Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, at the formal dedication ceremony of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The occasion was to consecrate the battlefield cemetery where thousands of Union soldiers who died in the Battle of Gettysburg were laid to rest
. This ceremony took place about four and a half months after the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), which was one of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the American Civil War, resulting in a Union victory that turned the tide of the war in favor of the North
. Lincoln’s speech honored the fallen soldiers and sought to give deeper meaning to their sacrifice by framing the war as a struggle for the survival of a nation “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”
. In summary, the occasion being celebrated was the dedication of a national cemetery to honor the Union soldiers who died at Gettysburg, marking a solemn commemoration of their sacrifice and a reaffirmation of the Union’s cause in the Civil War
