Evergreen Cemetery (Adams County, Pennsylvania)

Evergreen Cemetery is a privately-owned rural cemetery near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with 5 notable interments: John L. Burns (1812 & 1863 soldier), Steve Courson (NFL lineman), Marianne Moore (poet), Eddie Plank (Hall of Fame pitcher), and Oscar Shaw (actor/singer). After the cemetery was the site of the Army of the Potomac headquarters during the Battle of Gettysburg's Pickett's Charge, by July 7, 1863, Evergreen Cemetery had became the eponym for Cemetery Hill (formerly Raffensberger's Hill).[1]

History

Incorporated March 3, 1854, as the Evergreen Cemetery Association of Gettysburg,^[6] land south of the Gettysburg borough line^[7] was procured for the cemetery by local residents headed by attorney David McConaughy. The association managed the property and oversaw selection of its caretakers (the gatehouse was the caretaker residence.)

During the Battle of Gettysburg, the cemetery was damaged by incoming artillery shells, and some of the XI Corps (Union Army) batteries and infantry used the grave monuments as protection.^[8] Following the battle, the Soldiers' National Cemetery was established on the summit adjacent to Evergreen Cemetery. The speaker's platform that was used by President Abraham Lincoln to deliver his Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery was located on the grounds of the Evergreen Cemetery.

From 1893-1916, the Gettysburg Electric Railway operated along the east and south of the cemetery. Evergreen Cemetery continued to grow in size throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, expanding south beyond the trolley railway which was razed in 1917.

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