Gettysburg Address

The Battle of Gettysburg began 5:30am on July 1, 1863, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (McLaughlin 48). General Meade of the Union and General Lee of the Confederacy set up their men, each one trying to anticipate what the other would do. As the battle continued, it seemed to Lee that his men were dropping faster than Meade's. He Decided to retreat. When sundown came on July3, 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg ended (McLaughlin 159). 23,040 Union soldier and close to 25,000 Confederate soldiers were dead. The confederates loaded up their dead and took them back to the South while the Union buried their fallen right there.

Four months after the battle, the dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery was scheduled to begin. President Lincoln received an invitation on November 2, 1863, from Attorney David Wills, agent to the Governor of Pennsylvania. Wi

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His 266 words and two minutes of history to come would forever be remembered by the American people (McLaughlin 195-196).

The dedication of the cemetery really only takes up about one sentence of Lincoln's address. His parents could not read or write so his only early education was bible stories which his mother had memorized (Freedman 9). Most importantly, he wants the Civil War to end. The reason they did not think that the President would be able to speak at such an occasion is because of the fact that he often preferred including humor in his speeches, something they considered inappropriate for the dedication of a cemetery (McLaughlin 189). One of the men was quoted as saying that "he was already a fine speaker" (Freedman 19). This is mostly due to the great deal of books and newspapers which Lincoln read and the teachings of Master Graham.

Lincoln was a great public speaker. The rest of the speech is used to stress the fact that Lincoln wants to rebuild his country and to make known the great sacrifice of the many people in the War. It isn't often that a nation finds a man as great as Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, here, wanted to make sure that the citizens of their nation did not take this war lightly (Freedman 75).

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Approximate Word count = 1401
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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