At nine o'clock in the morning, a contingent of "one hundred horsemen" ride out to meet Lincoln who is coming from Bath to Lewistown to deliver a speech. A large crowd, enough to fill the "whole space in front of the Court House, extending the length of an entire block," gathers in anticipation. At two o'clock in the afternoon, William Kellogg, a Republican member of Illinois's congressional delegation, introduces Lincoln. Lincoln speaks for two and one half hours, and includes extracts "from the speeches and letters of Henry Clay." Lincoln criticizes his opponent Stephen A. Douglas for refusing to state his opinion clearly on the morality of slavery. When Lincoln finishes his speech, the crowd gives him "three great cheers." One report deems his arguments "the most powerful...ever heard in Old Fulton." Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 21 August 1858, 2:3-4; Speech at Lewistown, Illinois, 17 August 1858, CW, 2:544-47.