Why did Lincoln give a speech after Battle of Gettysburg, why not some other?

Question

The Gettysburg Address was given after the Battle of Gettysburg, but what's I'm asking here is why, specifically, after the battle of Gettysburg? why not some other battle?

Answer 1

Lincoln was at Gettysburg not to give a speech commemorating the battle itself, but rather to dedicate the National Cemetery there. And if you know something about the event, you know that Lincoln wasn't even the featrured speaker. Edward Everett was. Lincoln was invited mainly as a courtesy.

Everett can best be characterized as an orator. That is, a professional speech giver. His talk was over 2 hours long. Lincoln spoke after Everett and took just over 2 minutes.

Lincoln himself, and indeed many of his contemporaries, thought the speech he gave that day was not his best. But of course we know today that the Gettysburg Address was Lincoln's defining moment. And it was the speech that redefined not only the Civil War, but the very nature of this nation.

Answer 2

Gettysburg was chosen over the other battlefields for a number of reasons, the main one being that it was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War....over 50,000 killed from both sides. The second highest was over 30,000 at Chicamauga.

Sacrificing so many boys to preserve the Union called for a special occasion to bless the 'hallowed' ground.

Other reasons, it was located in the "showcase" theatre of the War, the Eastern Theatre, where the showcase army of the north (Army of the Potomic) fought the showcase army of the south (Army of Northern Virginia.

Although it marked the high tide of the Confederacy, i doubt whether the President, at the time, considered that in his decision to deliver the speach. Like the person stated above, commemoraton of the Cemetery was the prime reason he was there in the first place, playing second fiddle to an orator nobody remembers.

Answer 3

His speech was not directly after the battle. Most of the men had been buried after the battle hastily in shallow graves. It took a while for the bodies to be dug up, identified, and reburied properly. The speech he gave was to dedicate the new cemetary. Another speaker spoke for nearly two hours before Lincoln spoke and because people were talking when he started, and he didn't speak very long, most of the people had not heard him or even knew he had spoken. The speech was printed in the newspapers and that is how it got famous.

Answer 4

As for the "why," I don't need to add to what some of the others have already said, but I do want to address ed's incorrect assertion about the number of deaths at Gettysburg.

There were approximately 58,000 Americans killed in Vietnam. At Gettysburg the total number of casualties -- killed, wounded, missing, etc. -- did not even equal that. The estimates of casualties at Gettysburg vary, but the upper limit would be about 51,000, with about 7,500 of those being killed.

Answer 5

Are we doing your homework or something. Honestly I have to question you not giving any detail and yet asking WHY it was Gettysburg that was chosen. Gettysburg was a 3 day battle and one of the bloodiest. It is often referred to as the turning point of the Civil War. It was the second time the Confederates attempted to attack Northern soil. It was also the last. That is likely why it is the turning point. Beyond the South being pretty much put away at that point(if you knew the war you would understand). As to the address as was said he addressed the crowd. He spoke to them, they were his audience.

Answer 6

It was a huge battle with an enourmous amount of deaths. More Americans died there in 4 days than 10 years in Vietnam.

Answer 7

It was the deadliest battle, and an important point in the war.