July & November 1863Reputable sourceWell documented
Gettysburg and the Gettysburg Address
On the timeline · around July & November 1863 ·
What happened
In July 1863, Union forces turned back Robert E. Lee's invasion of the North at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in the bloodiest battle of the war — with some 51,000 casualties over three days. That November, dedicating the battlefield cemetery, Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, redefining the war as a struggle for 'a new birth of freedom' and 'government of the people, by the people, for the people.'
Why it matters
Gettysburg was the war's decisive turning point, and Lincoln's 272 words became the most famous statement of American democratic ideals ever spoken.