| George Edward Pickett
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George Edward Pickett was born on January 25, 1825, in Richmond ,
Virginia. He graduated last in a class of 59, from the U.S. Military Academy, Class of
1846 ,Infantry .During the Mexican War, he received the brevet of first Lieutenant for
gallant service at Contreras and Churubusco. He received the brevet of Lieutenant for
distinguished service at Chapultepec, after carrying the regimental colors over the walls
of the castle.
Following the Mexican War, Captain Pickett was assigned to various posts in the West,
including command of Company K, Eighth Infantry at Fort Bliss, Texas . In June, 1855, he
had a tour of duty in command of an Army garrison at Whatcom, Washington Territory. In
1859 he was involved in the so called "Pig War", a border dispute with the
British at San Juan Island. Captain Pickett performed well, refusing to yield to the
British.
He resigned from the U.S. Army on June 25, 1861, to join the Confederacy, and was
appointed a Colonel in the Confederate Army, on July 23. Colonel Pickett served on the
Rappahannock in the Department of Fredericksburg, and the Aquia District, Department of
Northern Virginia. On January 14, 1862, Pickett was appointed as brigadier-general, and
commanded a brigade in General Longstreet's division, under General Joseph E. Johnston. He
joined the main army for the Peninsula Campaign , and led his brigade in battle at
Williamsburg, Seven Pines, and Gaines's Mill, where he suffered a shoulder wound that
would keep him out of action until fall. Pickett returned to the army and was appointed
Major General, in command of a division in the Army of Northern Virginia.
After seeing light action at the first Fredericksburg campaign, he next served in
Longstreet's Tidewater Campaign in southeastern Virginia. In July, 1863 at the Battle of
Gettysburg, General Pickett would lead his division in the heroic and heartbreaking
attempt on the Union center line, known forever as Pickett's Charge.
After Gettysburg, in September, 1863, General Pickett was sent to North Carolina where
he commanded the Department of North Carolina. He distinguished himself in the defense of
Drewry's Bluff and then rejoined Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Cold Harbor. Pickett
served in the Richmond - Petersburg Campaign, and was one of the principle commanders at
Dinwiddie Court House, and Five Forks, where he lost nearly his entire division. Because
of his actions at Five Forks, he was relieved of command by Lee the day before the
surrender, but he surrendered with the army the next day, April 9, 1865 at Appomattox
Court House.
Following the Civil War, Pickett fled to Canada to avoid prosecution for
actions he took against Union captives from North Carolina, at New Berne, returning to the
United States when pardoned by General Grant. He suffered from severe depression, having
never gotten over the loss of his division at Gettysburg. He refused offers of commands
from Egypt, and the United States, and settled in Norfolk, Virginia, where he entered the
insurance business. George Pickett died on July 30, 1875.
George Pickett came from an old Virginia family, with many important relatives scattered
throughout the state. Born to the life of a gentleman farmer, George grew up in the
pampered, sheltered life that his father, a prosperous plantation owner, could give him.
In the 1840's, young George went to Illinois to study law with his uncle, Andrew Johnston.
A popular myth is that George got his appointment to West Point through Abraham Lincoln
while in Illinois - the two becoming close friends, so close, that no one was allowed to
insult Mr. Lincoln in Pickett's presence. While Pickett and Lincoln could possibly have
met during his time in Illinois, the story was created by LaSalle Pickett after George's
death. Pickett received his appointment to West Point while in Illinois, through the
office of Congressman John Stuart.
George was married twice before the Civil War, both marriages ending with the deaths of
his wives. His second wife died in 1857, shortly after giving birth to a son, James Tilton
Pickett - named for his best friend, Major James Tilton. When the war broke out, Major
Tilton arranged for a family to take the boy, and supervised his care.
Returning to Virginia in 1851 after the death of his first wife, he meets LaSalle Corbell,
a schoolgirl from Chuckatuck, Virginia. In 1861, after resigning his commission in the
United States Army, he returns to Richmond, and starts courting LaSalle, now a woman of
20. He corresponds frequently with her, and sees her whenever he can, sometimes leaving
his division without permission, to spend time with her. They are married shortly after
the Battle of Gettysburg, in 1863. George and "Sallie" have two sons, George Jr.
and Corbell.
