor of Greek literature at Harvard and traveled for four years in Europe in preparation. He studied in Germany, earned a doctoral degree in 1817, and returned to the United States in 1819. He taught briefly at Harvard, began his public speaking career, and became editor of the North American Review. In 1823, he made a speech advocating American support for Greeks in their efforts for independence from the Ottoman Empire. Daniel Webster adopted the subject and made a speech in Congress on the subject, beginning a lifelong association between the two men. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1824 and served from 1825 to 1835. He served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1836 to 1840, then as U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom from 1841 to 1845. After his return to the United States, he served as president of Harvard from 1846 to 1848. After Daniel Webster's death in 1852 while serving as Secretary of State, President Millard Fillmore appointed Everett to serve as Secretary of State during the remaining months of Fillmore's administration The Massachusetts legislature elected Everett to the U.S. Senate, in which he served from 1853 until his resignation in May 1854. In 1860, he was the vice-presidential candidate of the Constitutional Union Party, devoted to preserving the Union. He supported the Crittenden Compromise to avert Civil War, but he actively supported the Union cause when the war began. In November 1863, he was the featured Speaker at the Dedication of the military Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where Abraham Lincoln's two-minute Address overshadowed Everett's two-hour oration. He supported Lincoln's reelection in 1864 and died two months later in Boston. |
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Lot Number: 24
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Estimate Range: $1,200 - $1,800 |
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