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On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln headed on horseback through the streets of Gettysburg to deliver his most famous speech. He rode past the impressive gatehouse at the Evergreen Cemetery to the newly dug graves of Union soldiers that lay beyond it. The gatehouse was the home of a German immigrant family that had endured the battle and spearheaded the first burials after it ended.

Gettysburg Address as recited by Jeff Daniels. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

The battle of Gettysburg was the largest engagement of the Civil War, and--with more than 51,000 casualties--also the deadliest. The highest regimental casualty rate at Gettysburg, an estimated 85 percent, was incurred by the 26th North Carolina Infantry. Who were these North Carolinians? Why were they at Gettysburg? How did they come to suffer such a grievous distinction? In Covered with Glory, award-winning historian Rod Gragg reveals the extraordinary story of the 26th North Carolina in fascinating detail.

"The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, one of the best-known in American history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are...

1st Lieutenant Alonzo Hersford Cushing to be awarded Medal of Honor Lt Cushing was killed in the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 He stood his ground and fought on despite a bullet wound to the head Congress grant special exemption to give Lt Cushing the medal 151 years on Relatives and admirers had campaigned since 1980s for proper recognition Two Vietnam War veterans will also receive medal in ceremony next month

Outside, a heavy summer rainstorm thrashed the streets of Richmond, Va. Inside Libby Prison that afternoon — July 8, 1863 — hundreds of captured Union officers sprawled across the bare wooden floors of the converted tobacco warehouse, picking lice out of their underwear and passing around copies of Richmond newspapers. The news was grim for the Yankees: Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army had defeated Gen. George Meade’s Union troops at a Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg. “OUR ARMY AGAIN VICTORIOUS,” read the headline in The Richmond Examiner, “MEADE’S ARMY ANNIHILATED.” “THE ENEMY ROUTED,” reported the Richmond Dispatch. “FORTY THOUSAND PRISONERS...

The Deadliest Riot in American History At the height of the Civil War, just weeks after thousands of men had died on the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pa., a sweltering New York City—crowded, filthy, and seething with class and ethnic tensions—erupted in mob violence. The draft riots would rage across the city for five brutal days, during which the white working masses—many of whom had narrowly escaped Ireland’s devastating potato famine—vented their fury on wealthy New Yorkers, abolitionists, Republicans, and, most viciously, the African-American populace. To this day the riots of July 1863 remain the bloodiest civil disturbance in American history,...

July 3 marks the last day of the battle of Gettysburg 150 years ago -- Pickett's Charge, the "high water mark of the Confederacy." July 4 is of course Independence Day, but this year it is also the sesquicentennial of the surrender of Vicksburg, which split the rebel states in two by securing the length of the Mississippi for the Union. This week, a century and a half ago, marked the certain beginning of the end for the Confederacy and thus of slavery and the rise of the great Republic of freedom. To commemorate this week, I am spending the...

President Woodrow Wilson, a son of Virginia, summarized the spirit of this historic event with his July 4, 1913 Gettysburg Reunion Address by saying: quote "We have found one another again as brothers and comrades in arms, enemies no longer, generous friends rather, our battles long past, the quarrel forgotten—except that we shall not forget the splendid valor.” unquote

HISTORY® is partnering with the Gettysburg Foundation and the National Park Service to bring you Gettysburg: A New Birth of Freedom. Tune in live on Sunday, June 30 at 8pm ET [7pm CT, 6pm MT, 5pm PT] for music by the United States Military Academy Orchestra, a performance of the national anthem by country music artist Trace Adkins ...