Gettysburg National Cemetery is a

United States national cemetery The United States National Cemetery System is a system of 164 cemeteries in the United States and its territories. The authority to create military burial places came during the American Civil War, in an act passed by the U.S. Congress o ...

created for Union casualties from the

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 ...

in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

. The Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought between July 1 to 3, 1863, resulted in the largest number of casualties of any Civil War battle but also was considered the war's turning point, leading ultimately to the Union victory. Gettysburg National Cemetery is located just outside Gettysburg Borough to the south, in

Adams County, Pennsylvania Adams County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 103,852. Its county seat is Gettysburg. The county was created on January 22, 1800, from part of York County, and was named for the sec ...

. The land was part of the

Gettysburg Battlefield The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the site of the first sho ...

, and the cemetery is within Gettysburg National Military Park administered by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

of the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

. Originally called Soldiers' National Cemetery, U.S. 16th 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 throu ...

(1809–1865, served 1861–1865), delivered his

Gettysburg Address The Gettysburg Address is a speech that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery, now known as Gettysburg National Cemetery, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the ...

at the cemetery's consecration, November 19, 1863. That day is observed annually at the cemetery and in the town as "Remembrance Day" with a parade/procession and memorial ceremonies by thousands of Civil War reenactor troops, both

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

and

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

and descendants heritage organizations led by the

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) is an American congressionally chartered fraternal organization that carries out activities to preserve the history and legacy of the United States Armed Forces veterans who fought during the Civil ...

(SUVCW) and the

Sons of Confederate Veterans The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers that commemorates these ancestors, funds and dedicates monuments to them, and promotes the pseudohis ...

(SCV). The cemetery contains 3,512 interments from the Civil War, including the graves of 979 unknowns. It also has sections for veterans of the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

(1898),

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

(1917–1918), and other wars, along with graves of the veterans' spouses and children. The total number of interments exceeds 6,000. Battlefield monuments, memorials, and markers are scattered throughout the cemetery, and its stone walls, iron fences and gates, burial and section markers, and brick sidewalk are listed as

contributing structures In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

within

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 Regi ...

Description

The centerpiece of Gettysburg National Cemetery is

Soldiers' National Monument The Soldiers' National Monument is a Gettysburg Battlefield memorial which is located at the central point of Gettysburg National Cemetery. It honors the battle's soldiers and tells an allegory of "''peace and plenty under freedom … followin ...

(1869), a 60-foot-tall (18 m) granite monument designed by sculptor

Randolph Rogers Randolph Rogers (July 6, 1825 in Waterloo, New York – January 15, 1892 in Rome, Italy) was an American Neoclassical sculptor. An expatriate who lived most of his life in Italy, his works ranged from popular subjects to major commissions, includ ...

and architect George Keller. It is surrounded by concentric semicircles of graves, divided into 18 sections for Union states (1 each), a section for United States Regulars, and 3 sections for unknown soldiers. Battlefield monuments within Gettysburg National Cemetery include those of the 1st United States Artillery Battery H, the

2nd Maine Battery The 2nd Maine Light Artillery Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 2nd Maine Battery was organized in Augusta, Maine and mustered in for three years' service on November 20, 1 ...

, the 1st Massachusetts Battery (Cook's Battery), the 1st Minnesota Infantry, the

1st New Hampshire Light Battery 1st New Hampshire Light Artillery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 1st New Hampshire Artillery was organized in Manchester, New Hampshire and mustered in on September 21, 1861, for ...

, the

5th New York Independent Light Artillery The 5th Independent Battery, New York Volunteer Light Artillery or 5th New York Independent Light Artillery ("1st Excelsior Light Artillery") was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The batt ...

, the

136th New York Volunteer Infantry The 136th New York Infantry Regiment (aka "Ironclads") was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 136th New York Infantry was organized at Portage, New York, Portage, New York (state), New York beginnin ...

, the 1st Ohio Battery H, the 55th Ohio Infantry, the

73rd Ohio Infantry The 73th Ohio Infantry Regiment, sometimes 73rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry (or 73rd OVI) was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 73rd Ohio Infantry was organized in Chillicothe, Ohio and mustered in for ...

