HistoricSiteMarkers
Civil War

Gettysburg Address

Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania

Marker Inscription

Here, on Nov. 19, 1863, in dedicating the National Cemetery, Abraham Lincoln gave the address which he had written in Washington and revised after his arrival at Gettysburg the evening of November 18.

Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

The Story

Here on November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the National Cemetery, honoring the soldiers who had fallen months earlier in the war's bloodiest battle. Having written the speech in Washington and polished it after reaching Gettysburg the previous evening, Lincoln distilled the meaning of the Union cause into a few immortal sentences. The brief remarks, overshadowed that day by a two-hour oration, would long outlive every other word spoken at the ceremony.

Why it matters

At this ground Lincoln gave the nation a new birth of freedom in language, binding the sacrifice of Gettysburg to the survival of self-government everywhere.

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Related people

  • · Abraham Lincoln

Related events

  • · Gettysburg Address
  • · Dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery

Themes & tags

Civil WarPresidential SitesMemorial

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Near this spot on November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln rose to dedicate the new National Cemetery for the Union dead of the Battle of Gettysburg. In barely two minutes he delivered the address he had drafted in Washington and revised the night before, redefining the war as a struggle for a nation "conceived in liberty" and a government "of the people, by the people, for the people." The few hundred words spoken here became one of the most consequential speeches in American history.

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