Gettysburg

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Site of one of the decisive battles of the American Civil War: a Confederate defeat by Union forces 1–3 July 1863, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 80 km/50 mi northwest of Baltimore. The site is now a national cemetery, at the dedication of which President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on 19 November 1863, a speech in which he reiterated the principles of freedom, equality, and democracy embodied in the US Constitution. The site is part of Gettysburg National Military Park (1895).

The South's heavy losses at Gettysburg came in the same week as their defeat at Vicksburg, and the Confederacy remained on the defensive for the rest of the war. The battle ended Robert E Lee's invasion of the North.

The address begins with ‘Fourscore and seven years ago’, and ends with an assertion of ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the people’.

Red represents the blood of Jesus. Effective date: c. 1862. >>