By Frank Beardsley & Kelly Jean Kelly

From VOA Learning English, this is The Making of a Nation. I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I'm Christopher Cruise.

In July 1863, Northern and Southern soldiers fought at the town of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. It was the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War. About 23,000 Union soldiers and 28,000 Confederate soldiers died in the fighting. Most of the bodies were buried where they fell.Five months later, President Abraham Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg to speak at a ceremony establishing a military burial ground there.Another, more famous speaker had also been invited. But the president felt it was important for him to go. He wanted to honor the brave men who died at Gettysburg. Lincoln hoped his words might ease the sorrow over the loss of these men and lift the spirit of the nation.

An actor portraying President Abraham Lincoln arrives at the train station in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 2013.

On the morning of November 19, 1863, Lincoln led a slow parade on horseback to the new cemetery. A huge crowd waited.?Military bands played. Soldiers saluted.

The ceremonies began with a prayer. Then a former senator and governor from Massachusetts rose to speak. Edward Everett was a well-known speaker. He had been invited to give the dedication address.Everett spoke for almost two hours. He closed his speech with the hope that the nation would come out of the war with greater unity than ever before.

Then Lincoln stood up. He looked out over the valley, then down at the papers in his hand. He began to read.

[Editor's note: Lincoln wrote at least five copies of the Gettysburg Address, with small differences among them. The above text is known as the Bliss copy. It is the same text that appears on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.]

____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

address – n. a speech

dedicated – adj. having strong support or loyalty; v. used time, money or energy for a purposededicate v. officially make a place for remembering someone or something;

proposition – n. a statement to be proved, explained or discussed

consecrate – v. to make something holy

devotion – n. a feeling of strong love or loyalty

resolve – v. make a final, serious decision

in vain – adj. without producing a good result

This story uses many forms of the word dedicate. In the comment section, see if you can write three sentences that each use the word differently.