Actually considerably larger than 15,000. Picketts charge
on Sunday had right at 11,000 Rebs. Union opposition was
about 9,500. Added to that were 700 artillerymen to man
the guns and over 2000 mounted cavalry. Some estimates
place the number of participants at over 30,000. During Picketts charge my company was part of the 14th Conn.
just down the line from the “angle”. It was a magnificent sight to be sure.
I submit that today’s re-enactors tend to be a bit more pudgy than the average Civil War soldier.
They tend to look more like Grant’s Chief of Engineers at Vicksburg, who asked relief from the order to visit the front lines daily, unless they needed him as a ‘sap roller’.