By Alex J. Hayes
Soldiers’ National Cemetery honors the fallen and helps Americans reflect on modern-day trials
More than 6,000 U.S. soldiers perpetually lie in graves at the intersection of Gettysburg’s Taneytown Road and Baltimore Pike. Of those, 3,500 died defending the United States during the Battle of Gettysburg. Less than five months after that battle, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his immortal Gettysburg Address.
Those facts are known to most or can be found through a simple internet search. But as the 161st anniversary of the Gettysburg Address approaches, why is Gettysburg National Cemetery so special, and what lessons can we learn from it today?
“In America, all of these things we say that we believe—equality, freedom, justice, democracy—they are just words on paper,” says Chris Gwynn, Gettysburg National Military Park’s chief of interpretation and education. “To make it real requires something of all of us. All too often, unfortunately, it requires young men and women sacrificing their lives for the perpetuation of this American idea.”
Unique From the Start
Gwynn and his National Park Service colleagues take great pride in maintaining the cemetery, originally known as Soldiers’ National Cemetery, and sharing its story with the public. But the current 22-acre plot did not begin with federal funding governed by regulations.
The three-day Civil War Battle of Gettysburg ended on July 3, 1863. Bodies covered the area’s farm fields. Union comrades quickly dug shallow graves and buried their battle brothers where they lay. Those who fought for the Confederacy were often tossed into mass graves.
Local attorney David Wills and Pennsylvania Gov. Andrew Curtain knew men who died to preserve the United States deserved better. Also, the farmers had a right to have their grounds restored so they could resume operations.
The concept of a national cemetery did not exist in 1863. The dead were normally buried in local cemeteries, often associated with a church. The Civil War uprooted that possibility.
Gettysburg resident Samuel Weaver was hired to oversee a crew that exhumed the bodies and reburied them on a plot of land near Gettysburg’s southern border. Only Union soldiers were welcomed, so Weaver and his crew meticulously inspected the bodies to ensure they belonged there. Of the
3,512 Battle of Gettysburg soldiers, 979 are completely unknown, but the National Park Service is fairly confident they were Union soldiers, Gwynn says.
Gettysburg Address
Four-and-a-half months after the Battle of Gettysburg, on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln visited Gettysburg to play what was planned to be a small part in the cemetery’s dedication ceremony. After notable orator Edward Everett spoke for two hours, Lincoln uttered 272 words in two minutes. He focused on the importance of unity, the Declaration of Independence and self-government. Those words, now known as the Gettysburg Address, became one of the most famous speeches in American history.
Before coming to Gettysburg, Gwynn worked in Washington, D.C. Every day, he would see protestors passionate about some issue or another use the Gettysburg Address to promote their cause. The next day, protestors on the other side of the issue would also use those same words in their argument.
When truly digested, Gwynn believes, the address can serve as a guidepost for all Americans at all times in our history. Lincoln did not mention any specific date or place and, in turn, gave his short speech an enormous shelf life.
“Anytime as Americans we are in a moment of crisis or we need guidance, or we are trying to reaffirm who we are as a people as a nation, you can pull the Gettysburg Address off the shelf and it is still applicable today as it was 161 years ago,” Gwynn says.
Mirrors History
The Gettysburg Address’ “enormous shelf life” became especially useful as Soldiers’ National Cemetery evolved.
The federal government assumed ownership of the cemetery in 1872, and that is when the name changed to Gettysburg National Cemetery. American soldiers who died in almost every American conflict, including the Spanish-American War and the Vietnam War, are returned to America to join their Civil War comrades in Gettysburg.
“The cemetery mirrors the trajectory of history for another 120 years,” Gwynn says. “It is a reflection of the trials and tribulations of our nation from Gettysburg to almost today as well as a reminder that we must struggle and fight to preserve American democracy.”
The youngest person buried in the cemetery is Paul Heller, a Marine killed in action at the World War II Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942. The last person buried there was a Civil War soldiers whose remains were found in the Gettysburg National Military Park Railroad Cut in 1996.
