The Civil War in Pennsylvania

What was the most important battle in Pennsylvania during the Civil War?

It was the Battle of Gettysburg, which took place on July 1 through 3, 1863, in southern Pennsylvania. The battle was General Robert E. Lee's final attempt to invade the North. Even though the Union army won the battle, more than 51,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured in the bloodiest battle of the entire war.

At the dedication ceremony of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous speech, the Gettysburg Address. You may have heard the famous opening words before: "Four score and seven years ago." The Gettysburg Address is a very short speech. It is less than 300 words, and it probably seemed even shorter at the time because Lincoln delivered his address after a two-hour speech by orator Edward Everett.

At one point in the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln says: "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." 

Lincoln is unclear when he talks about the soldiers who died during the Battle of Gettysburg. Perhaps he wanted Southerners to believe he was including the Confederate as well as the Union soldiers. By calling for a "new birth of freedom" for the nation, Lincoln may have been asking the South to rejoin the union.

Page 1 of 1