Standing at the upper end of the cemetery is a lesser monument in the form of an exedra, the center of which contains a bust of Lincoln. Two panels, one to the left, the other to the right, contain inscriptions; one giving David Wills’ letter of invitation to President Lincoln to attend the dedicatory exercises on November 19th, 1863; the other, Lincoln’s immortal address in its entirety. Opposite this monument is the Rostrum from which the memorial addresses are now delivered. The first memorial exercise was held on May 30th, 1868, establishing a custom continued until this day. Among the speakers of recent years, either in the cemetery or on adjoining sections of the Park, have been Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Coolidge, and Hoover; Vice-President Curtis; Pennsylvania Governors Sproul and Pinchot, and Honorable James J. Davis. [Illustration: Airplane View.—The National Cemetery with its curving rows of headstones] LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG No action of the battle itself has been more variously reported than the visit of President Lincoln at the time of the dedication of the National Cemetery on November 19, 1863. A wise collector and judge among many conflicting accounts is Dr. William E. Barton, noted Lincoln scholar, who in his “Lincoln at Gettysburg” has assembled all available material. Dr. Barton gives various interesting reasons why Lincoln chose to come to Gettysburg, though his presence was not very earnestly desired by the committee of arrangements. His ability as anything but a political speaker had not been demonstrated, and it was feared that he might spoil the occasion. Until two weeks before the dedication, the only invitation sent him was one of the printed circulars mailed to all national officials, congressmen, and others. [Illustration: National Monument.—On the site of National Monument stood the platform from which Abraham Lincoln delivered his immortal address] He was eager, Dr. Barton thinks, to see the field of Gettysburg. He had rejoiced in the victory, and had deplored with equal earnestness Meade’s cautious policy in making no pursuit. He wished to urge the people to renewed devotion to the cause which at that moment did not look altogether promising. He wished also, Dr. Barton believes, to counteract the impression made by a cruel slander which had wide circulation. Again and again newspapers inimical to him had published an account of his visit to the Antietam battlefield a year earlier, asserting that he had asked his friend Ward Hill Lamon to sing a ribald song as they drove about among the unburied dead. [Illustration: Lincoln Memorial.—Memorial in honor of Lincoln’s Address Henry K. Bush-Brown, Sculptor] Lincoln turned a deaf ear to most slanders, but this touched him to the quick. It was not unlikely that he longed to prove the libel false by a visit to another battlefield. The story continued to be told, however, throughout his life.