The Battle of Gettysburg turned the tide of the Civil War, and Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863, proved to be the climactic clash of that battle.
Spearheading this frontal assault on the Union line on Cemetery Ridge was Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead's brigade, which crossed into history and legend as it crossed the angle of a stone wall protecting the Union troops atop the ridge, and plowed into Union forces under Brig. Gen. Alexander S. Webb, whose brigade did not have a strong hold on the position. Union leaders did not anticipate a Confederate attack over an open field. The 71st Pennsylvania fled, and the Confederate infantry swarmed onto the 72nd, 69th and 106th Pennsylvania regiments.
The Union line broke, as Armistead's troops took over a small grove on the ridge, out of formation and without an officer in command. As their numbers dwindled in the face of Union fire, the Confederates eventually fell into confusion, but continued fighting among the trees.
According to Civil War trial records, Union Pvt. John Smith recalled, "It was, you might say, a fight at close quarters. Everybody was loading and firing as fast as they could."
But the Confederates did not have sufficient reserve troops to bolster their assault. The number of men fighting under Armistead grew smaller. The Union had extra batteries and infantry reserves converging upon Cemetery Ridge.
Marking the 139th anniversary of this fighting, long known as the high-water mark of the Confederacy, thousands of Civil War re-enactors will re-create Armistead's attack beginning at 2 p.m. July 7 at Yingling Farm near Gettysburg.
Armistead, a close friend of Union Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, whose 2nd Corps position was being attacked, was a native North Carolinian who grew up in Virginia. His uncle, George Armistead, had led the defense of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.
As Armistead began the assault he told his men, "Give 'em the cold steel, boys! Who will follow me?"
But as he lay mortally wounded, his attitude changed. Armistead, by then captured, was attended by Union Capt. Henry H. Bingham, who recounted that Armistead said, "Tell General Hancock from me, that I have done him and you all a grave injustice."
High tide ebbs
About 4 p.m., a countercharge by the 72nd Pennsylvania Regiment resulted in the surrender of Armistead's troops. That ended the Confederacy's high tide.
Terms of engagement for the battle were set the evening of July 2, 1863, when Union Army commander Maj. Gen. George G. Meade and his corps commanders decided to remain in position on Cemetery Ridge the next day and await the Confederate attack.
After two days of battle, leaders of the Army of the Potomac had debated whether to retreat or stand fast. Before the Union council of war ended, Meade turned to Brig. Gen. John Gibbon and predicted that the Confederate troops would attack Gibbon's front on Cemetery Ridge.
According to Carol Reardon, associate professor of history at Pennsylvania State University, Meade said: "If Lee attacks tomorrow, it will be in your front, because he has made attacks on both our flanks and failed, and if he concludes to try it again, it will be on our center."
Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate forces, wanted to stay on the offensive.
Lee's plan for the third day called for a simultaneous attacks by corps led by Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell and Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, hoping to penetrate the Union line through its center and left side.
George R. Stewart, a Civil War historian and professor at the University of California at Berkeley, believes the plan lacked two things: effective communication between two forces and the timely arrival of a division of fresh troops under command of Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett.
Communication between the two points of attack depended upon the speed of a courier, and the messages often did not reach the commanders in time.
Lee had ordered Pickett's division to rest the previous day, rather than joining other troops on the field at Gettysburg. Pickett's men did not leave their camp until the morning of July 3 and so were unable to reinforce Longstreet's troops until after 9 a.m.
Lee believed that one intense attack would badly cripple Union troops after two days of fighting and apparent Confederate progress.
Lee declared, "The enemy is there, and I am going to strike him," affirming his determination to attack Cemetery Ridge.
After rejecting a second plan devised by Longstreet, Lee ordered Pickett's division, along with troops from Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill's 3rd Corps, to attack the center of the Union line at Cemetery Ridge - fulfilling Meade's prediction.
Meade mobilized his troops to attack at dawn. Meade ordered Brig. Gen. John W. Geary to prepare the Union batteries to open fire. The Union Army engaged Ewell's left flank, and Ewell's men fought alone at Culp's Hill on the northern flank of the Union army. Longstreet's men could not be ready to make the frontal assault on the center of the Union line until Pickett's division arrived.
With the arrival of Pickett's fresh division of Virginia soldiers, Lee ordered a frontal assault against the right-center of the Union line.
The Confederate artillery was set up behind Seminary Ridge while Ewell's troops tried to overpower Union forces at Culp's Hill. Pickett's division remained in position facing Cemetery Ridge for several hours without the Union army knowing of their presence.
