On May 29, 1856, Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech in Bloomington that would become lost to history.
A mural honoring the speech was unveiled 169 years later to the day downtown Thursday evening by the McLean County Museum of History.
The "Lost Speech" resulted in the formation of the Illinois Republican Party and is thought by historians to have been an intense condemnation of slavery.
The mural depicts Lincoln giving the address at the 1856 Bloomington Convention, also known as the Anti-Nebraska Convention, at Major's Hall that was located at the corner of East and Front streets from 1852 until 1958.
Artist Troy Freeman of Free Sky Studios chose the east wall of Rosie’s Pub as the site for the mural that cost $27,000 with a brass plate set above it costing $3,500, according to museum director of development Norris Porter.
The mural is now one of several memorials in downtown Bloomington that celebrate the lost speech.
Attendees heard music from the 33rd Illinois Regimental Civil War Band that played Civil War classics such as “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Dixie.”
An Abraham Lincoln impersonator gave an introduction following the band’s performance.
“The world will little note — nor long remember — what we say here. We are remembering an occasion and a speech where that is literally the case,” said impersonator Randy Duncan,
Porter cited the important changes that resulted from Lincoln’s "Lost Speech."
“What happened in Bloomington 169 years ago today on Thursday, May 29, 1856, ignited Lincoln’s march to the presidency and eventually led to emancipation and three constitutional amendments,” Porter said.
“The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship and equal protection of citizens to all persons born or naturalized in the United States — including formerly enslaved individuals — and the 15th Amendment extended voting rights to African American men … and it all started a block south of this location at the corner of Front and East streets which today is the Abraham Lincoln parking deck,” Porter continued.
Retired Twin City attorney and Lincoln historian Guy Fraker was a special guest at the ceremony.
Fraker has penned two books about the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Illinois, also known as Lincoln’s Circuit: Lincoln's Ladder to the Presidency: The Eighth Judicial Circuit, published in 2012; and Looking for Lincoln in Illinois: A Guide to Lincoln's Eighth Judicial Circuit, published in 2017.
“Lincoln always — always, always, always — hated slavery with a passion. But on the other hand, he was a pragmatic politician, so he — and we could all take a lesson from this — he was a moderate when it came to the issue of slavery,” Fraker said.
Fraker said the "Lost Speech" was one of a number of speeches that Lincoln gave in response to the Kansas Nebraska Act. Fraker cited others such as one in Peoria in late 1854, the "House Divided" speech in Springfield in June of 1858 and the Cooper Union speech in February 1860 in New York.
Fraker described the common belief behind the contents of Lincoln’s "Lost Speech."
“The legend that they tell is that it was so dramatic, so eloquent, that the newspaper men laid down — just dropped their pens in awe and forgot to write it down,” said Fraker, adding Lincoln’s speech made Illinois one of the most important states of the Civil War after it happened.
“What we don’t understand about Lincoln — and it’s a plus, not a minus — is the Union was his real goal, and if it took ending slavery to do that, fine. His speech emphasized what a sacred arrangement this Union was,” Fraker said.
Another Abraham Lincoln historian, Elwell Crissey, penned the 1967 book The Lost Speech that closely examines the context and details of Lincoln’s speech. Crissey’s children, Brian Crissey and Faith Campbell, sat front and center at the ceremony.
“He would be ecstatic,” Campbell said, referring to her father.
Brian Crissey said his father’s interest in Lincoln’s lost speech came at a time when Crissey worked in Bloomington while being in a local Civil War roundtable. He said a minister had approached Crissey, telling him of a box located in a church in Decatur that had belonged to Crissey's grandfather, the Rev. William Stoddard Crissey. Documents about Lincoln’s speech were among other materials in the box, inspiring Crissey to write his book.
“There was a great age difference between him and the children, so there was not a lot of time spent playing baseball in the backyard and so on, but he was very interested in what he was doing,” said Brian Crissey, describing his childhood father-son relationship.
After the ceremony ended, attendees and participants walked to Rosie’s Pub to view the mural and to enjoy two special items created specifically for the celebration: A meal titled Mr. Lincoln’s Pork Chop and a cocktail drink titled Abe’s Apple Cider.
