Andrew Gregg Curtin (April 22, 1815/1817October 7, 1894) was a U.S. lawyer and politician. He served as the 15th governor of Pennsylvania during the American Civil War, helped defend his state during the Gettysburg Campaign, and oversaw the creation of the National Cemetery and the ceremony in which Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address. Early life Curtin was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Sources vary as to his birth date. Some list April 22, 1815; others list April 22, 1817. Curtin's gravestone uses the 1815 date. His parents were Roland Curtin Sr., a wealthy Irish-born iron manufacturer from County Clare, and Jane (née Gregg) Curtin, the daughter of U.S. Senator Andrew Gregg. His father, with Miles Boggs, established the Eagle Ironworks at Curtin Village in 1810. Curtin's family was prominent in Pennsylvania politics and in the Civil War. He was the great-grandson of James Potter, the vice-president of Pennsylvania, and was the grandson of Andrew Gregg, also a prominent Pennsylvania politician. He was the uncle of John I. Gregg and cousin of David McMurtrie Gregg, both Union generals in the Civil War. He was also a cousin of Col. John I. Curtin. He attended Bellefonte Academy, Dickinson College, and the Dickinson School of Law and was employed as a lawyer. Career Curtin first entered politics during the 1840 election, when he campaigned for Whig presidential candidate William Henry Harrison. In 1855, Governor James Pollock appointed him as Superintendent of Public Schools. Governor of Pennsylvania With the collapse of the Whig Party, Curtin switched to the newly formed Republican Party and successfully ran for governor of Pennsylvania in 1860. At the same time, he helped Abraham Lincoln win the Republican nomination for president. A large crowd attended Curtin's inaugural ceremonies on January 15, 1861. Curtin was a strong supporter of President Lincoln's policies in the Civil War, and Curtin committed Pennsylvania to the war effort. Curtin organized the Pennsylvania Reserves into combat units, and oversaw the construction of the first Union military camp for training militia. It opened in an agricultural school nearby Harrisburg as Camp Curtin on April 18, 1861, and more than 300,000 men were drilled there during 4 years. In the years that followed, Curtin became a close friend and confidant of Abraham Lincoln, visiting the White House several times in order to converse about the status of the war effort. Curtin was very active during the Gettysburg