I had been to Gettysburg twice before, albeit years ago, so this time, when Michael Kasprzyk asked me to make the road trip with him, I decided, rather than devote all my time to the battlefield, to focus instead on that which changed America forever:
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
I wanted to go to the National Cemetery there - where more than 3,500 Union soldiers were buried in the weeks and months after the battle - for two reasons.
One - The address made by Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863 in which he dedicated the National Cemetery had the most profound effect on the American people of any speech any prominent American has ever made. Rivaled only by Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream.'
Secondly, these twelve words:
".. 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮 ..."
Tellingly, the Declaration of Independence - written in 1776 - does not contain the word 'freedom.' This despite the fact that we were demanding freedom from the British monarch.
Well, we demanded freedom for some of us anyway. But for those enslaved?
Nothing.
Then, when the Constitution was enacted in 1789, involuntary indentured servitude was officially incorporated as a part of our political system. Literally written into the Constitution.
Slavery.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 '𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮' 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯.
So Lincoln - with 360,000 Union soldiers 'giving their last full measure of devotion' to make it happen - announced to the world 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮, one not only righting the wrong of 1776 but also announcing that henceforth and forevermore we would 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦.
And so we are. ALL of us.
This is what makes Abraham Lincoln the greatest President in history. And this is why I came to pay my respects.
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For what it's worth, Lincoln didn't make his historic speech where the monument honoring him sits. He gave his speech in another section of the cemetery about 300 yards away. On that spot sits the National Soldiers Monument.
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If you ever go to Gettysburg to tour the battlefield you'd do well to buy the National Park Service app that provides detailed narration. It coordinates your movements the same way your car's GPS system does and tells you where to go when. It even tells you when you made a wrong turn. The app narration really brings the battle to life.
It takes you through the three-day battle one day at a time, ending with Pickett's Charge.
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The battle itself? Don't get stuck on Pickett's Charge. Look to what General James Longstreet called “The best three hours’ fighting ever done by any troops on any battlefield.” Day 2. Longstreet's assault on the Union Left. It was horrific. And spectacular. In three hours there were amassed 20,000 casualties on the two sides. Devil's Den, the Wheatfield, the Peach Orchard, Little Round Top, the Valley of Death, Cemetery Ridge. Incredible.
