Last updated: September 23, 2022
Place
Gettysburg National Cemetery Entrance
Quick Facts
Location:
Gettysburg National Military Park
Significance:
The Gettysburg National Cemetery is the final resting place for over 6,000 United States soldiers and was the location where President Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address.
The Gettysburg National Cemetery is famous throughout the world today as the site of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, delivered at the cemetery’s dedication ceremony four and a half months after the battle. The monument just through the entrance gate and to the right, the Lincoln Speech Memorial, honors that moment and the 16th president’s words.
Behind the Lincoln Speech Memorial are some of the 3,307 post Civil-War burials in the National Cemetery. The Cemetery contains the remains of American soldiers and dependents from the Civil War through Vietnam. Officially closed in 1972, family plots remain for dependents of veterans already interred.
The brick speaker’s stand, inside the cemetery entrance and to the left, was built in 1879 and is known as The Rostrum. Although Lincoln did not speak from this platform, world leaders and other dignitaries, including six United States presidents (Rutherford B. Hayes-1878, Theodore Roosevelt-1904, Calvin Coolidge-1928, Herbert Hoover-1930, Franklin D. Roosevelt-1934, and Dwight D. Eisenhower-1955) have used it during Memorial Day services and other ceremonies.
Behind the Lincoln Speech Memorial are some of the 3,307 post Civil-War burials in the National Cemetery. The Cemetery contains the remains of American soldiers and dependents from the Civil War through Vietnam. Officially closed in 1972, family plots remain for dependents of veterans already interred.
The brick speaker’s stand, inside the cemetery entrance and to the left, was built in 1879 and is known as The Rostrum. Although Lincoln did not speak from this platform, world leaders and other dignitaries, including six United States presidents (Rutherford B. Hayes-1878, Theodore Roosevelt-1904, Calvin Coolidge-1928, Herbert Hoover-1930, Franklin D. Roosevelt-1934, and Dwight D. Eisenhower-1955) have used it during Memorial Day services and other ceremonies.