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Marking 150 years since the Gettysburg Address

GettysburgCemetary.jpg

Photo by witf/Matt Paul

(Gettysburg) — Months after the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most famous speeches in US history during a dedication of a cemetery to mark the final resting place of soldiers killed in the three-day fight.

Today marks the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and a ceremony marking the anniversary will be held at 10 a.m. in the Solders’ National Cemetery.

Pulitzer Prize winning historian James McPherson and US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will be the keynote speakers at the commemoration of the event.

Gettysburg National Military Park spokeswoman Katie Lawhon says up to 10,000 people are expected to attend.

“We have 3,000 chairs that we are setting up in the cemetery, and then there is a lot of standing room for this event,” she explains. “The ceremony is anticipated to take about 90-minutes, so hopefully for those people who end up with standing-room-only it’s not too long of an event to stand through.”

Lawhon says an overflow area will be available near General Meade’s Headquarters on the battlefield and two Gettysburg theaters — the Majestic Theatre and Gateway Gettysburg Theater — will simulcast the event.

The Dedication Day ceremony is free and open to the public.

A number of related events are also happening in and around Gettysburg through Saturday.

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