November 19, 1863: Lincoln Delivers Gettysburg Address

On this day in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of a military cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania during the American Civil War.

The speech reflected Lincoln’s redefined conviction that the Civil War was not just a fight to maintain the Union but also a struggle for freedom and equality for all. Although the speech consisted of only 272 words, it remains one of the most powerful and memorable discourses in American history.

Read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address on Ken Burns’s “The Civil War” site.

Photo: Only known and confirmed photograph of Lincoln at Gettysburg, Library of Congress