Gettysburg Address - Fort Custer National Cemetery, Augusta, MI
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adgorn
N 42° 20.199 W 085° 18.846
16T E 638885 N 4688531
A granite monument with a bronze plaque of Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address stands near the entrance.
Waymark Code: WMHG3N
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 07/07/2013
Views: 12
Learn more about Gettysburg Address Tablets for National Cemeteries To Honor Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial placed in 2009 from the National Cemetery Administration at (
visit link)
"In July 1862, legislation was enacted authorizing the president "to purchase cemetery grounds . . . to be used as a national cemetery." This was the origin of all national cemeteries, including 75 established by 1872. The next year, on November 19, 1863, Lincoln gave the famed speech at the dedication of "Soldier's National Cemetery" in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. An invitation to Lincoln to make "a few appropriate remarks" was almost an afterthought, but his 2-minute speech was the best-remembered event of the day and well beyond.
With funding provided through VA's Historic Preservation Office, the NCA History Program coordinated the acquisition of sixty-one (61) cast-iron tablets containing the Gettysburg Address, the most prominent historic tablet found throughout our 125 national cemeteries."
From the cemetery waymark (
visit link)
"The original Camp Custer, named for Michigan native General George Armstrong Custer, was built in 1917 as part of the military mobilization for World War I.
In 1981, Congress created Fort Custer National Cemetery on 566 acres received from the Fort Custer Military Reservation and 203 acres from the adjacent VA Medical Center. Memorial Day, 1982, marked the official dedication of the Fort Custer National Cemetery with the first burial taking place a few days later on June 1st.
The entrance to the cemetery known as the "Avenue of Flags", is lined with 152 flagpoles each flying a donated veteran's burial flag. The Avenue of Flags is displayed from Easter through Veterans Day each year, weather permitting.
Fort Custer also features a memorial pathway lined with numerous memorials honoring America’s veterans."