Gettysburg National Battlefield

Gettysburg National Battlefield Park

The site of the Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1, 1863, one of the decisive battles of the Civil War, is now the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park. After the battle the 2400 residents of Gettysburg, along with the Union Army, had to deal with 7,000 dead and 30,000 wounded soldiers. On November 19, 1863, the Soldiers’ National Cemetery was dedicated in the historic ceremony where President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. The cemetery was completed in March 1864 with the last of 3,512 Union dead reburied. It became a National Cemetery on May 1, 1872, when control was transferred to the U.S. War Department.

The removal of Confederate dead from the field burial plots was undertaken seven years after the battle. From 1870 to 1873, 3,320 bodies were disinterred and sent to cemeteries in the cities of Raleigh, Savannah, and Charleston, for reburial, 2,935 being interred in Richmond.

Gettysburg National Military Park was established in 1985 by legislation signed by President Grover Cleveland, and was passed to the National Park Service from the War Department in 1933.

Today, the park consists of 6,000 acres, 30 miles of roads, and over 1,400 monuments and markers. Annually, over 2 million people visit the park museum, which contains exhibit galleries, and features two theaters, a multi-media resource center, a museum bookstore/gift shop, and a restaurant.