The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
The Gettysburg Address
Delivered November 19, 1863, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
The president mourns fallen soldiers
"In a larger sense we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."
The Battle of Gettysburg was a major turning point in the Civil War. It took place during the first few days of July 1863 on the outskirts of a small town in Pennsylvania. In the hills and fields surrounding Gettysburg, seventy-five thousand Confederate soldiers under General Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) faced off against ninety thousand Union troops under Major General George Meade (1815–1872). Both sides had a great deal at stake.
Lee had won a decisive battle at Chancellorsville, Virginia, in May, defeating a Union force twice the size of his own army. This victory increased the confidence of Lee and of the entire Confederacy. They believed that one more major win on the battlefield would turn Northerners against the war and force President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) to negotiate peace.
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