Evergreen Cemetery – formerly called Citizen's Cemetery and Ever Green Cemetery – is a historic 29.12 acre

rural cemetery A rural cemetery or garden cemetery is a style of cemetery that became popular in the United States and Europe in the mid-nineteenth century due to the overcrowding and health concerns of urban cemeteries. They were typically built one to five ...

located just outside Gettysburg Borough, in

Cumberland Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania Cumberland Township is a township in Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 6,162 at the 2010 census. In 1863, the American Civil War Battle of Gettysburg took place mainly in Cumberland Township, which surrounds the bor ...

. It is part of

Gettysburg Battlefield Historic District The Gettysburg Battlefield Historic District is a district of contributing properties and over 1000 historic contributing structures and 315 historic buildings, located in Adams County, Pennsylvania. The district was added to the National Reg ...

, and is surrounded by

Gettysburg National Military Park The Gettysburg National Military Park protects and interprets the landscape of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the park is managed by the National Park Service. The GNMP propert ...

and

Soldiers' National Cemetery Gettysburg National Cemetery is a United States national cemetery created for Union casualties from the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought between July 1 to 3, 1863, resulted in the larges ...

. The cemetery played a strategic role in the July 1 to 3, 1863

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...

. Four months after the battle, at the dedication of the immediately-adjacent National Cemetery, President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

delivered his "

Gettysburg Address The Gettysburg Address is a Public speaking, speech that President of the United States, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, Soldiers' National Cemetery, ...

" from a platform in Evergreen Cemetery.

History

Founding

The Ever Green Cemetery Association of Gettysburg was established at a November 29, 1853 meeting. The association managed the property and oversaw selection of its caretakers. By April 3, 1854, 118 lots had been sold, and the association members' first payments were due. The first interment took place on October 29. Opening ceremonies were held on November 7, 1854, and in hi
dedication address
Reverend John H. C. Dosh asked, "Could a more lovely spot have been chosen?" The

Evergreen Cemetery gatehouse Evergreen Cemetery gatehouse (1855) is a historic building located at 799 Baltimore Pike in Adams County, Pennsylvania. During the American Civil War, the gatehouse played an important role in the July 1 to 3, 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. It is a c ...

was designed by Philadelphia architect

Stephen Decatur Button Stephen Decatur Button (June 15, 1813, in Preston, Connecticut – January 7, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American architect and a pioneer in the use of metal-frame construction for masonry buildings. He designed commercial buildin ...

, built by local contractors George and Henry Chritzman, and completed in November 1855. The

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

gatehouse served as the caretaker residence.

Battle of Gettysburg

Evergreen Cemetery is

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous with

Cemetery Hill Cemetery Hill is a landform on the Gettysburg Battlefield that was the scene of fighting each day of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863). The northernmost part of the Army of the Potomac defensive " fish-hook" line, the hill is gently ...

, the landform noted as the keystone of the Union position during the Battle of Gettysburg. Major-General

Oliver Otis Howard Oliver Otis Howard (November 8, 1830 – October 26, 1909) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the Civil War. As a brigade commander in the Army of the Potomac, Howard lost his right arm while leading his men agains ...

lined the cemetery's high ground with cannons, turning it into an "artillery platform," and made its gatehouse into

XI Corps (Union Army) The XI Corps (Eleventh Army Corps) was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War, best remembered for its involvement in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in 1863. Formation and the Valley Campaign The XI Corps was ...

headquarters. At dusk on

July 2 Events Pre-1600 * 437 – Emperor Valentinian III begins his reign over the Western Roman Empire. His mother Galla Placidia ends her regency, but continues to exercise political influence at the court in Rome. * 626 – Li Shimin, th ...

, 5 Louisiana regiments under Brigadier-General

Harry T. Hays Harry Thompson Hays (April 14, 1820 – August 21, 1876) was an American Army officer serving in the Mexican–American War and a general who served in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Known as the "Louisiana Tigers," his brigad ...

and 3 North Carolina regiments under Colonel Isaac E. Avery commenced the

Battle of East Cemetery Hill The battle of East Cemetery Hill during the American Civil War was a military engagement on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, in which an attack of the Confederacy's Louisiana Tigers Brigade and a brigade led by Colonel Robert Hoke w ...

