Abraham Lincoln's War Aims Compared to William Sherman and Walt Whitman

Today, the Battle of Gettysburg is considered one of the most important battles of the American Civil War. However, with 23,049 casualties on the Union side and 28,063 on the Confederate side, it can also be considered one of the bloodiest (Civil War Trust). Such heavy losses naturally rattled the entire nation and Americans on both sides began to question the war and what it stood for. As Americans gathered together at the consecration ceremony of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, the much acclaimed orator and politician Edward Everett delivered what was meant to be the Gettysburg Address. Yet, today, it is not Edward Everett’s Gettysburg Address that the world remembers, but Abraham Lincoln’s, who was invited to the ceremony almost as an afterthought. Lincoln’s 272 words helped remake America by giving hope to its citizens at a time when they were at their lowest.

After the Battle of Gettysburg, which involved the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War and was according to many the war’s turning point, president Lincoln delivered a meaningful speech known as the Gettysburg Address. In his speech, president Lincoln wisely uses ethos, pathos and logos.

The Gettysburg Address is one of the most famous speeches in American history. The History Place indicates that on November 19, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln went to a battle field positioned in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where three dreadful days of battle occurred called the Battle of Gettysburg. While he was attending the battle field to dedicate it as a national cemetery, he read his speech to the public. After the main orator, Edward Everett of Massachusetts, delivered his speech that lasted about two hours, it was Lincoln’s turn. Everyone was shocked that it only lasted a little over two minutes. The speech talked about the men who fought in the Civil War to help create the nation people have today: that it is only fair to honor them

In the third paragraph, President Lincoln stresses the important point that the words of his speech cannot actually bless or make holy the Battlefield of Gettysburg. Rather, he indicates the bravery of the men, both living and dead, has already made the ground of the battlefield sacred. Again, Lincoln is honoring the actions of all the soldiers, Union and Confederate, and trying to unite the nation instead of dividing it.

In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln concisely stated the message in which our country was founded on the idea that all men are created equal. He states the significance of the battle in were, many made the ultimate sacrifice while standing up for this ideals reminding us that although words can often be forgotten, the actions of those brave ones will never be forgotten. He too mentions the responsibility we all share to continue the legacy of those who died in the battle.

The Gettysburg Address was a speech composed and addressed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, at the time of the political fight in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. At that time, Abraham Lincoln was the President of the United States. He was also the President who led America through the Civil War. During the Civil War, at Gettysburg, some soldiers died protecting the nation. This was mentioned in Lincoln’s speech, which was meant to be dedicated to the soldiers who died defending their people. He spoke of how a piece of land on Earth should be dedicated in their memory in order to show respect for dead soldiers. The Gettysburg Address was an effective way of President Abraham Lincoln communicating with the people of the United States at a time

It was November 19, 1863. Lincoln stood on a platform in the midst of a battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and spoke these words: "...we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom” (Abraham Lincoln Quotes). In Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in November of 1863, he explains that the soldiers, who fought so bravely in the Civil War, did not die without cause. Instead, they fought to change America for the better in multiple ways. There were many reasons for the war, but in the end, the unplanned realities that arose, would bring new challenges. Among some of the results, the Civil War changed America literarily, politically, and economically.

The climax of the war occurred at Gettysburg, where General Ulysses S. Grant faced General Robert E. Lee. The Union had won the war, by cutting the Confederacy into two halves. Shortly after, Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address (Document G), in which he stated that all men are created equal. He was not only trying to acknowledge the slaves, but also the section issues living between the North and South. He stated, “God shall have a new birth of freedom...by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

This battle came to be known as the ever-famous Battle of Gettysburg. The Battle of Gettysburg is considered the most important engagement of the American Civil War. Generals Robert E. Lee (Confederacy) and George G. Meade (Union) led their armies into a three-day battle, resulting in the casualties of over 50,000 Confederate and Union soldiers, more than a third of Lee’s army. When the dust settled, Meade and his army had come out on top. The Union army had won. Months later, in November 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his most famous to date, the Gettysburg Address, a speech dedicating the battlefield as a cemetery for those who gave their life for their country and those who inhabit it. This cemetery was named the Gettysburg National cemetery. In only 272 words, Lincoln transformed the Union cause into a struggle for equality and liberty

William T. Sherman was a U.S. Civil War leader in which he is known as Sherman's March. In September 1864 William took in Campaign of Atlanta and burn it all the way to the ground. With about 60,000 men he order to move out to Savannah. To the soldiers in this mission they all called it a ‘’total war’’ destroy everything that supported the Confederate Military. They wanted to prove to the Confederate they could not protect its people from the Union Army. Doing this action they would shine to the world that the Union had power no one could take a chance. Their preparation to after they forcly capture the city of Atlanta Sherman took several weeks to think of a plan on how they would win a battle against the Confederate. After weeks of planning

Gettysburg could never have been forgotten, but its place in American memory was kept when President Abraham Lincoln visited the site of the battle four months later, in November 1863. President Lincoln had been invited to attend the dedication of a new cemetery to hold the Union dead from the battle. He took the opportunity to give a speech which would provide a lot of information for the war. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address would become known as one of the best speeches ever announced in front of an audience. The text of the speech is short yet brilliant, and in less than 300 words it expressed the nation’s dedication to the cause of the

The time of the speech was towards the end of the civil war, when the North and the South where still fighting after a bitter 4 year war. The battle of Gettysburg had already been fought and Lincoln had given the distinguished Gettysburg address just a few months before. He spoke of freedom, devotion, and the ideals for which he believed the Union stood. Lincoln had also already written the emancipation proclamation which had freed the slaves of the south in the previous year. The audience which

On November 19, 1863, Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, along with Edward Everett, at a ceremony dedicating the battlefield as a National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In less than three minutes, Lincoln identified the nation’s mission with the principle that “all men are created equal,” spoke of the war as bringing about a “new birth of freedom,” and defined the essence of democratic government. Lincoln honored the Union dead and reminded the listeners of the purpose of the soldier’s sacrifice: equality, freedom, and national unity (HistoryNet). The sacrifices of Union soldiers, Lincoln declared, would ensure that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” The Battle of Gettysburg which was fought four months earlier, was the single bloodiest battle of the Civil War, where more than 45,000 men were killed, injured, and captured.

Martin Johnson, in “Writing the Gettysburg Address”, says that the speech was created by a series of events in history based on Lincoln’s experiences (Johnson 4). One such experience that influenced Lincoln was the death of his son in 1862. His grief over the loss of his son impacted the speech in that he showed emotion about the young men who had died on the battlefield. Lincoln, in dealing with death and the natural setting of human burial, does not mourn a single soldier but talks about the birth of a nation’s life and its new birth of freedom (Wills 77). The excerpt, “The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far

The Civil War was a war between the union, and confederate states in the United States that occurred from 1861-1865. Many people believed that the Civil War was about slavery and southern states right to defend their states’ rights. The confederates were fighting for their liberty and independence under the leadership of Abraham Lincoln, who they felt was a tyrant. However, the union, was fighting to preserve their territory, that was created by their founding fathers from chaos and dismemberment. President Jefferson Davis believed that the civil war was based on the confederate rights to secede from the union. Jefferson also felt that Abraham Lincoln was to blamed for the start of the civil war, since he was against slavery. Lincoln’s intended goal was to preserve the union, he claimed slavery was not the reason. “If I could save the union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all slaves I would do it, and if I could slave it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that (Shi &Tindall, 2015, pg.465)”. Lincoln told everyone that if the southern states were to return to the union that slavery would still exist. However, many people believed that Lincoln wasn’t being truthful.