After the battle, nearly 7,500 soldiers were hastily buried in shallow graves on the battlefield, while hundreds more died at field hospitals each day. Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin worked with Gettysburg attorney David Wills to establish a proper burial ground for the Union dead who had given the "last full measure of devotion." Reburials began October 27, 1863, and continued for five months. The Soldiers' National Cemetery was dedicated on November 19, 1863. President Abraham Lincoln's "few appropriate remarks" became his most famous and inspirational speech, the Gettysburg Address. Today, this hallowed ground is a final resting place for American veterans from the Civil War through the Vietnam conflict, a place to honor and respect those who have fallen and reflect on the human cost of a nation at war.