July 3, 1863: Confederate forces attack the center of the Federal line at Gettysburg, but fail to break it.
144 years ago on this day in 1863, after two desperate days of slugging it out in the July heat in southern Pennsylvania, Robert E. Lee sends the equivalent of three divisions of infantry up the middle in a last ditch attempt to crack the Federal line at Gettysburg.
The battle began inauspiciously enough. Lee had hoped to bring the war north out of Virginia in order to take the pressure off his fellow Virginians as her farmers worked to raise their 1863 crops which were vital to both feed the army and the civilian population. Lee also hoped to expose the Northern civilian population to the war's horrors and thus bring about an armistice.
Scene from a 1988 reenactment
Day One as you'll recall ended with US forces fixed in a long fishook shaped defensive position anchored by high ground at both ends.
Day Two saw intense fighting on both ends as Lee tried to gain an advantage on either end and thus roll-up the Federal line with powerful flank attacks.
Day Three dawned hot and muggy with the Federals still firmly dug-in and unmoved. Lee reasoned that since they were clearly well manned on both ends as he had found on Day Two, the Federals had to be weak in the center and so he planned to order a frontal assault at that point.
Lee cobbled together an assault force built around George Pickett'sdivision of Virginians who had been in reserve the previous two days and thus relatively fresh. The men were drawn mostly from Lieutenant General "Pete" Longstreet's corps.
Major General George Pickett. He was never the same after Gettysburg. Before Day Three dawned he was itching for the fight and the chance for glory. Afterwards, speaking of his commander Bobby Lee, he was said to say, "That old man threw away my division."
As you can see from this graphic, they stepped-off from a wide front and were planned to converge at a common apex on a copse of trees at the precise center of the US line.
The attack was preceded by the most intense artillery bombardment in the the history of the western hemisphere. Unfortunately for Lee's gray-clad legions, much of the artillery fire was poorly laid and flew relatively harmlessly over the heads of the Federal defenders.
Just past noon, the artillery stopped and Lee's last best hope stepped off from its assembly area in the woods approximately one mile over open fields opposite the Union center. They marched at ordinary quick-time in close order with flags flying and bands playing.
Veterans who watched never forgot the awesome sight as the grim-faced Rebs came on into the teeth of the Federal defense. It's been commonly called "Pickett's Charge" but it wasn't a charge in the usual sense. These men didn't run or jog at double quick time. They simply marched to glory with their muskets at shoulder arms.
What they saw as they trudged west towards the Federals. The clump or "copse of trees" was the landmark all Rebel eyes were focused on as the point of convergence.
As they marched, they were under the fire of accurate Federal artillery and lost thousands to the deadly shot and shell. They had to break ranks to climb farm fences, but carefully reformed under fire on the other side to continue the attack.
As they closed within 500 yards, the Federal rifled-musketry opened and thousands more fell in agony. Finally, within a couple hundred yards of making contact, those still on their feet broke ranks and began to run at the Federals while whooping and hollering the "Rebel Yell" -- hearkening back to the wild and violent charges of their Celtic and Pict ancestors.
Lead elements of the Confederate assault force made it to the Federal line and an intense hand-to-hand struggle ensued. Lee's "Johnies" almost pulled-it off, but the Federal's held and Lee had nothing left to reinforce the limited breakthroughs his lead elements had achieved. Thus, the attack withered and was repulsed.
Brig. General Lewis Armistead led one of Pickett's lead brigades. He was shot down just as he reached a Federal artillery battery positioned on the US line. Armistead's father had been in command at Ft McHenry during the British bombardment during the War of 1812 under "the Star-Spangled Banner." It is worth noting that in this picture, Armistead is depicted backed by several Confederate battle flags. Ordinarily, each of those flags would have been accompanied by around 600 men. As you can see, the regiments to which those flags belonged had been whittled away to very few during the mile-long assault under deadly fire almost every step of the way.
Afterwards, Lee approached Pickett who seemed disoriented having observed the carnage and the shocked survivors streaming back to the relative safety of their pre-assault assembly areas. Lee, worried about a Federal counter-attack is said to have told Pickett, "General, look to your division" to which Pickett replied, "General, I have no division."
Lee's commanders spent the evening gathering up the tired and bloody Confederate forces which he aimed south and back across western Maryland to their base in Virginia. Some modern historians have been critical of the failure of the Federal command to order a counter-attack to cut-off Lee's retreat -- but those nattering nabobs simply don't understand that the Federals were wore slap-out and completely incapable of prosecuting a coordinated counter-attack against Lee who was retiring in good order.
The war would go on two more years and the proud and brave Confederates would soldier on but the South's best hope for victory had bled to death on the farmfields and rocky hillsides of the Gettysburg battlefield. America would thus eventually be re-united in the nineteenth century and poised to be a powerful force for justice and right in the coming world wars of the twentieth.
My favorite book on "The Charge." It contains a minute-by-minute chronology carefully reconstructed from original accounts of surviving participants and defenders.
Originally Posted by jk the sooner fan
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