I have been counting the days for my trip to Gettysburg, and tomorrow morning I will be on my way with my grad class for a three day trip. The last time I visited Gettysburg I was about nine and had no idea what was really so special about this historical landscape. I've finished reading Battle Cry of Freedom, by James McPherson which I highly recommend for anyone who wants to read one of the best books out there on the Civil War. Not to mention it won a Pulitzer Prize.
Nearly 7,000 soldiers were killed at Gettysburg, over 33,000 were wounded. Such staggering figures are hard to imagine. Over 600,000 men were killed in the Civil War and hundreds of thousands were injured. (The Civil War Handbook, by Mark Hughes)
So, I thought it was fitting today to insert a copy of Lincoln's eloquent speech delivered at the dedication of the Gettysburg Battlefield National Cemetery on November 19, 1863. This image was taken from the scribed on the wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It is taken from the Library of Congress website at: The Gettysburg Address (Library of Congress Exhibition).
Click to view readable image. See you when I get back. Unless I post from Gettysburg.
