The Gettysburg Address was made on a solemn, cold day in November 1863 months after the three day human meat-grinder at Gettysburg, rather than a heat swept last Monday in May. However, the message represents the very soul of any Memorial Day. Lincoln actually spoke second that day, 'following' an eloquent, but arguably verbose {13,607 words}, two hour speech by esteemed politician, and orator, Edward Everett. In contrast, Lincoln used but ten sentences to summarize the timeless nature of war, liberty and sacrifice.The first sentence began "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth to this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the prospect that all men are created equal." The final sentence asserted "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, shall not perish from the Earth." And then he solemnly returned to his seat knowing that, inevitably, so much blood and sacrifice was yet to be endured during the war and subsequent Reconstruction, when Lincoln had his own life taken by intolerable hate. The full text remains engraved in the south wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.