Lincoln had made meaning out of the destruction and suffering that had happened in the Civil War, which is not an easy feat. From The Gettysburg College, “It attached transcendent meaning to the battle of Gettysburg, and turned the war-ravaged town left in its wake into a symbol of democracy and devotion to duty.” What this quote is telling us is that although the town may be destroyed and all the buildings were in rubble, it was more than just what the eye could see. The town and the soldiers resembled democracy and the soldier’s devotion to duty, they [the soldiers] did not die in vain.