, charging Howard's artillery batteries from the east. "Federal soldiers in the Cemetery laid many of the tombstones on the ground" to limit damage, and some of the XI Corps batteries and infantry used the grave monuments "for shelter from the enemy's fire". Historian Frederick Hawthorne wrote of Howard's successful defense: “Lying in reserve in the Evergreen Cemetery, they ( 73rd Pennsylvania Infantry) rushed out through the cemetery gateway to help drive the Confederates away from Rickett’s and Weidrich’s batteries.” Evergreen experienced three days as battlefield, and its resulting condition inspired a Union officer to lament: "A beautiful cemetery it was, but now is trodden down, laid a waste, desecrated. The fences are all down, the many graves have been run over, beautiful lots with iron fences and splendid monuments have been destroyed or soiled, and our infantry and artillery occupy those sacred grounds where the dead are sleeping. It is enough to make one mourn." Two Confederate soldiers mortally wounded during the battle were buried in Evergreen Cemetery.

Post-battle

1904 Cope map - Gettysburg National Cemetery

The

Consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg The Consecration of the Soldiers' National Cemetery was the ceremony at which U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. In addition to the 15,000 spectators, attendees included six state governors: An ...

took place on November 19, 1863. The speaker's platform used by orator

Edward Everett Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was an American politician, Unitarian pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator from Massachusetts. Everett, as a Whig, served as U.S. representative, U.S. senator, the 15th governor of Massa ...

, and then by President Abraham Lincoln to deliver his Gettysburg Address, was located just east of the National Cemetery, on the grounds of Evergreen Cemetery. From 1893 to 1916, the

Gettysburg Electric Railway The Gettysburg Electric Railway was a borough trolley that provided summer access1991 Gettysburg Times to Gettysburg Battlefield visitor attractions such as military engagement areas, monuments, postbellum camps, and recreation areas (e.g., ...

operated along the cemetery's east and south borders. Following the 1917 demolition of the trolley railway, Evergreen Cemetery expanded southward. In 1972, the " Evergreen Cemetery archway house" was designated an

historic district contributing structure History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

by the Gettysburg Borough Council (1 of 38 outside of the borough). Civilian remains at the site of the 1804

Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARPC), as it exists today, is the historical descendant of the Synod of the South, a Synod of the Associate Reformed Church. The original Associate Reformed Church resulted from a merger of the Associate ...

cemetery were reinterred at Evergreen Cemetery in 1992.

Photo gallery

File:Evercemadams gatehouse.jpg,

Gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mos ...

File:Gaddress frassanito.jpg, The only published photographic analysis places the site of the platform for the Gettysburg Address at the graves of George Kitzmiller, Israel Yount and John Koch. File:Wade monument.jpg, Ginnie Wade, lone civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg File:Evercemadams burns.jpg,

John L. Burns John Lawrence BurnsPetruzzi, p. 235. (September 5, 1793 – February 4, 1872) was an American soldier and constable. A veteran of the War of 1812, at age 69 he fought as a civilian combatant with the Union Army at the Battle of Gettysburg durin ...

, geriatric civilian combatant at the Battle of Gettysburg File:Evercemadams culp.jpg, Esaias Jesse Culp's headstone shows battle damage. File:Evercemadams huber.jpg, Frederick Huber's headstone shows battle damage. File:Evercemadams_maurey.jpg, Maurey headstone shows battle damage. File:Evercemadams mcpherson.jpg, McPherson's obelisk was laid over by Union troops. File:Evercemadams smyser.jpg, Smyser's obelisk was laid over by Union troops. File:Evercemadms battcas usa.jpg, Some 69 Union battle casualties remain permanently. File:Evercemadms battcas csa.jpg, Confederate casualty cenotaphs. Due to local outrage, the remains were re-located to unmarked locations. File:Evercemadams thorns.jpg, At six months pregnant, Elizabeth Thorn acted as caretaker in her husband's absence and buried more than 100 casualties. Peter Thorn served in the 138th PA Volunteers. File:Evercemadams wills.jpg, David Wills organized and executed the adjacent National Cemetery. File:Evercemadams gh w cannons.jpg, Stewart's Battery straddled the Baltimore Pike, just north of the Gatehouse.

References

External links

Evergreen Cemetery Tour
is a seventeen-part, comprehensive, audio-visual introduction to this subject by Debra A. Novotny, who has served both as a Licensed Battlefield Guide and as a boardmember of the Evergreen Cemetery Association. * * {{Battle of Gettysburg American Civil War cemeteries Buildings and structures in Adams County, Pennsylvania Cemetery Hill Cemeteries in Pennsylvania Gettysburg Battlefield 1854 establishments in Pennsylvania Rural cemeteries