Touring the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

During the three day battle at Gettysburg, over seven thousands soldier died.  The dead were scattered across farm fields, orchards and hills.  Concerns about the spread of disease lead to hasty burials in shallow graves, many of them unmarked.

The town of Gettysburg was bullet riddled and torn up from the battle.  Insects swarmed the thousands of dead horses and mules that were left where they fell on fields that were overrun during the battle. The acrid smoke of burning animals hung in the air.

Family members arrived in Gettysburg to look for their husbands, sons, brothers....  Graves were re-opened and, if the loved one wasn't found, reburied.  The soldiers who fought and died at Gettysburg deserved better than anonymous graves scattered around a town that was unknown to them.

Citizens of Gettysburg wanted a dignified, permanent resting place for the Union dead. Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin agreed to fund the purchase of land for a cemetery and for the re-internment of the fallen Union soldiers.  Land on Cemetery Hill, adjacent to Evergreen Cemetery, was purchased for the "Soldiers National Cemetery."  Governors from other Northern states pledged their support and sent agents to arrange the re-internment of their native sons.






The gates of the Soldiers'
National Cemetery

The Soldiers National Monument

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated

to the great task before us =  that from 

these honored dead we take increased

devotion to the cause for which they

gave the last measure of their

devotion...."

President Lincoln  November 19, 1863

The shallow graves were opened and very attempt was made to identify each body before reburial at the National Soldiers' Cemetery at Gettysburg.

U.S. Park Ranger, John,
describes the efforts made
to identify the dead.







Some soldiers had personal items with their names on their bodies. Some carried letters. Even with clues, like a picture, some of the dead were very hard to identify.

Sergeant Amos Humiston was

identified after the photo he was

holding when he died was published

 in Northern newspapers

 & magazines.

Mrs. Humiston saw the photo of

their children & knew what

happened to her husband.

The Civil War graves are arranged

in concentric circles.

This monument, in Evergreen

Cemetery, is for Jennie Wade,

 the only civilian from

 Gettysburg killed outright

during the three day battle.

Over ten thousand people came to Gettysburg for the dedication of the Cemetery on November 19, 1863.  Former Secretary of State, Edward Everett, spoke for two hours, recounting, from memory, the many details of the three day battle.

President Abraham Lincoln rose to address the crowd, standing midway

between the monument for Jennie Wade, on the left,  & the obelisk,

on the right, in Evergreen Cemetery.

The President's two minute speech on this solemn occasion numbered 272 words.  Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation....  He spoke of the ideals that are at the heart of the founding of the United States.  The sacrifices made on the battlefield at Gettysburg had consecrated this land.  Lastly, President Lincoln shared his vision of a new nation, one united in the belief and practice that all men are created equal.

A philosophical shift occurred after the Battle of Gettysburg and President Lincoln's speech on November 19, 1863.  People stopped identifying themselves as Kentuckians or Vermonters.  They started identifying themselves as Americans and seeing people from other regions as Americans.

The concept of all men being created equal was later expanded to include women.  A the years passed, legislation was enacted that clearly detailed each citizen's rights to be treated equally in the workplace, in business dealings etc,

The monument commemorating
the Gettysburg Address.

The Confederate dead, wearing grey or butternut colored clothing. were left where they were found.  In 1871, efforts were made to disinter these men and have their bodies shipped south for reburial.

Veterans from later wars have been buried here.  The cemetery was officially closed to new burials in 1978.