Soldiers' National Cemetery
Soldiers' National Cemetery, in Gettysburg, is the final resting place of 3,512 Civil War casualties, 979 of which are unknown. It has sections for veterans of other wars, along with graves of the veterans' spouses and children. An annex was added in 1968 to accommodate servicemen killed in Vietnam, but soon filled to capacity and the cemetery officially closed to new burials in 1978.
Shortly after the battle ended, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin was horrified at what he saw: "ruined farms, homes filled with injured men, fresh graves of the fallen in every conceivable place on the field. Many of the Union dead lay in unmarked graves, only the fresh sod thrown over the remains identified the site as a burial. Heavy rains had washed away the earth from many of the shallow graves. Grotesquely blackened hands, arms and legs protruded from the earth like "the devil's own planting... a harvest of death" while the stench of death hung heavy in the air."
Several citizens approached the Governor with plans for a cemetery and he agreed that the commonwealth would provide funds and help transfer the remains of the Union dead from their initial burial plots. Soldiers' National Cemetery was established on the aptly named, Cemetery Hill, a portion of the nearly 4,000 acre-battlefield.
The cemetery is perhaps best known for its dedication ceremony, which took place on November 19, 1863. Edward Everett, who served as a US Senator, Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, Secretary of State and president of Harvard, delivered a two-hour keynote address. After a brief musical interlude, President Abraham Lincoln—invited to give a few remarks—rose and in just two minutes delivered his famous Gettysburg Address.
The cemetery has traditional, plain white tombstones set in rows like other national cemeteries, as well as flat numbered markers and several large sculptural monuments. Cemetery Hill has breathtaking views and it's hard to imagine that such a beautiful place could have been host to three days of such horror.
Soldiers' National Cemetery
1195 Baltimore Pike,
Gettysburg, PA 17325
