GETTYSBURG, Pennsylvania — People began flocking to this tiny central Pennsylvania farm town after the three-day battle in July 1863, even before all of the dead had had a proper burial; some looking for mementos, others looking to help, others still looking to find some meaning in the war between the states that was collapsing our union before their very eyes.

It is a glorious Sunday morning here: The sun is high in the sky, and the clouds seem perfect, symmetrical, doing their slow dance over the visitors below who came to this sacred ground today in a time of crisis; to connect, reflect, and remember we as a country and a people have been through and survived calamity before.