Lincoln used the second-floor guest bedroom above David
Wills' law office. Here he put the finishing touches on his carefully
prepared Gettysburg Address, a speech he began writing in Washington.
Despite old stories, it's not true that Lincoln wrote the
speech on the train, much less on the back of an envelope. This picture
was taken before the home was restored by the National Park Service.Wills House Bedroom
President Lincoln visited Gettysburg without his family,
having left his frantic wife and sick son behind in Washington. When
Edward Everett wrote Lincoln after the event, he said, "I hope your anxiety
for your child was relieved upon your arrival." By then his son had improved, but
Lincoln had a mild form of smallpox.
<Click on picture to continue.