William Roedel Rathvon, CSB,, sometimes incorrectly referred to as William V. Rathvon or William V. Rathbone, is the only known eyewitness to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, of the over 10,000 witnesses, to have left an audio recording describing that experience. He made the recording in 1938, a year before his death. A graduate of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and a successful businessman, he became a Christian Science practitioner, served as a public lecturer, Church treasurer and director of The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts. He was treasurer from 1911 until he was elected to the Church's Board of Directors, on which he served from 1918 until his death in 1939. From 1908 to 1910 he was correspondence secretary for Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy. He also authored "The Devil's Auction" often republished without attribution as "The Devil's Garage Sale".
William R. Rathvon was the only eyewitness who heard Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to leave an audio recollection
The Gettysburg Address is a speech that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery, now known as Gettysburg National Cemetery, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the afternoon of November 19, 1863, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated Confederate forces in the Battle of Gettysburg, the Civil War's deadliest battle. It remains one of the best-known speeches in American history.
One of only two confirmed photos of Lincoln (center, facing camera) at Gettysburg taken about noon on November 19, 1863; Lincoln spoke some three hours later. To Lincoln's right is Ward Hill Lamon, his bodyguard.
The written invitation of David Wills, who led the establishment of Soldiers' National Cemetery, inviting Lincoln to speak at Gettysburg
A Harvest of Death Union soldiers dead at Gettysburg, photographed by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, July 5–6, 1863
Edward Everett delivered a two-hour oration before Lincoln's short remarks.