Consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg The Consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg was the Gettysburg Battlefield ceremony at which U . S . President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address . In addition to the ~ 15 , 000 spectators , attendees included 6 state governors : Andrew Gregg Curtin of Pennsylvania , Augustus Bradford of Maryland , Oliver P . Morton of Indiana , Horatio Seymour of New York , Joel Parker of New Jersey , and David Tod of Ohio . Reporters present included Joseph Gilbert ( Associated Press ) , Charles Hale ( " Boston Advertiser " ) , John Russell Young ( " Philadelphia Press " ) ; and " Cincinnati Commercial " , " New York Tribune " , & " The New York Times " reporters . Planning . Following the Battle of Gettysburg , an Evergreen Cemetery Association plan to create a soldiers annex requiring fee payments for interments ( e . g . , by families ) was replaced by a plan by local attorney David Wills for a cemetery funded by the states . The Pennsylvania governor designated Wills the commonwealth ' s agent , who was authorized to purchase for a cemetery , paying $ 2 , 475 . 87 for the land ( $ as of 2018 ) . Wills ' September 23 invitation to Edward Everett requested an Oration on Wednesday , October 23 ; but Everett asked for a later date to prepare ( the ceremony was rescheduled for Thursday , November 19 . On November 2 , Lincoln received formal notice of Wills ' invitation to participate . Preceding events . On October 27 from the Presbyterian graveyard on North Washington street ( now defunct ) , the 1st of 3 , 512 Union Army bodies was moved to the new cemetery . By November 19 , a speaker ' s platform had been constructed , and " 1258 had been reburied in the semicircular cemetery " . On November 18 at 6 : 00 p . m . , Abraham Lincoln and party ( including his guest , Canadian politician William McDougall ) arrived at the Gettysburg Railroad Station . Lincoln walked around the depot and uphill to the town square to spend the night in the Wills ' house , and a crowd gathered in the adjacent town square and was addressed by Secretary of State William H . Seward ( Everett got to bed about 11 p . m . ) . After Wells met with Lincoln about the ceremony ; Lincoln ' s door guard , 1st Sgt Hugh Paxton Bigham of Company B ( 21st PA Cav . ) , provided a telegram to Lincoln that his son had improved — after which he asked his guard " at about 11 p . m . " to take him to Seward . While meeting with Seward at the adjacent Robert Goodloe Harper house " around the corner " , Lincoln was serenaded by the Baltimore Glee Club ( National Union Musical Association ) with " We Are Coming , Father Abra ' am " ( Bigham later " pushed " a return path through the crowd for Lincoln ) . Also posted through the night was a second military guard for Lincoln at the street - level door , Paxton ' s brother Rush Bigham . On November 19 when his secretary went to Lincoln ' s room , “ " Mr . Nicolay … found him at work upon the address which he was to deliver . He continued to write , so far as the many interruptions gave him opportunity , up to the time it was necessary for him to take his place in the procession " ” . At 9 : 30 a . m . , Lincoln on a chestnut bay horse joined the procession to the cemetery with other dignitaries , townspeople , and widows . " " We passed along Baltimore Street to the Emmittsburg Road , minute guns being fired , then by way of the Taneytown Road to the cemetery , where the military formed in line to salute the President at about eleven o ' clock . " " Program . Scheduled events for the ceremony included : The program ended and , after attending most of a subsequent ceremony in the Presbyterian church with War of 1812 and Battle of Gettysburg veteran John L . Burns , Lincoln departed via the Gettysburg Railroad . Aftermath . Following the ceremony , telegraphy regarding the program included at least three transmissions of Lincoln ' s address ( the New York Times report the next day included both Lincoln ' s address and the entire Everett Oration . ) Wills requested a copy of Everett ' s oration via a December 14 letter , and Everett provided a copy with footnotes ( e . g . , describing the maps he used while composing ) . In 1864 , Everett published his book regarding the consecration ; and an 1867 record of the consecration ceremony was published with the associated correspondence . Erected by the Gettysburg National Military Park ( G . N . M . P . ) , a permanent historical marker within the Gettysburg National Cemetery states , " The speakers ' platform was located in Evergreen Cemetery to your left . " The National Park Service ' s " National Cemetery Walking Tour " brochure concurs with the permanent marker : < br > As recently as January 23 , 2004 , a multiple property submission by the GNMP extended the long history of misidentification by stating , the Soldiers ' National Monument " Sits on site of speaker ' s platform where Gettysburg Address was orated . " Photographic analyses by Garry Wills and William A . Frassanito , completed in 1992 and 1995 respectively , conclusively place the location on the Evergreen Cemetery side of the dividing fence .