Three huge sycamore trees stand along Baltimore Street in Gettysburg , Pennsylvania . Lincoln 's procession would have passed beneath them on the day he delivered the Gettysburg Address in 1863, dedicating the hallowed cemetery ground to those who fell in July, 1863. Lincoln 's speech was so short - lasting only minutes - that photographers were still setting up their cameras when he concluded. His poignant words continue to reach across the decades with their message of a war-torn nation.