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Primary sourceDocument1867

Report on the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg

Pennsylvania General Assembly House of Representatives Select Committee Relative to the Soldiers' National Cemetery · 1867

An 1867 official Pennsylvania government report recording the dedication ceremony at Gettysburg, including Lincoln's dedicatory speech.

This official report records Lincoln's dedicatory speech at Gettysburg as part of the cemetery's founding ceremony.

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Report on the Soldiers' National Cemetery at GettysburgPDF · 300 pages
Revised Report Made to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, Relative to the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg, 1867.

About this source

What it is

This is an official report made to the Pennsylvania legislature in 1867 by a special committee, documenting the founding of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg. It includes the address by Edward Everett, Lincoln's dedicatory speech, and a later address by Major General O. O. Howard.

Why it matters

This report preserves an official record of the Gettysburg cemetery's dedication, situating Lincoln's short speech alongside the much longer formal oration by Everett. It shows how a government body documented a major wartime commemoration of the dead.

Look closer

  • Why might a state government have ordered an official report about this cemetery?
  • How does the placement of Lincoln's speech next to Everett's longer address change how you read it?
  • What does this report leave out about the battle itself?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Abraham Lincoln on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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