[6 Sep 2015: Correction Made & Additional Link Added to Finger Lakes Post]
While the Battle of Gettysburg turned the tide in favor of the Union the address by President Lincoln on 19 Oct 1863 was one of the more memorable by any president.
[Photos taken on 17 & 18 Aug 2015]
Another outstanding speaker once wrote, "I wrote a long speech -- because I didn't have time to write a short one." The speaker: Winston Churchill.
The speaker prior to Lincoln spoke for two hours; Lincoln spoke for two minutes.
While staying at the home of the lawyer whom the Pennsylvania governor selected to buy the property for the National Cemetery, Lincoln obeyed Churchill's advice -- well before it was ever written.
The layout of the Gettysburg National Cemetery.
Soldier's National Monument on the site where Lincoln delivered The Gettysburg Address [which follows].
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Links:
- National Park Service website for Gettysburg National Military Park
- Wikipedia article on The Gettysburg Address
Routes:
F 28 Aug Actual Route: Geneva, NY, W/M - Waterloo - Seneca Falls Lib - Watkins Glen, NY, NY14 bd
Sa 29 Aug Actual Route: NY14 bd - Montour Falls Lib - Watkins Glen Lib - Ithaca Best Buy - Walmart
Su 30 Aug Actual Route: Ithaca, NY, W/M - Lowe's - Robert Treman NY State Park
M 31 Aug Actual Route: Robert Treman NY SP - Lowe's - Cortland Lib - I-81 Rest Area
T 1 Sep Actual Route: I-81 Rest Area - Cazenovia McDs - Richfield Sprs - Cooperstown - BBall Hall of Fame - Oneonta W/M
W 2 Sep Actual Route: Oneonta W/M - Lowe's - Cobleskill, NY, McDs - Amsterdam W/M
Th 3 Sep Actual Route: Amsterdam W/M - Hm Depot - Gloversville, NY, Lib - Walmart - Runnings Store Pk Lot bd
F 4 Sep Actual Route: Runnings Store Pk Lot bd - Gloverville Lib - Barber Shop - Runnings Store Pk Lot bd
Sa 5 Sep Actual Route: Runnings Store Pk Lot bd - Walmart - Gloverville Lib - Runnings Store Pk Lot bd
Su 6 Sep Actual Route: Runnings Store Pk Lot bd - Walmart - Gloverville Lib - Runnings Store Pk Lot bd
M 7 Sep Route: Runnings Store Pk Lot bd - Walmart - Gloverville Lib - Arterial Shop Ctr - Walmart
Finding Campgrounds:
- RV Campgrounds from TrailerLifeDirectory.com
- Family Camping Directories from Woodalls.com
- Free campsites website
- Info on finding BLM Campgrounds
