Editing George Pickett (section)

===Gettysburg and Pickett's Charge===
{{Main|Pickett's Charge}}
Pickett's division arrived at the [[Battle of Gettysburg]] on the evening of the second day, July 2, 1863. It was reduced to three brigades present, Corse's still being detached in Virginia and Jenkins' transferred. It had been delayed by the assignment of guarding the Confederate lines of communication through [[Chambersburg, Pennsylvania]]. After two days of heavy fighting, [[Full General (CSA)|General]] [[Robert E. Lee]]'s [[Army of Northern Virginia]], which had initially driven the Union [[Army of the Potomac]] to the high ground south of Gettysburg, had been unable to dislodge the Union soldiers from their position.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg/maps/pickettscharge.html |title= Pickett's Charge |publisher= Civil War Trust |access-date= June 30, 2016 |archive-date= October 26, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111026013838/http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg/maps/pickettscharge.html |url-status= dead }}</ref> Lee's plan for July 3 called for a massive assault on the center of the Union lines on [[Cemetery Ridge]], based on the assumption that Meade had concentrated his forces to protect his flanks while leaving his center weak. Lee directed General Longstreet to assemble a force of three divisions for the attack—two divisions from the corps of Lieutenant General [[A. P. Hill]], under the temporary command of [[J. Johnston Pettigrew]] and Major General [[Isaac R. Trimble]], which had both seen action on July 1, and Pickett's fresh division from Longstreet's own corps.<ref>Davis, pp. 234–236</ref> The center was occupied by the Union [[II Corps (Union Army)|II Corps]], commanded by Major General [[Winfield Scott Hancock]].<ref name="Pickett's Charge: A 1901 Account of the Civil War's Most Famous Charge">{{cite web |url= http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg/gettysburg-history-articles/picketts-charge.html |title= Pickett's Charge: A 1901 Account of the Civil War's Most Famous Charge |last= Pennypacker |first= Isaac R. |publisher= Civil War Trust |access-date= June 16, 2016 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170317201227/http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg/gettysburg-history-articles/picketts-charge.html |archive-date= March 17, 2017 |df= mdy-all }}</ref> Longstreet was technically in command, not Pickett. Nevertheless, the attack became known as "Pickett's Charge". In addition, much of the mythology of the Charge arose from newspaper reports. As Pickett was the only major general from Virginia to participate in the charge, the Virginia newspapers both played up their native son's role and made the assault a more "glamorous" event.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/4113/reviews/4518/kinsel-reardon-picketts-charge-history-and-memory |title=Kinsel on Reardon, 'Pickett's Charge in History and Memory' |last1=Kinsel |first1=Amy J. |date=April 1998 |publisher=Humanities and Social Sciences Online: H-Civ War |access-date=July 1, 2016}}</ref>

Following a two-hour artillery barrage meant to soften up the Union defenses, the three divisions stepped off across open fields almost a mile from Cemetery Ridge. Pickett inspired his men by shouting, "Up, men, and to your posts! Let no man forget today that you are from Old Virginia."<ref>Inscription on the monument for Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg National Park; Tagg, p. 239.</ref> Pickett's division, with the brigades of Brigadier Generals Armistead, Garnett, and Kemper, was on the right flank of the assault. It received punishing artillery fire, and then volleys of massed musket fire as it approached its objective. Armistead's brigade made the farthest progress through the Union lines. Armistead was mortally wounded, falling near "The Angle", at what is now termed the "[[high-water mark of the Confederacy]]". Neither of the other two divisions made comparable progress across the fields; Armistead's success was not reinforced, and his men were quickly killed or captured.<ref name="Pickett's Charge: A 1901 Account of the Civil War's Most Famous Charge"/>

[[File:Thure de Thulstrup - L. Prang and Co. - Battle of Gettysburg - Restoration by Adam Cuerden.jpg|thumb|[[Thure de Thulstrup]]'s ''Battle of Gettysburg'', showing Pickett's Charge.]]
Pickett's Charge was a bloodbath. While the Union suffered 1,500 casualties, the Confederates had over 6,000. Over 50% of the men sent across the fields were killed or wounded.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historynet.com/picketts-charge-gettysburg |title=Nothing But Glory Gained – Account of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg |last1=Cheeks |first1=Robert C. |publisher= HistoryNet |access-date=June 30, 2016}}</ref> Pickett's division alone, out of about 5,500 men, 224 were killed, 1,140 wounded, and 1,499 missing/captured.<ref>[http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg/gettysburg-history-articles/picketts-charge.html Pickett's Charge] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326183629/http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg/gettysburg-history-articles/picketts-charge.html |date=March 26, 2010 }} ''Civil War Trust.'' Retrieved May 10, 2016.</ref> Pickett's three brigade commanders and all thirteen of his regimental commanders were casualties. Kemper was wounded, Garnett killed, and Armistead mortally wounded. Trimble and Pettigrew were the most senior casualties of the entire Confederate assault, the former losing a leg and the latter wounded in the hand and later mortally wounded during the retreat to Virginia. Pickett has received some historical criticism for establishing his final position well to the rear of his troops. Thomas R. Friend, who served Pickett as a courier, defended Pickett by writing that he "went as far as any Major General, commanding a division, ought to have gone, and farther."<ref>Hess, p. 177; Gordon, ''General George E. Pickett in Life and Legend'', p. 115.</ref>

As soldiers straggled back to the Confederate lines along Seminary Ridge, Lee feared a Union counteroffensive and tried to rally his center, telling returning soldiers that the failure was "all my fault." Pickett was inconsolable. When Lee told Pickett to rally his division for the defense, Pickett allegedly replied, "General Lee, I have no division."<ref name="Tagg240">Tagg, p. 240.</ref> Pickett's official report for the battle has never been found. While it is rumored that Lee rejected it for its bitter negativity and demanded that it be rewritten, an updated version was never filed.<ref>Reardon, pp. 85, 159–60, 186.</ref>