Posted on 07/30/2025 8:46:17 AM PDT by Borges
I saw nothing in the media marking it. Pickett's Charge is certainly a keynote moment in American history.
It was military doctrine worldwide through 1918.
My experience was the same as both of yours when I visited there as an adult about 20 years ago. I'll never forget it, especially looking across that open field. Talk about the perfect place to be cut to pieces.
I'm not psychic or anything, but I clearly felt the presence of souls in that place among the hedgerows, fences, and rocks. It was an intense feeling of many souls feeling sadness and resentment.
Lee thought he would have won at Gettysburg if Jackson had been there. Of course there's no way to know.
I blame Jeff Davis.
bttt
Shoulda’ gone to the right...
I always did like his hit song “Mustang Sally”.
Many years later, when asked for the millionth time, “what went wrong during the charge?”, Pickett finally conceded that, “I think the Yankees had something to do with it.”
ping
Longstreet dragged his posterior on the second day and failed to take a wide-open Little Roundtop and potentially roll up the Union line. His tardiness allowed the Yankees to(barely)occupy LRT in time to repel the Rebel assaults.
There were a number of failures on both sides at Gettysburg.
Regardless ,ordering Pickett to charge was idiotic.
I concur that Vicksburg was pivotal and Shiloh also;the South’s defeat was inevitable after Shiloh.
“Mistake by Lee. Should have taken high ground first afternoon”
That was a failure by Baldy Ewell. Ewell had inherited Stonewall Jackson’s division upon Jackson’s death at The Wilderness just 2 months before Gettysburg.
Jackson, the old professor of artillery at VMI, would never have halted his troops before taking Cemetery Ridge. Ewell halted, letting Meade take control of the high ground.
It’s seems like long term strategic 160 years later we won down here
Of course freed slave descendants have ruined everything they run down here
It’s a mixed bag
Barksdale’s Brigade was part of Longstreet’s corps. They had their own charge the evening before Pickett. Barksdale went through the Peach Orchard and flanked the Union line, only to be repelled by Chamberlain.
“Barksdale’s charge is remembered for its intensity and the distance covered, with some Union observers describing it as the “grandest charge that was ever seen by mortal man”.”
Barksdale was killed, as was my g-grand uncle. Shelby Foote regarded that brigade as the hardest hitting unit in Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
Your g-grand uncle was a brave man. I’m so sorry your family lost him. He would have brought so much to all of you.
I didn’t have anyone at Gettysburg. My 2nd g uncle commanded the 17th New York Volunteer Infantry but they fought in the first two years of the war.
https://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/lansing/henryseymourlansing.htm
With his brother, my 2nd ggrandfather, with whom he’s constantly confused because they both had the first name of Henry, the two started the Military Association of NY.
https://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/lansing/henrylivingstonlansing.htm
His son-in-law, great grandfather, was in the Ohio 2nd Cavalry until his horse rolled on him and he transferred to the Judge Advocate Corps, getting the death penalty for the Southern Conspirators. Though they did get it repealed later.
https://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/burnett/images/middletownhlbobituary1-5-1916.jpg
All of the genealogy connections made me an avid collector of Civil War autobiographies and biographies.
One of my dearest friends was obsessed with Gettysburg and I watched the movie twice while copying it for him. He desperately wanted to do a parallel book on Chamberlain at Appomattox and wanted me to find a buddy relationship to center around then. Never found one strong enough for him to use. The most fun is always when you have someone to enthuse with. Our Gettysburg conversations are some of my fondest memories.
“Gettysburg was the price the Southjadtopay for having Robert E Lee.” Shelby Foote.
Correct, the West east MORE important.
In addition, Lee made a fundamental miscalculation in seeking battle at Gettysburg instead of withdrawing, going around Meade and menacing Washington, or taking defensive positions and goading Meade into the disadvantages of attack.
Arguably, Longstreet and other subordinates may have failed to make the best choices at Gettysburg, but Lee's style of command lacked clarity and permitted too much discretion. This often led to confusion and poor coordination that is most properly blamed on Lee instead of his subordinates.
Finally, where the Union war effort gradually gained in discipline and focus, that of the Confederates was an often brilliant improvisation crippled by state's rights doctrines and the egotism of Confederate political figures and field commanders.
Long ago, the year that I visited Gettysburg, I walked along much of the ridge held by the Confederates.
Up in the trunks of several of the trees, were holes where the Union rifle rounds struck. They were black holes, and they seeped a bit of black and slightly leaden “sap.”
I agree. Chattanooga was the end for the South. Incredible victory for Grant.
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