Gettysburg National Cemetery facts for kids
Gettysburg National Cemetery is on Cemetery Hill in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A short time after the Battle of Gettysburg the place was bought. The Union dead were moved from shallow (not deep) burial places on the battlefield to the cemetery. It was supported by Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin. The local attorney David Wills was the person who mostly bought the land, managed the building of the cemetery, and planned its ceremony. However, the basic concept and early organizing efforts were led by rival lawyer David McConaughy. The landscape architect William Saunders designed the cemetery. It was called the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg at first.
It was dedicated on November 19, 1863. Edward Everett spoke at the ceremony. Abraham Lincoln followed with the shorter but much more famous Gettysburg Address.
3,512 Union soldiers were buried in the cemetery. 979 are unknown.
Images for kids
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President Lincoln (seated, left of center) at the cemetery's consecration, November 19, 1863
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Granite bands mark the graves of unknown soldiers.
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National Cemetery rostrum (1879)
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1st Minnesota Infantry Memorial Urn (1867), first battlefield monument installed in the national cemetery
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Major-General John F. Reynolds (1872) by John Quincy Adams Ward
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New York State Monument (1893)
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Lincoln Address Memorial (1912)
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Kentucky State Monument (1975)
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Friend to Friend Masonic Memorial (1994)
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The cemetery's south end contains graves of soldiers from more recent wars. The back of the Lincoln Address Memorial is at upper left.