After the war, they are forced to flee to Canada, to avoid prosecution for the actions
Pickett took in Kinston, North Carolina. George spends most of the time that they are in
Canada, bedridden with illness and depression. Mrs. Pickett helps support the couple by
giving piano and latin lessons, along with charitable donations from former Confederate
officers that also went to Canada. Allowed to return to the United States by General
Grant, Pickett enters the insurance business.
When Lieutenant James Longstreet fell wounded on the slopes to Chapultepec, during the
Mexican War, he handed the regimental colors he was carrying, to Lieutenant George E.
Pickett, who carried it up and over the wall. The two served together in the Eighth
Infantry during the war, and developed a close friendship. After the war, George Pickett
was stationed in temporary command of Company K at Fort Bliss, Texas. In July, 1854, a new
company commander was sent to Fort Bliss, to relieve Lieutenant Pickett. The company
commander was Lieutenant James Longstreet. Pickett stays as second in command, until he
was transferred west to Washington Territory, in 1855.
During the winter of 1862, a scarlet fever epidemic swept through Richmond. All four of
General Longstreet's children fell ill, and within the short period of a week, three of
them died. George Pickett was with the Longstreet's during the terrible week, and when
Longstreet and his wife Louise were too grief stricken to plan the children's funerals,
George and LaSalle Corbell stepped in and made the arrangements for them.
When Robert E. Lee reorganized the Army of Northern Virginia, after the summer campaign of
1862, he worked closely with General Longstreet, asking advice, and recommendations for
promotions. Longstreet recommended his old friend, George Pickett be promoted to the rank
of major general, and given command of a division within Longstreet's First Corps.
Longstreet was "exceedingly fond of him", wrote Moxley Sorrel, and watched over
his old friend. "Taking Longstreet's orders in emergencies, I could always see how he
looked after Pickett, and made us give him things very fully; indeed, sometimes stay with
him to make sure he did not get astray."
At Gettysburg, the terrible responsibility fell on General Longstreet to plan and order
what has since become known as Pickett's Charge. Longstreet knew the attack on the
fortified Union center would be costly, and had no real chance of success. Waiting for the
artillery bombardment to finish, which was to hopefully drive the Federal cannons off
Cemetary Ridge, General Pickett filled the time by writing to his fiancée. When the
message finally came from Colonel E. Porter Alexander ("The 18 guns have been driven
off, For God's sake come on quick or we cannot support you, ammunition nearly out") ,
Pickett took the note to Longstreet, and asked "General, shall I advance?".
Longstreet, knowing by his "yes" that he was sending many a man, and quite
possibly Pickett as well, to his death, turned his head away. Unable to even speak to his
old friend, he merely nods his head in assent. Pickett replies "I shall lead my
division forward, sir".
George Pickett brooded on the loss of his division at Gettysburg for the remainder of his
life. Years after the war, he happened to meet up with John Mosby, the leader of
"Mosby's Rangers". The following is a quote from "Gettysburg: The
Confederate High Tide" , from Time-Life Books.
'For the rest of his life, Pickett would grieve for his men lost that day, and would blame
Lee for the disaster. Thus, five years after the War, when Pickett and the Confederate
guerilla leader John Mosby paid a courtesy call on Lee in Richmond, the atmosphere was
less than cordial. On departing, Pickett launched into a bitter diatribe. "That old
man," he said, "had my division slaughtered at Gettysburg." For an instant
of memory, men in grey marched beneath fluttering flags up a long, grassy slope. Then
Mosby broke the silence. "Well," he said, "it made you immortal."'
When George Pickett graduated from West Point, in 1846, he was ranked 59th out of a class
of 59. Among his fellow graduates that year were George McClellan (#2), and Thomas J.
"Stonewall" Jackson (#17).
Confederate General Henry Heth and George Pickett were first cousins. Henry Heth also
graduated at the bottom of his West Point class, in 1847.
