Lincoln's masterful "Gettysburg Address," the text of innumerable Memorial Day observances, is often misconstrued as a patriotic hymn to war, yet Lincoln abhorred military might and the bloodshed of the Civil War. Years before his presidency he stated, "The ballot is stronger than the bullet," and "…Among freemen there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and …they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost." He also said, "…Military glory [is the] attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood."