ettysburg National Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 3500 Union soldiers killed in the Battle of Gettysburg a Union victory often cited as a turning point in the Civil War. Numerous monuments stand in both the cemetery and battlefield to commemorate the Union and Confederate troops who fought there. At the cemeterys dedication on November 19 1863 President Abraham Lincoln rose to deliver a few appropriate remarks now known as the Gettysburg Address. His two-minute speech served as a reminder of the sacrifices of war and the necessity of holding the Union together.