The report of the Select Committee relative to the Soldiers' National Cemetery, together with the accompanying documents, as delivered to the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, March 31, 1864. Printed in Harrisburg by Singerly & Myers, State Printers, 1864, 1st edition. It includes Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address given in the Soldier's National Cemetery Gettysburg.

The report details the purchase of land for the express purpose of establishing a Soldier's National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. "After the battle of Gettysburg, in which loyal volunteers from eighteen states, including Pennsylvania, were engaged, it appeared to me proper that all those States should unite in establishing a cemetery on the spot, which their soldiers who had fallen in that conflict, should be honorably interred." - An extract from Governor Curtin's Annual Message, January 7, 1864.

Specifications are laid out for the design of the cemetery, the re-interrment of the dead, and the expenses required to finish the cemetery. Additionally, there is a list of names of soldiers buried in the Pennsylvania State Lot, by company and regiment, and the section of the cemetery in which they are buried; a list of soldiers buried in the 'Unknown Lots', whose state residence is unknown; the number of dead from each state, buried in the cemetery; a foldout map of the ground and design for the improvement of the cemetery; a report from Samuel Weaver regarding the exhumation of the bodies, and the attending protocol; a list of articles taken from the bodies of soldiers, by state; invitations to soldiers and dignitaries to attend the consecration of the cemetery, and replies from many of those invited; the Order of Procesion for the consecration; the opening prayer given by Rev. Dr. Stockton; the Address given at the opening; a hymn, composed by B.B. French, ESQ., at Gettysburg; the Dedicatory Address of President Lincoln; and the benediction given by Rev. H.L. Baugher, D.D. Engraved frontispiece (The Gettyburg Battlefield & Hospitals).

The placement of Lincoln's Address in the back of this record, as a sort of minor footnote, perhaps demonstrates how recognition of its full importance has grown with time.

The House resolved that 5,000 copies in English, 2,000 in German, and another 600 (presumably in English) for the governor be printed. The Senate resolved that 2,000 additional copies be printed and delivered to the Senate at the end of the August session.

Cover is in brown cloth, the book is in very good condition with minor wear and gilt on cover still bright and legible, binding is tight and interior is clean with some foxing to page edges and a few edge stains (Near Mint for its age) - I photographed the very worse page, the rest are considerably better. A serious and fairly rare civil war document in very good antique condition for the advanced collector.