For the residents of Gettysburg the aftermath of battle was almost as
trying as the 3 days of struggle that had swirled about them. The town’s
2,400 inhabitants, and the nearby country folk, bore a heavy share of
the burden of caring for the 21,000 wounded and dying of both sides, who
were left behind when the armies moved on. Spacious rooms in churches
and schools and hundreds of homes were turned over to the care of the
wounded; and kindly folk from neighboring towns came to help those of
Gettysburg in ministering to the needs of the maimed and shattered men.
Adequate attention to the wounded was an immediate necessity, but fully
as urgent was the need of caring for the dead. Nearly 6,000 had been
killed in action, and hundreds died each day from mortal wounds. In the
earlier stages of the battle, soldiers of both armies performed the
tasks of burying their fallen comrades, but the struggle had reached
such large proportions and the scene of battle had so shifted that
fallen men had come within enemy lines. Because of the emergencies of
battle, therefore, hundreds of bodies had been left unburied or only
partially covered. It was evident that the limited aid which could be
offered by local authorities must be supported by a well-organized plan
for disinterment of the dead from the temporary burial grounds on the
field and reburial in a permanent place at Gettysburg or in home
cemeteries.
A few days after the battle, the Governor of the Commonwealth, Hon.
Andrew Curtin, visited the battlefield to offer assistance in caring for
the wounded. When official duties required his return to Harrisburg, he
appointed Attorney David Wills, of Gettysburg, to act as his special
agent. At the time of his visit, the Governor was especially distressed
by the condition of the dead. In response to the Governor’s desire that
the remains be brought together in a place set aside for the purpose,
Mr. Wills selected land on the northern slope of Cemetery Hill and
suggested that the State of Pennsylvania purchase the ground at once in
order that interments could begin without delay. He proposed that
contributions for the purpose of laying out and landscaping the grounds
be asked from legislatures of the States whose soldiers had taken part
in the battle.
Within 6 weeks, Mr. Wills had purchased 17 acres of ground on Cemetery
Hill and engaged William Saunders, an eminent landscape gardener, to lay
out the grounds in State lots, apportioned in size to the number of
graves for the fallen of each State. Each of the Union States
represented in the battle made contributions for planning and
landscaping.
The reinterment of 3,512 bodies in the cemetery was accomplished only
after many months. Great care had been taken to identify the bodies on
the field, and, at the time of reinterment, remains were readily
identified by marked boards which had been placed at the field grave or
by items found on the bodies. Even so, the names of 1,664 remained
unknown, 979 of whom were without identification either by name or by
State. Within a year, appropriations from the States made possible the
enclosure of the cemetery with a massive stone wall and an iron fence on
the Baltimore Street front, imposing gateways of iron, headstones for
the graves, and a keeper’s lodge. Since the original burials, the total
of Civil War interments has reached 3,706. Including those of later
wars, the total number now is 4,399.
[Illustration: _Photograph of Lincoln taken a few days before he
left Washington en route to Gettysburg, November 1863._ (Gardner
photograph.)]
[Illustration: _The Soldiers’ National Monument, commemorating the
Federal dead who fell at Gettysburg, was dedicated July 1, 1869. It
is located at the place where Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg
Address._]
The removal of Confederate dead from the field burial plots was not
undertaken until 7 years after the battle. During the years 1870-73,
upon the initiative of the Ladies Memorial Associations of Richmond,
Raleigh, Savannah, and Charleston, 3,320 bodies were disinterred and
sent to cemeteries in those cities for reburial, 2,935 being interred in
Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond. Seventy-three bodies were reburied in home
cemeteries.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania incorporated the cemetery in January
1864. The cemetery “having been completed, and the care of it by
Commissioners from so many states being burdensome and expensive,” the
Board of Commissioners, authorized by act of the General Assembly of
Pennsylvania in 1868, recommended the transfer of the cemetery to the
Federal Government. The Secretary of War accepted title to the cemetery
for the United States Government on May 1, 1872.