This year makes a special occasion for Gettysburg College, the town and the nation. They are in the midst of the Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the American Civil War(2011-2015) and 2013 marks the 150th anniversaries of the Battle of Gettysburg and President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.Gettysburg College has a rich history that started almost three decades before our nation’s greatest conflict.

Gettysburg College was founded on April 7,1832 by theologian Samuel Simon Schmucker. When the battle of Gettysburg began,the College stood in it’s midst. Elements of the two great armies swept through campus on July 1,1863,the first day of the decisive battle of Gettysburg. Pennsylvania Hall(pictured) became a hospital for hundreds of soldiers from both North and South.

On November 19,1863 townspeople,students, and faculty marched to hear President Lincoln hallow the National Cemetery with his Gettysburg Address.David Wills,an 1851 graduate,invited Lincoln to deliver “a few appropriate remarks”.You can visit the Wills house and view the bed that Lincoln spent the night in on that historic visit.

Last November,2012 Steven Spielberg who directed the movie “Lincoln” and Doris Kearns Goodwin who wrote the book “Team of Rivals” were in Gettysburg together and spoke to a crowd of over 9,000 people.