Tuesday Open Line


What is widely considered the most memorable speech in all American history was given 150 years ago this month when President Abraham Lincoln delivered what we know as “the Gettysburg Address.” The brief speech dedicated 17 acres of the Pennsylvania battlefield as a national cemetery and is recognized as one of the most concise in the English language. Gettysburg National Cemetery continues to draw thousands of visitors each year. The three-day battle in 1863 involved some160,000 Union and Confederate soldiers fighting in and around a town in which the 1860 Census recorded a population of just under 2,400 residents. Today, just over 7,600 people live at a Gettysburg address. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.