HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) It took 150 years, but a U.S. newspaper said Thursday it should have recognized the greatness of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address instead of dismissing it as "silly remarks."
The Patriot-News of Harrisburg retracted a critical editorial published by its Civil War-era predecessor, The Harrisburg Patriot & Union.
The president's speech to dedicate a soldiers' cemetery is now considered a triumph of American oratory. But the retraction notes the newspaper's November 1863 coverage said the speech amounted to "silly remarks" that deserved a "veil of oblivion."
The paper now says it regrets the error of not seeing the speech's "momentous importance, timeless eloquence and lasting significance."
During the Civil War, the Patriot & Union was opposed to Lincoln.
