Pickett's Charge: Eyewitness Accounts at the Battle of GettysburgRichard Rollins At Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, Confederate soldiers launched one of history's most famous infantry assaults: Pickett's Charge. Using the participants' own words, Richard Rollins deftly reconstructs that momentous event. Separate sections cover planning and preparation; the preliminary artillery barrage; the charges of Pickett's, Pettigrew's, and Trimble's Divisions; and defensive actions up and down the Federal line. From the generals who devised the assault to the lower-level officers and men who bravely walked through shell and shot, Rollins offers a comprehensive, panoramic view of the charge. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
It Was Not Ordered without Mature Consideration Planning the Charge | 21 |
They Would Have Made the Charge without an Officer of Any Description Preparing for the Charge | 69 |
It Seemed That Death Was in Every Foot of Space The Cannonade | 103 |
Everything Was a Wild Kaleidoscopic Whirl The Charge of Picketts Division | 153 |
Great Praise Is Due the Enlisted Men The Federal Left | 219 |
The Colors Were Planted on the Works The Charge of Pettigrews and Trimbles Divisions | 263 |
Our Artillery Saved the Day and Won the Victory The Federal Right | 291 |
Let Them Come Up Close before You Fire The Angle | 317 |
The Fault Is Entirely My Own Afterword | 359 |
Other editions - View all
Pickett's Charge: Eyewitness Accounts at the Battle of Gettysburg Richard Rollins Limited preview - 2005 |
Pickett's Charge: Eyewitness Accounts at the Battle of Gettysburg Richard Rollins Limited preview - 2021 |
Pickett's Charge: Eyewitness Accounts at the Battle of Gettysburg Richard Rollins Limited preview - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
A. P. Hill advance Alexander ammunition angle Armistead army artillery fire assault attack battalion batteries battle of Gettysburg bayonet brave brigade caissons canister cannon cannonade Capt Captain captured Cemetery Hill Cemetery Ridge close colors column command Confederate Corps crest Culp's Hill Emmitsburg Road enemy enemy's line enfilade Federal line fell fence field fight flag Freeman McGilvery front Garnett Gettysburg ground guns Hancock Heth's horses hundred yards infantry James John July Kemper killed Lee's Lieut Lieutenant Colonel line of battle Little Round Top Longstreet looked Major Meade mile minutes morning musket musketry o'clock officers opened passed Pennsylvania Pettigrew's Pickett's Charge Pickett's division position prisoners ranks rear rebel regiment rifles right flank rode Round Top Seminary Ridge Sergeant side soldier soon stone wall struck Taneytown tion Trimble troops Virginia Wilcox William woods wounded York