Soldiers' National Cemetery (Gettysburg, Pa.)

Gettysburg National Cemetery, originally called Soldiers' National Cemetery, is a United States national cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, created for Union army casualties sustained in the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg was fought over three days between July 1 to 3, 1863, and proved both the Civil War's deadliest and most significant battle. It resulted in over 50,000 casualties, the most of any battle in both the Civil War and all of American military history. But the battle also proved to be the war's turning point, turning the Civil War decisively in the Union's favor and leading ultimately to the nation's preservation. On November 19, 1863, four and a half months after the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S. president, traveled to Gettysburg National Cemetery, where he participated in a ceremonial consecration of it and delivered the Gettysburg Address, which is now considered one of the most famous and historically significant speeches in American history. The day of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is observed annually at the cemetery and in Gettysburg as "Remembrance Day", which includes a parade, procession, and memorial ceremonies by thousands of Civil War reenactor troops representing both Union and Confederate armies and descendant heritage organizations led by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) and the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). The cemetery contains 3,512 interments from the Civil War, including the graves of 979 unknowns. It also has sections for veterans of subsequent wars, including the Spanish–American War (1898), World War I (1917–1918), and others, and includes graves of the veterans' spouses and children. The total number of interments exceeds 6,000. Battlefield monuments, memorials, and markers are scattered throughout the cemetery, and its stone walls, iron fences and gates, burial and section markers, and brick sidewalk are listed as contributing structures within Gettysburg Battlefield Historic District. The land on which the cemetery is located was part of the Gettysburg Battlefield, and the cemetery is within Gettysburg National Military Park, which is administered by the National Park Service, a U.S. government agency administered by the U.S. Department of Interior.