President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, an early national cemetery for the Civil War dead. Starting in 1909, coinciding with the centennial of Lincoln's birth, tablets bearing these famed words were first cast for installation in the country's national cemeteries to help ensure that visitors never forget the honored dead and why they gave their lives.