Pickett’s Charge
Facts, information and articles about Pickett’s Charge, an important event in the Battle Of Gettysburg
Pickett’s Charge was the culmination of the Battle of Gettysburg. Taking place on July 3, 1863, the third and final day of battle, it involved an infantry assault of approximately 15,000 Confederate soldiers against Union Major General George Meade’s troops’ position along Cemetery Ridge, manned by some 6,500 Federals. The assault would take the nine brigades of Confederate soldiers over three-quarter mile of open ground susceptible to cannon fire the entire time. The ill-fated assault resulted in over 6,000 Confederate casualties and marked the end of the battle of Gettysburg as well as Lee’s last invasion of the north.
The assault became known as Pickett’s Charge, although was led by the division of Major General George Pickett on the Confederate right and that of Brigadier General James Johnston Pettigrew on the left. Additionally, two brigades of Maj. Gen. Isaac Trimble’s division came behind Pettigrew in support, and the brigades of Brig. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox and Brig Gen. Edward Perry (the latter led by Colonel David Lang) were behind and to the right of Pickett to protect his flank. Pickett’s was the only fresh division in the assault, having arrived only the night before, and the Confederate commander, Gen. Robert E. Lee, had specified it was to lead the assault.
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