Gettysburg, July 3 1863
Length of battle - Just under 50 minutes
Cost - 6,555 dead american soldiers on american soil...
Pickett's Charge was a disastrous infantry assault ordered by Confederate General Robert E. Lee against Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's Union positions on Cemetery Ridge, on July 3, 1863, the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Its futility was predicted by the charge's commander, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, and it was arguably an avoidable mistake from which the Southern war effort never fully recovered psychologically. The farthest point reached by the attack has been nicknamed the high-water mark of the Confederacy.
After Confederate attacks on both Union flanks had failed the day and night before, Lee determined to strike the Union center on the third day. On the night of July 2, General Hancock correctly predicted at a council of war that Lee would try an attack on his lines in the center the following morning.
The infantry assault was preceded by a massive artillery bombardment that was meant to soften up the Union defense and silence its artillery, but it was largely ineffective. Approximately 12,500 men in nine infantry brigades advanced over open fields for three quarters of a mile under heavy Union artillery and rifle fire. Although some Confederates were able to breach the stone wall that shielded many of the Union defenders, they could not maintain their hold and were repulsed with over 50% casualties, ending the battle and Lee's campaign into Pennsylvania.[1]
Since my birth is not an historic event, the next best objective would of course to witness the death of Christ. Where would I be - one who is filled with sorrow or perhaps one who tossed stones at him. I would like to think I would be the one who gave him water.