About
Lincoln Cemetery, as it is known today, was established in 1867 by the Sons of Good Will. This organization's founding officers included Lloyd F.A. Watts, Basil Biggs, and Owen Robinson, among others. Over the next century and a half, more than 450 community members were laid to rest within the cemetery's boundaries. Today, only half of these graves are marked and the cemetery is in need of significant rehabilitation and restoration.
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Since 1999, the Lincoln Cemetery Project Association (LCPA) has cared for the cemetery. Under the longtime leadership of Mrs. Betty Dorsey Myers, great progress was made. In 2023, a new board of directors was elected to continue this important work and take action to save the cemetery from further deterioration.
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For a current listing of identified burials in Lincoln Cemetery, click here to visit the Lincoln Cemetery Community Database, a collaborative effort between LCPA, Gettysburg Black History Museum, the Adams County Historical Society, and Gettysburg College.
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"They fought for freedom...but were denied burial in a National Cemetery where Abraham Lincoln stood on November 19, 1863 and gave his Gettysburg Address." - Betty Dorsey Myers
Our Mission
LCPA's mission is: “To improve, rejuvenate, and memorialize the burial ground/cemetery of Black American war veterans and citizens interred at Lincoln Cemetery, Gettysburg. The Association will promote and educate with regard to the role Black-Americans played in the Spanish-American War, the Civil War, World War I and II, as well as the numerous other conflicts in which Black-Americans gave their lives for their country.”
