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Heritage, Not Hate
AZDuck
Member Posts: 15,381
AZDuck
Member Posts: 15,381
Comments
Winners win.
Treason in defense of slavery isn't heroism. Lee was one of the more decent Confederates, just like Erwin Rommel was one of the more decent Nazis. Not a lot of statues or Rommel in Germany, though.
The charge is named after Maj. Gen. George Pickett, one of three Confederate generals who led the assault under Longstreet.
Pickett's charge was part of Lee's "general plan"[1] to take Cemetery Hill and the network of roads it commanded. His military secretary, A. L. Long, described Lee's thinking:
There was... a weak point... where [Cemetery Ridge], sloping westward, formed the depression through which the Emmitsburg road passes. Perceiving that by forcing the Federal lines at that point and turning toward Cemetery Hill [Hays' Division] would be taken in flank and the remainder would be neutralized.... Lee determined to attack at that point, and the execution was assigned to
Longstreet.[2]
On the night of July 2, Meade correctly predicted at a council of war that Lee would attack the center of his lines the following morning.
The infantry assault was preceded by a massive artillery bombardment that was meant to soften up the Union defense and silence its artillery, but was largely ineffective. Approximately 12,500 men in nine infantry brigades advanced over open fields for three-quarters of a mile under heavy Union artillery and rifle fire. Although some Confederates were able to breach the low stone wall that shielded many of the Union defenders, they could not maintain their hold and were repulsed with over 50% casualties, a decisive defeat that ended the three-day battle and Lee's campaign into Pennsylvania.[3] Years later, when asked why his charge at Gettysburg failed, Pickett replied: "I've always thought the Yankees had something to do with it."[4]