Gettysburg National Cemetery, originally called Soldiers' National Cemetery, opens in front of you, a United States national cemetery created for Union army casualties of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. In the summer of 1863 that battle raged over three days, July 1 to 3, and proved both the Civil War's deadliest and its most significant engagement, resulting in over 50,000 casualties — the most of any battle in the Civil War and in American military history. That terrible cost also marked a turning point, tipping the war decisively in the Union's favor and leading ultimately to the nation's preservation.
Four and a half months later, on November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S. president, traveled here, took part in the cemetery's ceremonial consecration, and delivered the Gettysburg Address — a speech now regarded as one of the most famous and historically significant in American history. Each year the day of Lincoln's address is observed here and in Gettysburg as Remembrance Day, which includes a parade and a procession. Each November the town still marks that day with a parade and procession, honoring the words Lincoln gave for a nation that is now your inheritance to remember.