, and the 75th Pennsylvania Infantry; and markers for the 1st Ohio Battery I and the 3rd Volunteer Brigade Artillery Reserve (Huntington's Brigade). Other monuments include the

New York State Monument The New York State Monument is a large monument at the Gettysburg National Cemetery in Pennsylvania. The granite and marble monument was dedicated in 1893 honors the soldiers from New York who died at the Battle of Gettysburg during the Americ ...

(1893), the Kentucky State Monument (1975), the Lincoln Address Monument (1912), the Friend to Friend Masonic Memorial (1994), the Major-General John F. Reynolds Statue (1872), and the Major-General Charles Collis Memorial (1906).

History

Reinterments

Union remains were transferred from the

burial plots (e.g., on Cemetery Hill) as well as local church cemeteries, field hospital burial sites (e.g.,

Camp Letterman :''Not the Letterman Army Hospital of the Presidio of San Francisco'' Camp Letterman was an American Civil War military hospital, which was erected near the Gettysburg Battlefield to treat more than 14,000 Union and 6,800 Confederate wounded of ...

& the Rock Creek-White Run Union Hospital Complex), the " USA General Hospital, York, Pa." and the Valley of Death where unburied soldiers decomposed in place.Samuel Weaver
as "Superintendent of the exhuming of the bodies", personally observed the contractor's workers opening graves, placing remains in coffins, and burying them in the cemetery, and at least 1 reinterment was from the neighboring

Evergreen Cemetery (Adams County, Pennsylvania) Evergreen Cemetery – formerly called Citizen's Cemetery and Ever Green Cemetery – is a historic 29.12 acre rural cemetery located just outside Gettysburg Borough, in Cumberland Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania. It is part of Gettysburg ...

Consecration

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Gettysburg

Bartlett Soldiers' National Cemetery 1874 opp

File:Unknown into the abyss.jpg, Granite bands mark the graves of unknown soldiers. File:Gettysburg rostrum.jpg, National Cemetery rostrum (1879) File:1st MN Infantry Urn.jpg, 1st Minnesota Infantry Memorial Urn (1867), first battlefield monument installed in the national cemetery File:JFReynolds GB3.jpg, ''Major-General John F. Reynolds'' (1872) by

John Quincy Adams Ward John Quincy Adams Ward (June 29, 1830 – May 1, 1910) was an American sculptor, whose most familiar work is his larger than life-size standing statue of George Washington on the steps of Federal Hall National Memorial in New York City. Early ye ...

File:NY State Monument Highsmith.jpg,

(1893) File:LincolnAddressMemorial.jpg, Lincoln Address Memorial (1912) File:KY State Monument Gettysburg.jpg, Kentucky State Monument (1975) File:Friend to Friend Masonic Memorial Gettysburg.JPG, Friend to Friend Masonic Memorial (1994) File:Gettysburg5.JPG, The cemetery's south end contains graves of soldiers from more recent wars. The back of the ''Lincoln Address Memorial'' is at upper left.

Chronology

References

''Original Report'': --> (

cf. The abbreviation ''cf.'' (short for the la, confer/conferatur, both meaning "compare") is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. Style guides recommend that ''cf.'' be used onl ...

HAER No. 485 p. 43 claims McConaughy was paid in 1868 when the GBMA received $6,000 from the state.) ( (cited by Tilberg 1970
Klement pp. 186–67, reference 23
cites Tilberg's "summary of study of location of Gettysburg Address platform" – perhaps referring to Tilberg's newspaper article: *

External links

Finding Aid for Correspondence and Printed Material on Gettysburg National Cemetery
Special Collections, Linderman Library,

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epi ...

The Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg
(1874) by

John Russell Bartlett John Russell Bartlett (October 23, 1805 – May 28, 1886) was an American historian and linguist. Biography Bartlett was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on October 23, 1805. In 1819 he was a student at the Lowville Academy in Lowville, New Y ...

* * {{authority control American Civil War cemeteries

National Cemetery The following is a partial list of prominent National Cemeteries: Africa Algeria * El Alia Cemetery, Algiers Burundi * Mausolée des Martyrs de la Démocratie, Bujumbura Ghana * Asomdwee Park, Accra * Burma Camp Military Cemetery, Accra L ...

Cemetery Hill Cemeteries in Pennsylvania United States national cemeteries 1863 establishments in Pennsylvania