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The story of a bloody battle and an amazing speech
President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, one of the most famous speeches in United States history, at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery on this day in history, November 19, 1863.
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought between July 1, 1863, and July 3, 1863. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, with an excess of 51,000 soldiers killed, injured, or otherwise lost to action. Some 3,155 Union troops were killed, while 3,903 Confederates died. The Union victory there marked the turning point of the war.
President Lincoln was asked to deliver a message at the dedication of the Gettysburg Civil War Cemetery. He connected the sacrifices of the Civil War with the desire for “a new birth of freedom,” as well as the all-important preservation of the Union created in 1776 and its ideal of self-government, according to historians. Despite its brevity, the speech has since come to be recognized as one of the most powerful statements in the English language and one of the most important expressions of freedom and liberty in any language still till today.
When President Lincoln received the invitation to make the remarks at Gettysburg, he saw an opportunity to make a broad statement to the American people on the enormous significance of the…