By 11 a.m. July 3, 1863, Meade reported to his staff that the Confederate line at Culp's Hill had been pushed back and that the Union 12th Corps line still held strong. Both Union and Confederate armies then paused for the noonday lull, which was typical of these battles.
That afternoon, the events of Pickett's Charge unfolded. Shortly after 1 p.m., the Confederate artillery repositioned and opened fire. The Union infantry stayed close to the ground. The shots landed close to Meade's headquarters at the Leister House, killing horses and men, forcing Meade to shift his base twice that afternoon.
Brig. Gen. Henry J. Hunt, the Union artillery commander, described the Confederate cannonade as he watched it unfold: "All their batteries were soon covered with smoke whilst the air seemed filled with shells, whose sharp explosions, with the hurtling of their fragments, formed a running accompaniment to the deep roar of the guns."
Union artillery silent
The Union artillery hesitated to reply. Hunt did not wish to engage in an artillery battle that would waste valuable ammunition. His objective was to reserve his batteries for a repulse of a Confederate infantry charge.
The order went out to have 35 guns fire back, but at decreased power. The cannonade continued for another 15 minutes. Hancock, commander of the Union forces in the center of the line, ordered another 25 guns to fire in order to protect the Union infantry.
Hunt soon realized that his ordnance was low and had to be conserved.
In an attempt to exhaust the Confederate ammunition supply and provoke an infantry attack, Hunt ordered Union artillery to cease fire and prepared his battery commanders for an infantry assault.
Confederate leadership, noting the halt in Union fire, interpreted the enemy silence as an indicator of their success.
Col. E. Porter Alexander, the commander of the rebel artillery, sent word to Pickett urging his infantry to charge promptly, while the artillery still had the ordnance to support them.
The great Confederate attack soon followed, after 3 p.m. The Confederate infantry advanced upon the Union line, commencing what became known as Pickett's Charge.
As the Confederate infantry, composed of Pickett's men and some of Hill's troops under Brig. Gen. James J. Pettigrew and Maj. Gen. Issac R. Trimble, converged upon the Union center, Meade's artillery opened fire.
Two lines of Confederate troops fell under direct attacks and shelling. The left flank of the Confederate line was hit first by the shelling, and hundreds of men went down.
A sporadic Confederate cannonade continued throughout the charge. Once the attack was under way, the Union artillery switched from solid shot to shrapnel, intensifying the bombardment.
Meanwhile, Pettigrew and Trimble led their Confederate mustering lines alongside Pickett's men. While Pickett's division advanced upon Gibbon's position, Pettigrew and Trimble focused on Brig. Gen. Alexander Hays' division.
As Pickett was advancing, the plan was to unite his troops with those of Pettigrew and Trimble. Pettigrew's line was hardly affected by Union artillery fire; Col. John M. Brockenbrough's brigade on the flank took the brunt.
Pickett sent word to Longstreet that he could not hold off the Union army without reinforcement. Pickett's lines continued to advance, facing off against Gibbon's skirmishers and rifle fire. But the loss of Brockenbrough's brigade weakened the Confederate line and morale.
The Confederate infantry came within close range of the Union line, since the 69th Pennsylvania Regiment was instructed to hold its fire, as in Bunker Hill, "till they could see the whites of their eyes" by Col. Dennis O'Kane. O'Kane concluded, "Let your work this day be for victory or to the death!"
One group of Confederate troops broke through the Union line. At the peak of the battle, about 3:30 p.m., regiments under Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead crossed the stone wall, only to be killed or captured after a brief fight. Armistead told his men to charge, "For your homes, for your lands, for your sweethearts, for your wives, for Virginia!"
With Confederate military leadership disabled and the Union army successful in defending the ridge, the end of Pickett's Charge was near. Meade had sent a telegram to General-In-Chief Henry W. Halleck at 8:30 p.m. informing him that the Confederate army had been repulsed and was in the process of withdrawing.
Lee had called for a retreat. Meade did not order a counterattack.
After 15 hours of fighting, the final day of Gettysburg ended in favor of the Union. After two days of apparent Confederate victories, Lee's men were defeated.
As Capt. J. T. James of the 11th Virginia Regiment wrote to his father after the charge, "We gained nothing but glory, and lost our bravest men."
Union casualties totaled about 1,500 that day, while Confederate losses totaled nearly 7,500, according to historian George R. Stewart.
Historians believe that this battle sounded the death knell of the Confederacy. The army's retreat from Gettysburg took it through Hagerstown and eventually to the final surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, Va., two years later.
Stacy Malyil is a senior majoring in journalism at Loyola College in Baltimore; this article was written as part of a practicum at The Sun.