When was the Gettysburg Address delivered?

The Gettysburg Address was delivered by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863 at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the three-day Battle of Gettysburg from July 1 to 3, 1863 had ended in a Union victory and the deaths of more than 7,800 soldiers in the fields, ridges, and town of Gettysburg.

The need for a national cemetery arose immediately after the battle. Decomposing bodies in shallow graves and exposed positions across the battlefield posed a public health crisis for the small town of about 2,400 residents. Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin authorized local attorney David Wills to organize a permanent burial ground. Wills purchased 17 acres adjacent to the existing Evergreen Cemetery on Cemetery Hill and contracted for systematic reinterment of Union dead in a semicircular plot organized by state.

The new cemetery was dedicated on November 19, 1863. Wills invited Edward Everett, the famous orator and former Harvard president, secretary of state, and Massachusetts senator, to deliver the keynote in September 1863. Everett requested a postponement to give him time to prepare the long oration he expected to deliver, and the dedication was rescheduled from October 23 to November 19. President Lincoln was invited only on November 2, 1863, just over two weeks before the event, in a letter from Wills asking him to make a few appropriate remarks formally setting apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks.

Lincoln decided to attend partly because he saw an opportunity to articulate the meaning of the war to a national audience, and partly to encourage the Union war effort. He left Washington by train on November 18, 1863 and stayed at the David Wills House on Lincoln Square in Gettysburg the night before the dedication, putting finishing touches on his speech.

The dedication ceremony on November 19, 1863 began with a procession from town to the cemetery led by military bands. After a prayer by Reverend Thomas H. Stockton, Everett delivered his two hour oration, which was a learned discussion of the battle and a comparison with the funeral oration of Pericles. After music and a short hymn, Lincoln delivered his 272 word speech in roughly two minutes. About 15,000 people attended.

Lincoln returned to Washington that evening, ill with a mild case of smallpox that he had been incubating during the trip. The date is now commemorated as Dedication Day in Gettysburg with annual ceremonies.