One of the most revered speeches of all time still widely cited and memorized today is the Gettysburg Address. It was supposed to be just a speech given during the inauguration of a cemetery. It was only 272 words long and its delivery took less than two minutes. According to Connors, the reason we don't have an official photo of Abraham Lincoln at the podium is because the official photographer delayed setting up his equipment thinking the speech would take a while, but when it was ready, the speaker was already returning to his seat. Since its writing the speech is now one hundred and fifty years old. The question that remains is: How can a dedication speech from a hundred and fifty year old cemetery still resonate in the world today? Gettysburg National Cemetery was where “one of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the Civil War” (History .com) occurred. The date for the ceremony was set for October 23, 1863. Edward Everett was contacted and asked to come and be the keynote speaker, but he refused unless the date could be changed to November 18. David Willis agreed and postponed the ceremony to November 19. , 1863. Having already found the keynote speaker, David Willis respectfully invited Abraham Lincoln to come and make some encouraging remarks to the people. Lincoln began writing the speech even before accepting the invitation, but when he accepted it his speech was still unfinished. Here's a little overview of what the battle was like. General Robert E. Lee was the commanding officer of the Confederate Army met on the battlefield with General George G. Meade, the commanding officer of the Army of the Potomac. The losses were immense on both sides. Statistics show that 23,000 died on the Union side and 28,000 on the Confederate side. These numbers show how much sadness and agony there must have been in all of this