The Soldiers Cemetery

The project would become the National Cemetery at Gettysburg began with a land purchase on July 15th 1863.

Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin purchased land on the battlefield at Gettysburg PA, with the purpose of creating a cemetery. The “Soldiers Cemetery” was for the proper burial of Union soldiers. This was the brainchild of Gettysburg’s citizens who saw rain and wind uncover the shallow graves which dotted the battlefield. Money was raised and funds were provided by the Commonwealth of PA. Besides buying the ground that would become the cemetery, some of the money went to Samuel Weaver. He had the un-enviable job of removing the Union dead from their graves around the battlefield and hospital sites, for re-burial. The Confederate dead would remain buried on the field until the 1870’s when they moved to southern cemeteries.