More than Tombstones
As you walk around the cemetery, the tombstones are apparent, but many other aspects of the property help to illustrate its significance.
Gwynn often gets questions from visitors about the cannons, he says, and he reminds visitors that the cemetery did not exist until after the war. During those early days of July 1863, the ground was the site of fighting between Union and Confederate soldiers.
The trees that provide shade to the grounds were added after the cemetery was built, so they are not Witness Trees, the name given to trees that stood during the battle.
Less obvious than the trees are small black plaques with white lettering. Each features a stanza from Theodore O’Hara’s Bivouac of the Dead poem. O’Hara wrote the poem about the loss of life he witnessed while fighting in the Mexican-American War. It appears in many national cemeteries, and Gwynn believes it is not just about the loss of life but about the healing process soldiers must endure while trying to process the emotional trauma of losing comrades.
Much more obvious than the plaques is the Soldiers’ National Monument standing 60-feet tall in the center of the cemetery.
The monument’s base was dedicated in 1865, and the entire structure was completed in 1869. Four figures sit at the base—a woman with wheat who represents plenty, a gentleman holding a hammer who represents prosperity, a Union soldier with a rifle in one hand and the other hand outstretched while telling the story of the men buried in those grounds, and finally Chloe, the Greek Muse of History, who is recording the deeds of those men.
“They are reflective and indicative of America at the end of the American Civil War,” Gwynn says. “That idea is powerful, that what these men did on this battlefield will long be remembered.”
What visitors do not see is that the bodies of those soldiers are buried with their heads pointing toward Soldiers’ National Monument, the central point of the cemetery.
“The thought was that at the end of time, when these soldiers are resurrected, they would rise out of their graves and look over the cemetery where they fought and died,” says Gwynn.
Why Visit?
One hundred sixty-one years after Lincoln dedicated the cemetery, life is much different. Anyone can learn about the Battle of Gettysburg by searching online or visiting a library. Yet, every day, people from across the country can be found quietly strolling past the gravestones or participating in a ranger-led talk.
“What they are trying to do is connect with something and make it real,” Gwynn says. “Walking up to a grave and reading the names of the dead humanizes the battle. Battles are not fought by lines on a map, they are fought by people.”
Significance to Locals
Gwynn is not a Gettysburg native, but he is proud to say his children are. He believes anyone who lives here, especially people who were born here, can say that their community’s history includes a chapter with such national significance.
“Gettysburg is the fault line for our national existence,” he says. “We continue to use this space to think about who we are and confront our challenges.”
During major events, such as Dedication Day in November and Memorial Day in May, small town meets big America when visitors hear the Gettysburg Area High School Band play for events as they are greeted by the borough’s mayor.
Those events often feature well-known speakers, including Steven Spielberg, Anthony Scalia, President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Tom Brokaw. Over the years, those speakers reflect on the Civil War in relation to the events of the present day. Much like Lincoln did not realize how the impact his Gettysburg Address would have, he likely did not predict how he would make the cemetery a significant spot for oratory.
“Soldiers’ National Cemetery, since its creation, has been a place Americans have come back to to rethink our society and its values,” Gwynn says.
Memorial Illumination & Speaker to Mark Dedication Day
The National Park Service will mark the 161st anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, beginning with its annual Remembrance Day Illumination on Nov. 16, 2024. A candle will be placed on each of the 3,512 Civil War soldiers’ graves and their names will be read throughout the evening .
“When you stand here on a normal day, it looks mostly like an open field because you have to get close to read the stones,” says Chris Gwynn, Gettysburg National Military Park’s chief of interpretation and education. “When you have a candle at each of those graves, it brings magnitude and the enormity of the cemetery into sharper focus.”
On November 19, the Lincoln Fellowship will host its annual Dedication Day Ceremony beginning at 10:30 a.m. The program features a wreath-laying, music, and a U.S. Naturalization and Citizenship ceremony.
This year’s keynote speaker will be Dr. Craig Symonds, professor emeritus at the United States Naval Academy, where he taught naval history and Civil War History for 30 years.
