Gettysburg National Cemetery: A Legacy of Sacrifice, A Landmark of Honor
- Gettysburg Sentinels
- May 23
- 3 min read
Memorial Day is an annual reminder of the courage and sacrifice of those who gave their lives in service to our country, urging us to honor their legacy with gratitude and reflection.
In honor of this solemn day, we’re examining the origin of Gettysburg National Cemetery.
First known as Soldiers’ National Cemetery, Gettysburg National Cemetery was created as a direct result of the immense loss of life in the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. This is the final resting place of more than 6,000 American soldiers, with more than half consisting of Union men who died in the battle.
The concept of a national cemetery did not exist in 1863. The dead were typically buried in local cemeteries, often associated with a church. The Civil War changed that.
When the Battle of Gettysburg ended on July 3, 1863, bodies covered farmers’ fields. Union soldiers quickly dug shallow graves and buried their fellow soldiers where they lay, while Confederate soldiers were tossed into mass graves.
Gettysburg attorney David Wills was instrumental in leading the charge for a final resting place for the Union soldiers who died in the Battle of Gettysburg
Below are five facts to know about Gettysburg National Cemetery:
Soldiers buried in fields were exhumed and reburied on land near Gettysburg’s southern border. Only Union soldiers were to be buried in the cemetery, so the bodies of the soldiers were meticulously inspected before being interred there. Of the more than 3,500 Battle of Gettysburg soldiers buried in the cemetery, 979 are completely unknown; the National Park Service is fairly confident they were Union soldiers.
President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address here during the cemetery’s dedication in November 1863, four months after the battle. The cemetery and Lincoln's address are significant for their commemoration of the Union soldiers who died in the battle and for Lincoln's powerful words that defined the purpose of the war and the future of the nation.
In the center of the cemetery stands Soldiers’ National Monument. Four figures sit at the base of this 60-foot structure, completed in 1869: a woman with wheat representing plenty; a man holding a hammer representing prosperity; a Union soldier telling the story of the men buried in those grounds; and Chloe, the Greek Muse of History, who is recording the deeds of those men. The monument is a testament that what the soldiers did on this battlefield will long be remembered. The soldiers in this hallowed ground are buried with their heads pointing toward the monument, the thought being that when they were resurrected, they would rise out of their graves and view the land where they fought and died.
Throughout the cemetery, visitors can find small black plaques with white lettering. Each features a stanza from Theodore O’Hara’s Bivouac of the Dead poem. O’Hara authored the poem about the loss of life he witnessed while fighting in the Mexican-American War, and it is featured in many national cemeteries.
Gettysburg National Cemetery is the final resting place of American soldiers and veterans from the Civil War through the Vietnam War.
Although Gettysburg National Cemetery’s trees are not Witness Trees, at Gettysburg Sentinels, we do craft pieces with wood from trees standing during Lincoln’s time in Gettysburg. This reclaimed wood is from one of three giant Sycamore trees—two of which still stand today—at the southeast corner of the third block of Baltimore Street in Gettysburg. Beyond witnessing the fighting in the town during the Battle of Gettysburg, this tree bore witness to Lincoln's march to and from Cemetery Hill, where he participated in the dedication of the new national cemetery on November 19, 1863, and where he delivered his immortal Gettysburg Address.
Comments