Gettysburg

Gettysburg , borough (1990 pop. 7,025), seat of Adams co., S Pa.; inc. 1806. There is agriculture and the production of furniture and metal goods. Gettysburg was settled c.1780 and is named for Gen. James Gettys, to whom its site was granted (17th cent.) by William Penn. The Gettysburg campaign (1863) was a turning point in the Civil War; President Abraham Lincoln made his famous Gettysburg Address there. Gettysburg National Military Park, including the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center with its cyclorama painting of the battle; Gettysburg National Cemetery; and the farm of President Dwight D. Eisenhower are national historic shrines and popular tourist attractions (see National Parks and Monuments , table). In the borough are Gettysburg College and Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.

Gettysburg a town in Pennsylvania, near which the Battle of Gettysburg, a decisive battle of the American Civil War, was fought in July 1863. A Union army under General Meade repulsed the Confederate army of General Lee and forced him to abandon his invasion of the north.
Gettysburg address a speech delivered on 19 November 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of the national cemetery on the site of the Battle of Gettysburg, opening with the words, ‘Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.’