Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in 1863.
Lincoln gave the speech on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The ceremony followed the Battle of Gettysburg, fought from July 1 through July 3, and honored Union soldiers who had died during the battle.
The address was not the main speech of the event. Edward Everett, a noted orator and former Harvard president, spoke for about two hours; Lincoln followed with a remarkably brief address of roughly 272 words. Its compact language framed the Civil War as a test of whether a nation founded on liberty and equality could survive.
A common mix-up is confusing the speech's year with the year the war ended. Lincoln delivered it in 1863, while Confederate surrender came in 1865. The speech's famous opening refers to the Declaration of Independence and its closing vision of “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Several manuscript versions survive, so wording and punctuation vary slightly among editions.