Pickett's Charge
PICKETT'S CHARGE
PICKETT'S CHARGE (3 July 1863), more properly the Pickett-Pettigrew charge, was the culminating event of the Battle of Gettysburg. Repulsed on 1 and 2 July, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee assaulted the Union center with divisions under George Edward Pickett, J. J. Pettigrew, and William Pender. After a preliminary bombardment, 15,000 men advanced eastward from Seminary Ridge to a "little clump of trees" on the front of the Second Corps along Cemetery Ridge. The assault carried the column of attack to the Union position but failed when the Union forces closed in from three sides. The Confederates, retreating under heavy fire, lost about 6,000 men, including three of Pickett's brigade commanders and most of his field officers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gordon, Lesley J. General George E. Pickett in Life and Legend. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
Reardon, Carol. Pickett's Charge in History and Memory. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.
Douglas Southall Freeman / a. r.
See also Civil War ; Gettysburg, Battle of ; Pennsylvania, Invasion of .