Soldiers And Sailors Remembers Gettysburg Address 150 Years Later
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought on this continent a new nation."
Abraham Lincoln's immortal speech on the battlefield in Gettysburg is inscribed, in its entirety, on the auditorium wall of Soldiers and Sailors Hall.
Curator Michael Kraus says the president's visit took place six months after the battle.
"It was a cold November day," Kraus says. "And it was outside. People waited for a long time outside in the cemetery, which was not quite finished yet. And then Lincoln rose, gave a very short speech 270 or 273 words, it's debated, and was finished."
At the time, many thought his speech a failure. Lincoln said, "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here."
He was wrong about that. 150 years later, the words still resonate.
A Lincoln re-enactor was scheduled to read the Gettysburg Address Tuesday night at 7p.m., at Soldiers and Sailors Hall.
NewsRadio 1020 KDKA also previewed the reading, by talking with President and CEO John McCabe, Director of Education and Curatorial Services Tim Neff and Curator and Historian Michael Kraus.
Listen to Soldiers and Sailors officials on NewsRadio 1020 KDKA:
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall Pt. 1
Kraus pointed out that Allegheny County specifically played an important role with tens of thousands of residents serving in the battle.
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall Pt. 2
"There were approximately 24,500 men that served from Allegheny County," said Kraus. "That's what this memorial is, to honor these men."
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall Pt. 3
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