The Lost Gettysburg Address by David Dixon represents a masterful reconstruction of the life and times of Charles Anderson, 27th Governor of Ohio, and member of an accomplished American family descended from Revolutionary War hero, Richard Clough Anderson. Meticulously researched and engagingly written, this book illustrates the importance of “B list” American luminaries who did not make it into the history books, but who played indispensable roles in making the early American republic. A Civil War hero in his own right, Governor Anderson also delivered an address at the Gettysburg dedication that “bookended” the famous orations of Edward Everett and Abraham Lincoln. Through clever detective work, Dixon located this supposedly lost address and includes it in the appendix to this work. Throughout, Dixon provides an account of Anderson’s life and career, and the forces that shaped them, that is informative, richly documented and consistently interesting.
Harry S. Stout
Jonathan Edwards Professor of America Religious History
Yale University
