#20-Gettysburg Address Honey Locust

Historical Name: Gettysburg Address
Common Name: Honey Locust
Latin Name: Gleditsia triacanthos

Shortly after the great Civil War battle of Gettysburg, in July 1863, the governor of Pennsylvania, Andrew Curtin, commissioned lawyer David Wills to acquire land for a soldiers’ cemetery. Wills purchased 17 acres on Cemetery Hill, one of the landmarks of the Union line during the battle. The cemetery dedication was planned for November 19, 1863 with the chief speaker to be famed orator Edward Everett. Lincoln was also invited to “make a few remarks.” On the 19th, following a procession from the town uphill to the new cemetery, Everett spoke for two hours from a speaker’s platform which stood near this tree. Lincoln’s “few remarks” were brief but pithy. In fact, photographers were still setting up their cameras when he concluded. The Gettysburg Address would become known as one of the greatest speeches in American history. Today, the cemetery is the final resting place for 5,500 veterans of all wars. The Gettysburg Address Honey Locust was found on a prominent hilltop, about a hundred yards from the spot where Lincoln spoke. Unfortunately a severe storm on August 7, 2008 damaged 70-80 percent of the tree. The upper branches were lost, but the tree continued to survive until a few years ago. The tree in UCNJ’s Historic Tree Grove grew from a seed collected from the Gettysburg Address Honey Locust in the 1990’s.

(text adapted from American Forests)