The Ground Around the Seminary: President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Battlefield Excursion (Winter Lecture Series)

Featuring some of the best Rangers, historians, and authors from across the country, this popular eight-week Winter Lecture Series returns to the Gettysburg National Military Park (NMP) Museum and Visitor Center in 2026!

The Winter Lecture Series is held at 1:30 p.m. on weekends in the Gettysburg NMP Museum and Visitor Center from January 10 through March 8, 2026. Seating is available on a first come – first serve basis. Free tickets are available day of at the Gettysburg NMP Museum and Visitor Center. Schedule is subject to change.

Saturday, January 24 – The Ground Around the Seminary: President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Battlefield Excursion
Historian Codie Eash, Seminary Ridge Museum

Hours before Abraham Lincoln delivered his iconic Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, at least three eyewitnesses recalled that the president toured the battlefield, including a personal guard, a foreign ambassador, and United States Secretary of State William Seward. According to the latter, the party “visited the ground around the Seminary, and Mr. Lincoln joined in.” Join Codie Eash, Director of Education and Interpretation at Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center, as he explores the Lutheran Seminary in the aftermath of battle, examines the role of Seminary personnel in the dedication of Soldiers’ National Cemetery, and uses historical evidence to investigate whether Lincoln made his apparent battlefield visit.