In the famous battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) – perhaps the most important of all battles fought during the Civil War – the most studied and scrutinized moment of all is surely the event which ended it all and led way for the Confederacy to concede defeat in this particular battle; the action which has become known as “Pickett’s Charge.”
General George Pickett
General George Pickett was born in 1825 in Richmond, Virginia to a wealthy family of Aristocrats. He attended West Point but finished dead last in his class. Nevertheless, his military service would lead him directly into the Mexican-American War where he would distinguish himself by bravery in many battles.
In February of 1856, then Captain Pickett was assigned to the Washington territory, where he would live in the northwest city of Bellingham, overseeing the construction of Fort Bellingham. Here he married a Native American woman named Morning Mist, who would provide him with a son, James.
The Pig War
It was while he was in the Pacific Northwest that Pickett would earn his “other” claim to fame. Upon occupying San Juan Island, one of a large group of islands off the Washington coast, he found himself caught in the middle of a territorial dispute and near-war with Great Britain, who held control of the Canadian territories at that point. The line separating the American and British interests happened to run directly through the island, and when an American farmer, Lyman Cutlar, shot a pig belonging to an employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company, British troops were sent to arrest him, though the American troops, under Captain Pickett, were dispatched in order to prevent the British troops from landing on the island.
With a force of 461 men, Pickett essentially “stared down” the British warships and the 2,140 soldiers sent to settle the dispute. Both forces, fortunately, were under a “fire only if fired upon” order, and thus no shots were ever fired… though there was very nearly an all-out war over a matter as trivial as a dead pig.
Civil War Service
Pickett returned home to Virginia at the onset of the Civil War in order to serve his home state (despite his personal disdain for slavery). In the confederate army he was commissioned as a Major, a month later was made Colonal, and within a year had been named Brigadier General on January 14, 1862.
Apart from a few early battles (including one in which Pickett was shot in the shoulder, forcing him to take a three month leave), Pickett’s division didn’t see much action until Gettysburg.
But it was surely worth the wait.
Pickett’s Charge
General Pickett’s division arrived late for the Battle of Gettysburg – missing the first two days of battle. As such, while the rest of the Confederates under General Lee were exhausted from the battle, Pickett’s men were fresh, and ready to fight. Because of this, it was Pickett who was chosen by Lee to lead a final charge against the Union front lines on the third day, along with two other divisions, led by Generals Pettigrew and Trimble.
And so it went, with Pickett shouting, “Up, Men, and to your posts! Don’t forget that you are from Old Virginia!”
The men charged, and many of them died. Three Generals and many other commanding officers died, along with about fifty percent of the divisions. While Pickett somehow survived unscathed (a controversial footnote to this day), the defeat of his forces on that final charge spelled the end to this greatest battle of the war (for which General Lee would blame himself for ordering the charge… and Pickett would never forgive him for it).
After Gettysburg
After his famous charge, all of Pickett’s glory days were behind him. He continued to serve without distinction for the remainder of the war, then returned home to Virginia as an Insurance Agent.
A year before his death in 1875, Pickett was finally pardoned by Congress for his role in the Confederacy, though he would not have time to appreciate the fact.
General George Pickett’s life was filled with a bit of glory and a lot of tragedy, much like the confederacy itself.
References:
“Battle of Gettysburg.” The History Place.
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