Thursday, November 19, 1863. The dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery in Gettysburg, PA. The Gettysburg Address. The full text of Lincoln’s famous speech is here for your class members to examine, to research, or to replicate. They may be surprised to learn from it, that five different versions of the speech have been documented, and that some believe that Lincoln was coming down with smallpox on the day he dedicated the cemetery honoring the fallen.