The Battle of Gettysburg

Big Events:

• Day 1: Both sides met unexpectedly, starting a big fight.

• Day 2: More fighting! One big try from the Confederates called "Pickett's Charge" didn't work out.

• Day 3: The last big fight ended with the Confederates retreating. The Union won the battle.

The Battle of Gettysburg

What Changed?

• Aftermath: Over 50,000 soldiers were hurt or lost.

• Importance: The Union winning here helped turn the tide of the Civil War in their favor.

• Referred to as a "turning point" in the war.

The Gettysburg Address

What Was It?

• What? A speech given by Abraham Lincoln.

• When: November 19, 1863 (a few months after the battle).

• Where: At the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg.

The Gettysburg Address

What Did Lincoln Say?

• Start: "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers made a new country based on freedom and equality."

• Middle: Lincoln talked about how important it was to remember the soldiers who fought and died at Gettysburg.

• End: He said it was up to everyone to make sure the country stays free and that everyone is treated equally. Also, that the fight was to keep the union together.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in

Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so

dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a

portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might

live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, 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. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who

fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task

remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which

they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have

died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom— and that government of

the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

The Gettysburg Address

Why Remember It?

• Cool Fact: Even though it was short, the Gettysburg Address is one of the most famous speeches in American history!

• It reminds us of the sacrifices made in the Civil War and the values our country was built on.

• It holds a lasting legacy in America, based on our shared values.