Pickett's Charge

Looking across the field at Gettysburg towards Cemetery Ridge. Photo taken in front of the Virginia Monument, where the Confederate line emerged from the woods to begin the charge.

Pickett's Charge was a combined arms assault that occurred on July 3, 1863 during the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg. An artillery barrage was followed by over 10,000 Confederate infantry charging across open ground, to attack the center of the Federal line.

General Lee's plan arose from geographical considerations. The Union line was arranged in a fishhook, which meant that firepower was dispersed around the convex center of the line. There had been fierce battles at both ends of the line, and Lee's theory was that the center had been weakened to reinforce the ends.

Union artillery gained the upper hand, disabling most of the Confederate guns and taking a heavy toll on the attackers. Union rifles also proved decisive against the Napoleonic-style attack. The rebels did reach the Union line, and penetrated it as a spot called the Angle, but they were repulsed in bloody hand-to-hand fighting.

The Charge was a catastrophic failure, resulting in heavy losses. It resulted in Lee and the Confederates being forced to retreat, and ended their campaign in Pennsylvania.