Pickett's Charge
On July 3, 1863, the Army of Northern Virginia would make a final attack on the Union
lines at Gettysburg. Using the division of George Pickett (minus Corse and Jenkins'
brigades), Pender's Division, commanded by Issac Trimble, and Heth's Division, commanded
by Johnston Pettigrew, the Confederates were to break the Union line at the center, and
turn and roll up the line, forcing the Union to retreat. The attack, Lee hoped, was to be
the last great victory for the South, ending the war, and ensuring the continued existence
of the Confederate States of America. What happened would become one of the most gallant
and heartbreaking events of the War Between The States. Sometimes called the Charge of
Pickett and Pettigrew, and more accurately called "Longstreet's Assault" , the
Confederate assault on the Union lines will be forever known in history as "Pickett's
Charge".
The day
was hot, nearly ninety degrees - the humidity nearly as high, a typical summer's day in
Pennsylvania. The order to march would mean a walk of a mile, over open ground, all the
while in range of the terrible cannons on Cemetery Ridge with their long range ordinance -
percussion, solid shot. As the line grew closer, there would be short range ordinance -
grape, the deadly canister - along with a solid wall of men in blue firing their muskets
into the advancing army. And yet they came, they obeyed, they walked into hell itself. The
lines of men, row upon row, battle flags raised high, the line stretching across for more
than a mile, they came, they obeyed, they walked across the open field into immortality.
The sight of so many men, walking in perfect parade order, all the while under fire from
artillery, was a sight that impressed both Union and Confederate alike.
""Beautiful, gloriously beautiful, did that vast array appear in the lovely
little valley", wrote a soldier of the 126th New York. "Right as they move, as
with one soul, in perfect order, without impediment of ditch, or wall or stream, over
ridge and slope, through orchard and meadow and cornfield, magnificent, grim,
irresistible." writes Lieutenant Frank Haskell, an aide to Union General Gibbon.
James Crocker, the adjutant of the 9th Virginia, writes "As the lines cleared the
woods that skirted the brow of the ridge, and passed through our batteries, with their
flags proudly held aloft, waving in the air, with polished muskets and swords gleaming and
flashing in the sunlight, they presented an inexpressibly grand and inspiring sight."
Even General Lewis Armistead himself was heard to exclaim "See - look at my brigade,
did you ever see a more perfect line than that on dress parade?"
For a historical account of the charge itself, read Nothing
But Glory Gained, an article published in America's Civil War magazine. This excellent
article tells the story, in brief, from ...
Another description of the charge, Pickett's Charge At
Gettysburg, was written by LaSalle Corbell Pickett. This account gives a more
emotional version, from a Southern viewpoint.........
Follow in the footsteps of Pickett's men, with the Valley of Death tour. Print this
tour out, and take it with you to Gettysburg, and walk the actual charge.
 General Longstreet (Tom Berenger) gives George Pickett (Stephen Lang) the nod to go forward, in a scene from "Gettysburg" |
The actual number of Confederate casualties
in Pickett's Charge will probably never be known. Approximately 10,500 men made the attack
- 6,240 of them were either killed, wounded, or missing. Of the eight generals making the
charge, Garnett was dead; Armistead was mortally wounded and captured; Trimble and Kemper
severely wounded; Pettigrew, wounded; only Pickett, Lane, and Davis were unhurt. Out of
thirty-two field grade officers that advanced with Pickett's division, only one returned
unwounded. Pettigrew and Trimble suffered equal losses of their officers. This loss of
leadership was never fully recovered by the Army of Northern Virginia.
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| In Pickett's division, the casualty rate was
42 percent. The division lost all three of its brigade commanders, Garnett being killed,
Armistead mortally wounded, and Kemper severely wounded. Of the thirteen colonels in
Pickett's division that made the charge, seven were killed, one mortally wounded, five
wounded. 6,260 men of Pickett's division made the assault - 2,655 were either killed,
wounded or captured. General Lee rode out to meet the survivors of the charge, on their retreat across the field where so many of their fellow soldiers now lay. Meeting up with Pickett, Lee said, "General Pickett, place your division in the rear of this hill, and be ready to repel any counterattack." Pickett, distraught and in tears, looked up at Lee and replied "General Lee, I have no division now." Pickett's Division
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