You're @ the Soldiers' National Cemetery - Gettysburg, PA
N 39° 49.297 W 077° 13.803
18S E 309140 N 4410338
Out of necessity and posterity, the Gettysburg National Cemetery was created. This marker tells the story. Perhaps even more important, it will also show you where you are in the cemetery relative to the other landmarks and monuments.
Waymark Code: WMHFGA
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 07/05/2013
Views: 4
There is a widespread collection of these long horizontal markers, each one telling a little piece about the battle of Gettysburg. This marker tells about the after affects and the necessity for building a cemetery for the soldiers as a response to the overwhelming amount of hastily buried bodies littered about the battlefield. This important sign is located at the front entrance and to the left of the main walkway of this national cemetery. It is an oversized sign, held horizontally in a thick, black metal frame and tilted slightly upward for easy viewing. The sign also features a You-Are-Here component which allows visitor to find their position relative to the cemetery and the rest of the battlefield. There are two of these signs at the National Cemetery (exact copies), this one at the Baltimore Pike entrance and the other 
Soldiers' National Cemetery interpretive, at the Taneytown Road entrance. The sign reads:
"Here where they fell,
Oft shall the widow's tear be shed,
Oft shall fond parents mourn their dead;
The orphan here shall kneel and weep..."
Hymn by Benjamin B. French
Sung at cemetery dedication
November 19, 1863
Soldier's National Cemetery contains the graves of more than 6,000 United States servicemen, including 3,580 Union soldiers killed in the Civil War. Nearly half the Civil War burials are unknown soldiers.
A few days after the battle, Andrew Curtin, Governor of Pennsylvania, visited Gettysburg and was deeply moved by what he saw. Bodies of soldiers had been hurriedly buried on the battlefield, and some had not been buried at all. Curtin and representatives of Northern states took steps to create a national cemetery. Beginning in October 1863, bodies were carefully removed from the field and re-interred here. The work took five months.
On November 19, 1863, before the burials were completed, government officials, battle veterans, and citizens assembled to dedicate the cemetery. Near the end of the ceremonies, the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, offered a few remarks - his Gettysburg Address.
Where was Lincoln?
President Abraham Lincoln was standing
on a platform near the site of the Soldiers'
National Monument when he delivered the
famed Gettysburg Address.
More About the Interpretive
The marker displays a map of the cemetery with important points and monuments indicated. On the lower right a photograph shows the Soldiers' National Cemetery in 1882.
On the left center is a photograph of the Soldiers' National Monument with the caption, The focal point of the cemetery is the Soldiers' National Monument. Dedicated July 1, 1869, it was the first of Gettysburg's grand memorials. At its base are seated figures representing War, History, Peace, and Plenty, while sixty feet above, Liberty holds the wreath of victory and the sheathed sword of battle.
Parking is available in front of the cemetery at metered spots along the curb. There is also a lot located to the left of East Cemetery Hill (if facing it) in a tourist-tour business that always has space. I originally visited this sign on SUnday, July 17, 2011. I revisited this site on Monday, July 1, 2013 on the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg @ 11:29 AM, EDT & @ an altitude of 601 feet, ASL. As always, I used my trusty and oft abused Canon PowerShot 14.1 Megapixel, SX210 IS digital camera for the photos.