On this date in 1863 a battlefield in Gettysburg, PA, was dedicated as a national cemetery, the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. The chief speaker, Edward Everett, spoke for two hours at the ceremony. President Abraham Lincoln was invited to add a few words. His brief speech is now known as the immortal Gettysburg Address. Abraham Lincoln’s carefully crafted address, secondary to other presentations that day, came to be regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history. In just over two minutes, Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis, with “a new birth of freedom,” that would bring true equality to all of its citizens. Lincoln also redefined the Civil War as a struggle not just for the Union, but also for the principle of human equality.