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As bad as it looked, Pickett's Charge was a sound military decision, based on the info Lee had. He had been repulsed on both flanks, and thought the enemy was weak at the center. If he had been correct, he would have split the Federal line. However, his info was faulty.

No, it wasn't. He was on a 9 mile exterior line. Meade had a 5 mile interior line. By the time Pickett jumped off, Ewell had already had his butt kicked [again], Stuart was in the process of learning [not for the first time since Brandy Station] that the Union Cavalry in general, and George Armstrong Custer in particular could, and would whip his a*s on a battlefield, and A.P Hill was on a walkabout, since his Corps [except for Pettigrew and Trimble] had done nothing since 1 July.

More to the point, no one ever asks the question, what if Pickett broke through? He had the whole Army of the Potomac in front [and on two sides] of him, and NO reinforcements. Seems Marse Robert forgot to plan for a followup - probably because he had nobody else to send in.

Gettysburg is hubris writ large. Not necessarily irrational hubris, but hubris none the less. Lee thought his troops could do anything he willed. They couldn't. After Day 2, he should have packed it in and gone home, or gone on defense.