Editing George Pickett (section)

===Department of Southern Virginia and North Carolina===
After the Battle of Gettysburg, Pickett commanded the Department of Southern Virginia and North Carolina. In February, Pickett was ordered to capture [[New Bern, North Carolina]], from Federal forces. The subsequent [[Battle of New Bern (1864)|Battle of New Bern]] resulted in a Confederate defeat. Following the battle, Pickett ordered the execution of 22 United States Army soldiers of the [[2nd North Carolina Union Volunteer Infantry Regiment]] who were captured during the failed raid.<ref name="George Pickett history.com">{{cite web |url= http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/george-edward-pickett|title= George Pickett |publisher= The History Channel |access-date= June 21, 2016 }}</ref> Confederates claimed they were merely executing deserters.<ref>''The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Series II,'' Volume VII, (1902).</ref> In fact many of the US soldiers put to death offered good evidence that they refused service in the Confederate States Army, serving only in the North Carolina home guard on the basis of refusing to take up arms against the United States.<ref name="Loyal Citizens">''An Account of the Assassination of Loyal Citizens of North Carolina'' by Rush C. Hawkins, 1897.</ref> One of the executed soldiers was just 15 years old.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historynet.com/cloaked-vengeance-george-pickett-and-the-hanging-of-union-prisoners.htm|title = Cloaked Vengeance: George Pickett and the Hanging of Union Prisoners|date = October 8, 2020}}</ref>

After the war Pickett fled to Canada to escape an investigation into the executions, but he returned to the United States after being promised by General Grant, to public controversy, that he would not face prosecution.<ref name="Loyal Citizens"/>