INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT PICKETT’S CHARGE

1. It would have been more accurately called “Longstreet’s Charge” as it involved three of his divisions – Pickett, Pettigrew, and Trimble.  That was a total of 12,500-15,000 men.
2. It was Lee’s desperate attempt to end the Civil War in one day. In the first two days of the battle, he had tested the flanks of Meade’s army and now he thought the center had been weakened and could be broken.  Longstreet correctly argued that the Union position was too strong.
3. The assault was proceeded by the largest artillery bombardment ever in North America. Over 150 cannons bombarded the Union position for about an hour.  Most of the shells flew over and hit behind the Union lines.  One of them almost killed Meade as he ate lunch in his headquarters.  An orderly was cut in half by a cannon ball.  At first, the Union artillery answered, but in order to conserve ammunition for the coming assault, it ceased firing.  The Confederate artillery commander assumed his cannons had caused the cessation and told Lee it was a good time to attack.
4. Rebel from six Southern states participated: Virginia (Pickett’s Division), Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida.
5. When the Rebels got closer, the Union cannons switched from exploding shells to cannister. Cannister turned the cannons into giant shot guns.
6. Gen. Armistead and some of his men got the furthest and briefly penetrated the Union line. Armistead was assaulting his best friend from before the war, Gen. Hancock.  Hancock was wounded in the fight, but Armistead was killed.
7. As it became apparent the assault had failed, the Yankees taunted their foes by yelling “Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!” This was a reference to the Union’s suicidal assaults on Lee’s impregnable position at the earlier battle.
8. Lee took responsibility for the defeat and offered to resign. Davis did not accept it.  Pickett spent the rest of his life blaming Lee for what happened.  “The old man had my division slaughtered.”
9. Not everyone was killed or even wounded, but there were about 7,000 casualties. That was almost 50%, which is extremely high.
10. Lee did not retreat immediately and hoped Meade would attack him. Meade got a lot of criticism for not following up the win by attacking Lee’s gravely wounded army.  In fact, Lee was able to retreat back to Virginia and the war continued for two more years.
11. In 1913, thousands of veterans of the battle came to the 50^th anniversary reunion at Gettysburg. They reenacted the charge, but this time it ended with hugs.

https://militaryhistorynow.com/2016/06/03/the-killing-field-12-remarkable-facts-about-picketts-charge/

The High Water Mark of the Confederacy