Editing Gettysburg Address (section)

===Pre-modern===
[[File:Gettysburg address 1863-11-19 looking ne.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|This photograph, taken the day of the Gettysburg Address, is suggested to rule out Soldiers' National Monument as the location for the speaker's platform the day of the address.]]
Colonel W. Yates Selleck, a marshal in the parade on [[Consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg|Consecration Day]], was seated on the platform when Lincoln gave the address.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection|title=Lincoln at Gettysburg; Told by Eye Witness|url=https://archive.org/download/lincolnsg00linc/lincolnsg00linc.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013113259/http://archive.org/download/lincolnsg00linc/lincolnsg00linc.pdf |archive-date=2013-10-13 |url-status=live|access-date=June 13, 2012}}</ref> Selleck marked a map with the position of the platform and described it as "{{convert|350|ft|m|disp=sqbr}} almost due north of Soldiers' National Monument, {{convert|40|ft|m|disp=sqbr}} from a point in the outer circle of lots where [the] Michigan and New York [burial sections] are separated by a path".<ref>{{cite news|last=Lincoln National Life Insurance Company|title=Dispute Over Exact Location Where Lincoln's Speech Was Made of Great Interest To Many Gettysburg Visitors|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19691125&id=UE5AAAAAIBAJ&pg=1170,3493526|newspaper=Gettysburg Times|date=November 25, 1969|pages=7–9|access-date=October 17, 2020|archive-date=February 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204145737/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19691125&id=UE5AAAAAIBAJ&pg=1170,3493526|url-status=live}}</ref> A location which approximates this description is [https://www.google.com/maps/place/39%C2%B049'14.6%22N+77%C2%B013'52.1%22W/@39.8202202,-77.2315577,168m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d39.8207167!4d-77.23115?hl=en 39°49.243′N, 77°13.869′W].

In 1973, retired park historian Frederick Tilberg concluded the Selleck Site is {{convert|25|ft|m}} lower than the crest of Cemetery Hill, and that only the crest presents a panoramic view of the battlefield. A spectacular view from the location of the speech was noted by many eyewitnesses, is consistent with the traditional site at the [[Soldiers' National Monument]] and other sites on the crest, but is inconsistent with the Selleck Site.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pergus Project|title=Gettysburg Address|url=http://pergusproject.wordpress.com/tag/gettysburg-address/|access-date=June 11, 2012|archive-date=April 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418143406/https://pergusproject.wordpress.com/tag/gettysburg-address/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Tilberg|first=Frederick|title=The Location of the Platform From Which Lincoln Delivered the Gettysburg Address|url=http://dpubs.libraries.psu.edu/DPubS?service=UI&version=1.0&verb=Display&page=record&handle=psu.ph/1141406190|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212154705/http://dpubs.libraries.psu.edu/DPubS?service=UI&version=1.0&verb=Display&page=record&handle=psu.ph/1141406190|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 12, 2012|work=Pennsylvania History, Vol XL, No. 2|publisher=The Pennsylvania Historical Association|access-date=June 13, 2012|pages=179–191}}</ref>

The Kentucky Memorial, erected in 1975, is directly adjacent to the [[Soldiers' National Monument]], and states, "Kentucky honors her son, Abraham Lincoln, who delivered his immortal address at the site now marked by the soldiers' monument." With its position at the center of the concentric rings of soldiers' graves and the continuing endorsement of Lincoln's native state the [[Soldiers' National Monument]] persists as a credible location for the speech.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Library of Congress |title=The 1869 Soldiers' National Monument at Gettysburg National Cemetery |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2019690792/ |publisher=United States of America |access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Groundspeak |title=Soldiers' National Monument – Gettysburg, PA |url=https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMEDK7_Soldiers_National_Monument_Gettysburg_PA |website=Waymarking |access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Scott |first1=Brian |title=Lincoln Address Memorial |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=90763 |website=The Historical Marker Database |access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref>

In November 1863, in a written description of the layout for the Gettysburg National Cemetery, which was then under construction, a correspondent from the ''Cincinnati Daily Commercial'' described the dividing lines between the state grave plots as "the radii of a common center, where a flag pole is now raised, but where it is proposed to erect a national monument".<ref>{{cite web|last=Tilberg|first=Frederick|title=The Location of the Platform From Which Lincoln Delivered the Gettysburg Address|url=http://dpubs.libraries.psu.edu/DPubS?service=UI&version=1.0&verb=Display&page=record&handle=psu.ph/1141406190|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212154705/http://dpubs.libraries.psu.edu/DPubS?service=UI&version=1.0&verb=Display&page=record&handle=psu.ph/1141406190|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 12, 2012|work=Pennsylvania History, Vol XL, No. 2|publisher=The Pennsylvania Historical Association|access-date=June 13, 2012|pages=187}}</ref> With the inclusion of this quotation Tilberg inadvertently verifies a central principle of future photographic analyses—a flagpole, rather than the speakers' platform, occupied the central point of the soldiers' graves. In fact, the precision of the photo-analyses relies upon the coincidence of position between this temporary flag pole and the future monument.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Frassanito |first1=William |title=Early Photography at Gettysburg |date=1995 |publisher=Thomas Publications |location=Gettysburg, PA |isbn=978-1-57747-032-8 |page=166}}</ref>

Confusing to today's tourist, the Kentucky Memorial is contradicted by a newer marker, which was erected nearby by the Gettysburg National Military Park and locates the speakers' platform inside [[Evergreen Cemetery (Adams County, Pennsylvania)|Evergreen Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Historical Marker Database|title=The Gettysburg Address Marker|url=http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=16869|access-date=June 11, 2012|archive-date=November 9, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109190159/http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=16869|url-status=live}}</ref> Similarly, outdated National Park Service documents, which pinpoint the location as being at [[Soldiers' National Monument]], have not been systematically revised since the placement of the newer marker.<ref>{{cite web |year=2004 |orig-year=1865–69 |title=Soldiers' National Monument |url=http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?PARK=GETT&RECORDNO=516 |work=(structure ID MN288, LCS ID 009949) [[List of Classified Structures]]: GETT p. 21 |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=June 22, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120917141118/http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?PARK=GETT&RECORDNO=516 |archive-date=September 17, 2012  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=National Park Service|title=FCIC: Gettysburg National Military Park|url=http://publications.usa.gov/epublications/gettysburg/g2.htm|access-date=June 12, 2012|archive-date=March 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306120405/http://publications.usa.gov/epublications/gettysburg/g2.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Miscellaneous web pages perpetuate the ''Traditional Site.''<ref>{{cite web|last=Stone Sentinels|title=Soldiers' National Monument|url=http://www.gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/Other/Soldiers.php|access-date=June 19, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812130212/http://www.gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/Other/Soldiers.php|archive-date=August 12, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Waymarking|title=Soldiers' National Monument|url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM9NW1_Soldiers_National_Monument_Gettysburg_PA|access-date=June 19, 2012|archive-date=September 23, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140923004346/http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM9NW1_Soldiers_National_Monument_Gettysburg_PA|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Flickr/Jericho_54|title=Gettysburg: Soldiers' National Monument|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/jericho_54/2590179174/|access-date=June 19, 2012|date=June 7, 2008|archive-date=September 4, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904074822/https://www.flickr.com/photos/jericho_54/2590179174/|url-status=live}}</ref>