Whenever the famous battle of Gettysburg is studied, the epic, climactic moment of that fight, Pickett’s Charge, must be remembered. Here, in their own words, the combatants of that final struggle on the fields of Pennsylvania have chronicled their memories of that fateful Friday, July 3, 1863.
A Horrific Cannonade: At approximately 1 p.m. the artillery on Seminary Ridge opened up on the Union lines, as a portent of the enormous charge that would follow. The Union guns answered in kind, leading to the most horrific cannonade that ever occurred in modern warfare. Captain Robert G. Carter, a Union soldier stationed on Cemetery Ridge, recorded “It is said the roar, jar, and concussion were heard at Philadelphia, over 80 miles away.” George Clark, a Confederate participant in the charge from Wilcox’s Alabama Brigade, said “The noise and din were so furious and overwhelming as well as continuous that one had to scream to his neighbor lying beside him to be heard at all….Men could be seen, especially among the artillery, bleeding at both ears from concussion.” James Craighill, a Virginia soldier, remembered the artillery dominated the entire charge: “IF there was any shouting or yelling on either side I do not recall it, but the roar of artillery dominated all other sounds.”1
J.H. Moore, of the 7th Tennessee, remarked, “No imagination can adequately conceive of the magnitude of the artillery duel. It surpassed the ordinary battle fire as the earthquake…surpasses the muttering of an ordinary thunderstorm.” A Union man tersely agreed that “it was a hot place.”2
The artillery barrage from both sides lasted approximately two hours, killing and maiming many from both sides of the conflict. Smoke engulfed the fields dissected by the Emmitsburg Road south of town. Then, silence.
The Charge: Most of the men in gray and butternut who made the mile-wide charge across the field of fire walked rather than rode – in order to increase chances of survival. A few, however, due to illness or having been incapacitated – like General Garnett of Pickett’s Division – insisted on riding. All together eight men were mounted for the charge – including Pickett and his staff, General Garnett, General Kemper, Colonel Hunton, Colonel Williams, and Garnett’s aide Captain Jones. Of these, only Pickett, his staff and Captain Jones escaped the charge unhurt. Colonel Williams’ bay mare survived the charge, though her master did not.3
At about 3 p.m. a light breeze dissipated the smoke from the fields and both sides waited for the assault to commence. The men in blue on Cemetery Ridge fully expected the charge after such a fierce artillery attack, and the men on Seminary Ridge quickly filed in, prepared to discharge their duty. In all, an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Confederates from three infantry divisions participated in the charge. Pickett’s Division was one of the three, accompanied by Heth’s Division, with General Pettigrew leading the troops in place of the wounded Heth; and Pender’s Division, with General Trimble leading the men in the absence of the mortally wounded Pender, struck down the previous day. Part of a fourth division, belonging to General Anderson, was also involved – including men from Wilcox’s and Perry’s brigades. In all, 42 Confederate regiments charged toward Cemetery Ridge, which was defended by 27 well entrenched Union regiments.4
Of the Confederates, one soldier remembered, “They were ready for their work, and their conduct justified General Lee’s confidence in them."5
Captain Robert Bright, from Pickett’s staff, noted that “As I gave the order [to charge from General Pickett], Robert McCandish Jones, a friend and schoolmate of mine, called out, ‘Bob, turn us loose, and we will take them.’”6
Lieutenant-Colonel William R. Driver, from Massachusetts, remembered seeing the men of Pickett’s Division coming toward his line. “At about 3 o’clock the infantry appeared on the crest across the Emmitsburg Road. The column was composed of Pickett’s Division (three brigades) on the right with Heth’s, supported by two brigades of Pender’s, on the left. Its front covered the whole of Hayes’ Division and 2/3 of Gibbon’s. I estimate the number at about 13,000 men.”7
Lieutenant Frank Haskell, near the Angle, remembered “Every eye could see his legions, an overwhelming, resistless tide of an ocean of armed men, sweeping upon us!”8
But Meade’s men were ready, too. “The click of locks...the sharp jar as a musket touched a stone upon the wall...cartridge boxes were opened.General Gibbon rode down the lines, cool and calm: ‘Do not hurry, men, and fire too fast. Let them come up close before you fire, then aim low.”9
As the Confederates left the safety of the trees on Seminary Ridge, the Union artillery fired upon them in rapid succession. Shell and shrapnel blew large holes in the gray formation. Soon enough, according to one, “Death lurks in every foot of space.” Another added, “From the time we advanced a few yards, the artillery continually lessened our ranks…we fell back to the lane which was literally strewn with dead and wounded.”10
The men in blue, hidden behind the stone wall on the crest of the ridge, had yet to fire. As the Confederates approached the Emmitsburg Road, their time to raise their rifles had finally come.
