Pickett's Charge, July 3, 1863 at the battle of Gettysburg

A Biography of General George E. Pickett, C.S.A., written by Edward G. Longacre. Published by White Mane Publishing Co., Inc., 1995, hard cover with front and back illustrated dust jacket, 242 pages, index, and illustrated. There is an ink inscription on the inside cover board, "Donald D. Tork, December 1995." The dust jacket shows some very light wear with a very tiny chip at the bottom edge. The book itself is a very clean, tight copy that is in excellent condition. Very desirable book.


The leader of the most famous charge in American military history, George E. Pickett was destined for immortality, but the man behind the famous name has remained a mystery. This, the first full length scholarly biography of the general, reveals the complex personality and explores the contradictory behavior of one of General Robert E. Lee's most enigmatic subordinates. What emerges is a portrait of a gallant leader who risked his life on many fields of battle, but refused to accompany his troops into the jaws of death at Gettysburg; an incisive, quick witted tactician who graduated at the foot of his West Point Class; and a chivalrous Virginian who in 1865 barely escaped trial as a war criminal.

This biography of one of the Civil War's most celebrated commanders, a general whose character both greatness and tragedy touched, is based largely on published and unpublished primary sources. The book provides a multi-faceted portrait of an officer whose life has long been obscured by error, stereotype, and myth.

As the first Pickett biography published since 1899, "Leader of the Charge," it debunks a century of myth-making about him, exposes two postwar collections of letters reputedly written by Pickett as fiction concocted by his widow, and publishes for the first time numerous authentic Pickett letters.

Cover Photo: Eleanor S. Brockenbrough Library, The Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia.

The author, Mr. Edward G. Longacre, received a Bachelors degree from La Salle University, a Masters degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a Ph.D. from Temple University. Mr. Longacre up to the time this biography was published, had written six books, edited two others, and written or edited more than ninety journal and magazine articles about the Civil War, winning national awards for his writing.

Some interesting facts about the military career of George E. Pickett: (1825-75) Born in Richmond, Virginia, Pickett graduated last out of 59 cadets in the famous 1846 class of the United States Military Academy, at West Point, New York. After his graduation he served as a second lieutenant in the United States Army during the Mexican War, and was cited for gallantry in the Battle of Chapultepec, in September 1847. After that, he served in Washington Territory, being promoted to the rank of captain. Near the commencement of the War Between The States, Pickett was commissioned as an officer in the Confederate States Army, and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, in January 1862. He commanded a brigade that saw heavy fighting during the 1862 Virginia Peninsula Campaign, with General Pickett being wounded at the Battle of Gaines's Mill, on June 27th.

He did not return to active field command until September 1862, shortly after the Battle of Sharpsburg, Md., when he was given command of a division in General Robert E. Lee's hard fighting Army of Northern Virginia, serving under the immediate command of General James Longstreet which became the I Corps, A.N.V., in December 1862. His division was lightly engaged at the Battle of Fredericksburg, and along with most of Longstreet's Corps, he missed the Battle of Chancellorsville, Va., while participating in the Suffolk, Va. Campaign in the spring of 1863.

During the epic 3 day battle of Gettysburg, his division was, much to Pickett's frustration, serving as the rear guard of the army on their march to the little crossroads town of Gettysburg, Pa., thus holding the last position in line. Consequently his men were the last soldiers to arrive on the battlefield. However, as fate would have it, big plans lay ahead for General George E. Pickett's Division, and they would play a very important role on the final day of the battle.

Pickett's Division, one of three under the command of Lieutenant General James Longstreet, commander of the 1st Corps, A.N.V., were given orders by General Lee to attack the center of the Union lines which were heavily fortified on Cemetery Ridge. After a tremendous Confederate cannonade which was meant to weaken the Union lines, but did not produce the anticipated results, Pickett's men, along with the North Carolina troops commanded by Generals' Pettigrew and Trimble, emerged from the woods, and made a full frontal attack straight across open Pennsylvania farm fields, and marched right into the jaws of death which was about a mile away. The Confederates were repulsed as they reached the Union position and it resulted in extremely heavy Confederate casualties, with over 50% of their men lost. This disastrous assault would be forever immortalized in American history as "Pickett's Charge!"

In February 1864, Pickett ordered 22 North Carolinians in Union uniforms to be hanged as deserters after a failed assault on New Bern, N.C. His military career came to an end when his division was overwhelmed and defeated at the Battle of Five Forks, Va., in April 1865.