A Reading for Lincoln

Two free performances of "A Reading for Lincoln"

Tuesday, November 18th
12 p.m. - Musselman Library (Notes at Noon)
8 p.m. - Majestic Theater Cinema One, downtown Gettysburg

As part of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial celebration, Musselman Library presents a special dramatic and musical tribute to Lincoln. Richard Sautter will appear as James Murdoch, one of the most well-known actors in mid-19th century America. During the Civil War, Murdoch gave benefit readings in order to raise money for soldiers and also performed for Lincoln and other members of his administration.

Traditional music will be presented by the local group Tin Kettle.

The evening performance is co-sponsored by the Friends of Musselman Library, Adams County Library System, The Sunderman Conservatory of Music and Civil War Era Studies.

Actor Brings Family History into Play

It is a centuries old family connection that brings actor Richard Sautter to the stage to portray James E. Murdoch on November 18th. While paying tribute to the Civil War era actor, he is also honoring the memory of his own great-great-great grandfather Francis De Haes Janvier (1817-1885), a poet who wrote material that Murdoch performed.

There is a string of coincidences that led Sautter to discover the interesting life and work of Murdoch. It started several years ago (before Sautter moved to Gettysburg so his wife, Carolyn, could accept a position at Musselman Library). He was doing library research on Janvier and kept coming across Murdoch's name.

"I knew my ancestor had been a poet," says Sautter, "but what I had not known was that his verse was read aloud on countless occasions during the Civil War by one of the nation's most prominent actors." Sautter, who incidentally had been looking for a Civil War character to portray, says he "felt as though the stars aligned."

Murdoch became the subject of Sautter's masters' thesis, a couple of scholarly publications, and Sautter's one-man show "An Evening with Mr. Murdoch." Ultimately Sautter uncovered correspondence between his ancestor and Murdoch, and even connected with an 83-year-old descendent of Murdoch's who presented him with a scrapbook full of material.

Murdoch (1811-1893) was a well-known actor, but when the Civil War broke out he felt his duty was to his country. He turned down all acting roles and instead gave readings, donating all proceeds to Union soldiers' causes. By war's end, he raised more than $250,000.

Readings were one of the most popular pastimes of that period and among his fans was Abraham Lincoln. "On one of those performances for the president, the show stopper was apparently a poem by my ancestor called ‘The Sleeping Sentinel,'" says Sautter. That piece is not one of Sautter's favorites; he will, however, deliver two other Janvier pieces in the show, one of which is entitled "Gettysburg."

Murdoch also wrote several books on elocution. "Those allowed me to figure out what he sounded like. If we could actually hear him speak, it would sound like half singing half speaking. I have to tone it down so it doesn't sound ridiculous to modern ears!"

And so it happens that three men now come together in one performance -- two colleagues once famous and now virtually unknown, and the descendant who resurrects them and who also happens to reside in one of the very places they memorialized.