The Emmitsburg Road: One of the ten roads that led to Gettysburg, and known unofficially as the Road to Washington, the Emmitsburg Road cut the field of fire in half – about two hundred yards from the Union position. With the thousands of soldiers charging toward them at so short a distance, the Federals had an easy range. Moreover, two fences – one on each side of the road – hampered the Confederate advance. “The time it took to climb to the top of the fence seemed to me an age of suspense,” one Confederate remembered. “It was not a leaping over, it was rather an insensible tumbling to the ground in the nervous hope of escaping the thickening missiles that buried themselves in the falling victims, in the ground, and in the fence, against which they rattled with the distinctness of large rain drops pattering on a roof.” He summarized that “Grim-visaged war had never before assumed a more hideous face.”11
Many of the killed were completely unrecognizable. “Most of the dead that I saw at the time, and there were many, had been killed by shot and shell,” recalled one Virginian. “In many instances the bodies were literally torn to pieces. Here lay a body without a head. Arms and legs were sometimes separated from the trunks to which they belonged, or so mutilated and rent that it would have been hard indeed to put those scattered fragments of humanity each in its proper place.”12
A North Carolina man remembered, “When within musket range, we encountered a heavy fire…from which we suffered severely.” Another added, “I was shot about 50 feet from the enemy’s works, and the ground between the enemy’s works and where I lay was thickly strewn with killed and wounded….I do not think a single one ever got back.”13
A man from the 13th Vermont wrote, “If there was any spot on that great field of battle that approximated more nearly than any other the maelstrom of destruction, this was the place. They lay one upon the other, clutched in death, side by side. The dead, dying, and horribly wounded, some had on the blue, but nearly all wore the gray.” Another Union veteran wrote, “We took deliberate aim and with a simultaneous flash and roar fired into the compact ranks…we saw at every volley the gray uniforms fall quick and fast.” Afterward, between the road and stone wall on Cemetery Ridge, 2000 dead Confederates were counted.14
The Angle: Though thousands embarked on the charge, a mere 150 to 200 Confederates, led by their brigade commander, General Lewis A. Armistead, managed to pierce the Union lines at the jutting corner in the line called the Angle. Here, fierce hand-to-hand combat ensued as the men in gray, after discharging their weapons, had no time to reload. “Men fired in each other’s faces; there were bayonet thrusts, cutting with sabers, hand to hand contests, oaths, curses, yells, and hurrahs. The 2nd Corps fell back behind the guns to allow the use of double canister, and as it tore through the rebel ranks at only a few paces distant the dead and wounded were piled in ghastly heaps.”15
Armistead was shot and mortally wounded. Within minutes, those who had followed him over the wall were either killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. The survivors of the charge who had not fallen sullenly retreated back to the safety of Seminary Ridge. In less than an hour, about 50 minutes, Pickett’s Charge had ended, with approximately 60% casualties for the South, and significantly less for the well entrenched North. The slaughter was so extensive that the body of even a general, Richard B. Garnett, was never found.
The Cost: “The North never fought a better battle,” claimed William Driver of Massachusetts. Union soldier Robert G. Carter noted that for the Confederates, the charge “was a simple physical impossibility.”16
The generals of the South were devastated at the incalculable loss. When General Lee, fearing that the Federals may counterattack, told Pickett to redeploy his division, General Pickett replied, “General Lee, I have no division now.” Of the nearly 5000 of his division who charged, only 800 answered roll call the following day. Other units suffered heavy losses too. Cadmus Wilcox, with tears streaming down his face, told General Lee that “I came into Pennsylvania with one of the finest brigades in the army of Northern Virginia and now all my people are gone.”17
One of the most eloquent summaries of the final attack at Gettysburg came from Lt. John James of the 11th Virginia. “Oh, but it was hard, too hard,” he lamented, “to be compelled to give way for the want of men, after having fought as hard as we had that day. The unwounded…got back to the place where we started from. We gained nothing but glory, and lost our bravest men.”18
Today the fields of fire are silent and a reverence pervades, reminding those who visit the historic fields of Gettysburg that the deeds of bravery from both sides will never be forgotten.
Sources: Pickett’s Charge Clippings, vol. 6, Folders #1 and #2, Gettysburg National Military Park (hereafter GNMP). Georg, Kathleen R. A Common Pride and Fame: The Attack and Repulse of Pickett’s Division. Part II. Unpublished manuscript, GNMP. Georg, Kathleen and John W. Busey. Nothing But Glory: Pickett’s Division at Gettysburg. Hightstown, NJ: Longstreet House, 1987. Rollins, Richard, ed. Pickett’s Charge! Eyewitness Accounts. Redondo Beach, CA: Rank and File Publications, 1994.
End Notes:
1. Clippings, vol. 6, Folder #1, GNMP. Rollins,
p. 199.
2. Ibid. Rollins, p. 128.
3. Clippings, vol. 6, Folder #2, GNMP.
4. Clippings, vol. 6, Folder #1.
5. Georg, A Common Pride, p. 354.
6. Rollins, p. 140.
7. Georg, A Common Pride, p. 353.
8. Rollins, p. 329.
9. Ibid.
10. Clippings, vol. 6, Folder #1.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Clippings, vol. 6, Folder #2.
14. Georg and Busey, Nothing But Glory, pp. 101, 141.
15. Clippings, vol. 6, Folder #1.
16. Ibid.
17. Rollins, p. 179. George and Busey, p. 146.
18. Georg and Busey, p. 149.
