150TH Anniversary of Lincoln's "Lost Speech" to be commemorated May 29 in Bloomington

BLOOMINGTON, IL - Abraham Lincoln's "Lost Speech" has been found at a May 29 event being planned by Bloomington organizers to commemorate the 150^th anniversary of the famous oratory.   

 

            A re-enactment of Lincoln's day on May 29, 1856 will begin with his arrival in Bloomington, and will allow visitors to retrace his footsteps through his famous convention speech and beyond.  Lincoln was a featured speaker at the Anti-Nebraska Convention being held in Bloomington, a meeting of diverse groups who were opposed to the extension of slavery, including the anti-slavery Democrats and the American (Know-Nothing) Party.  The meeting was the founding of the Republican Party in Illinois.  Lincoln's speech there about the evils of slavery, though remembered in many oral histories, was not printed by newspapers of the day.  Since no official written record exists of what Lincoln actually said, it has come to be called the "Lost Speech."

 

The day's events are free and open to the public, and are co-sponsored by Illinois Wesleyan University, McLean County Museum of History, Illinois State Museum, and the David Davis Mansion State Historic Site.

 

            The event takes place, fittingly, on Memorial Day and begins at 2 p.m. with Lincoln's arrival at the Constitution Trail Wayside at Jefferson and Robinson.  George Buss of Freeport, Illinois will portray Lincoln during the day's activities, and he will be joined at the depot site by an old-time railroader who will talk about the early railroads in Bloomington-Normal.  At 2:15 p.m. the entourage will walk the short distance to the David Davis Mansion where Lincoln stayed while in Bloomington; outside, Sarah Davis will greet her famous guest.  Interpreters in period costumes and activities from the mid-1800s will lend a historic atmosphere.

 

            The group will depart on foot at 2:45 p.m., walking along Front Street and making note of the historic sites along the way, including the site of Major's Hall, where the convention met; the Miller-Davis Law Offices, where David Davis maintained working law offices; and the McLean County Museum of History.  Mr. Lincoln will continue to the Second Presbyterian Church, where a retrospective of his "Lost Speech" will be given.  Refreshments will be served about 4:30 p.m., where visitors may mingle with Mr. Lincoln before he boards the train to leave town.

 

            Members of the "Lost Speech" Committee include Dr. Robert Eckley, retired, past president of Illinois Wesleyan University; Lincoln author Guy Fraker; Dr. Mark Plummer, Professor of History, Emeritus, Illinois State University; Bill Shepherd, State Farm; Professor April Schulz, chair of the IWU history department; Bill Steinbacher-Kemp, archivist at the McLean County Museum of History; Dr. Roger Bridges, retired Director of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Ohio; Bob Lenz, Vice President of The Abraham Lincoln Association; and Marcia Young, site manager of the David Davis Mansion State Historic Site.

 

            Event co-sponsor Illinois Wesleyan University is offering students a number of Lincoln-related courses and activities during the school's May Term, whose theme is "Lincoln and the 21^st Century."