“So much has been said and written about the battle of Gettysburg that it would seem that little of interest could be added.” – Colonel Richard Penn Smith, 71st Pennsylvania (1887). 1
If Colonel Smith were still with us today, he would undoubtedly be startled to see the volumes of words that continue to be added about Gettysburg.
Assuming that Gettysburg is the most written about battle in American history, then Robert E. Lee’s July 3 assault, popularly known as “Pickett’s Charge,” may be the most studied single action during this battle. There is something about this charge that still emotionally connects with Gettysburg enthusiasts like no other aspect of the battle. On the 150th anniversary of the charge on July 3, 2013, an estimated 15,000 visitors (more than the number that made the actual charge) recreated the march to Cemetery Ridge while as many as 25,000 people watched from the Union lines. 2 Why? Perhaps because there is something inexplicable, tragic, and yet still inspiring about the notion of a legendary general ordering thousands of his men to march across nearly one mile of open ground in what appears to the untrained eye to be an almost suicidal charge.
This book is not an attempt to provide a detailed military micro-history of the attack since many other works have already accomplished that task. Yet for those who study the battle through a myriad of resources, there is no more important reference than the battlefield itself. But in an ever increasing field of Gettysburg literature that includes a number of walking tour guides, it is surprising that no one has yet produced a tour guide to this seminal attack. As a result, the battlefield and the monuments placed here by the veterans have never been fully used to tell the story of this attack and defense.
Contrary to the views of some who regard this action as a simple frontal assault, there are still a number of mysteries and unanswered questions associated with it. Many of those questions can be best answered, or at least debated, with a thorough understanding of the ground upon which this charge occurred. But unfortunately most Gettysburg visitors consider the attack from a narrow viewpoint of the ground between the Virginia State Memorial and the “High Water Mark” area on Cemetery Ridge. Many visitors “walk the charge” by dutifully following the National Park Service’s mowed path that leads from the Virginia monument straight to “the Angle,” probably unaware this was not the direct route followed by Maj. General George Pickett’s Division during the course of the attack. General Lee’s attack was considerably broader in scope than this, and an understanding that his Army of Northern Virginia’s active operations extended from beyond the Fairfield Road to the Peach Orchard gives both novices and dedicated Gettysburg students a better understanding of what Lee tried, and ultimately failed, to accomplish.
The traditional interpretation of Pickett’s Charge (notwithstanding the popular name) fosters a very “Pickett-centric” reading of the day’s actions. Much of the ground upon which Brig. General Johnston Pettigrew and Maj. General Isaac Trimble’s Confederate divisions fought has been lost to modern development. Likewise, the ill-fated support provided by the two brigades under Brig. General Cadmus Wilcox and Col. David Lang is given scant, if any, historical scrutiny. Some histories barely even acknowledge their presence. Some readers will criticize our frequent use of “Pickett’s Charge” rather than the name preferred by hard-core enthusiasts: “The Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge.” The latter is more accurate but the former is more popular and has a long history of its own. Our use of the popular, and easier to say, version does not indicate that Pettigrew and Trimble (and Wilcox and Lang) will be absent from these pages.
On the other side, the defense of Maj. General George Meade’s Army of the Potomac was more extensive than simply the several hundred yards surrounding the so-called “Copse of Trees.” The traditional focus on Brig. General Alexander Webb’s brigade at the Angle has also shortchanged the contributions of Union artillery from as far away as Little Round Top and the stoic defense provided by others such as Brig. General Alexander Hays’s division or Col. Norman Hall’s brigade. The Army of the Potomac’s successful defense of Cemetery Ridge comprises a considerable portion of this book, and unlike many other books on this topic ours should not be considered “Confederate-centric.”
Last, and certainly not least, history is about the people who made events happen. In addition to military strategy and monuments history, readers will find numerous stories about individual participants, both well-known and lesser-known players, throughout this work. We believe that some of these stories have seldom, if ever, been told in other books.
Our goal is to provide the reader and battlefield-walker a better understanding of the people and scope of the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble-Wilcox-Lang Charge and Meade’s defense while also examining many of the more colorful and controversial aspects of the story. When completed, it is hoped that Gettysburg enthusiasts will better appreciate this action as being much more than a simple frontal assault by one Virginia division upon an otherwise unremarkable clump of trees.
James A. Hessler and Wayne E. Motts
February 2015