by Matthew Dearden

Created on: May 16, 2009

In the almost one hundred and fifty years since the battle of Gettysburg, Pickett's Charge has become the most well known and well discussed event of the entire three day battle. Popularized by thousands of first hand accounts, hundreds of books, and countless legends, the charge has been called the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy" for good reason. It was General Robert E. Lee's last big shot. Realistically, it was his final chance to strike a crushing blow to the increasingly-powerful Army of the Potomac under the cautious leadership of George McClellan. Many historians claim that he put all of his eggs in one basket and was far too optimistic in his chances of success. They assert that he was foolhardy and did not have a reasonable chance of victory. Breaking through the Union line at the center was a pipedream. What if Lee would have broken through though? What if waves of rebel soldiers had flooded the breech made by Armistead and the roughly two hundred men that crossed the stone wall? What if Stuart's cavalry was waiting behind the Union line ready to trap the retreating federal soldiers?

Lee was not a dumb man, and his tactics at Gettysburg, especially on the third day, were no different than his tactics during many of the battles that he won (see the Peninsula Campaign). Lee had weighed the chances of success and failure, and he knew he was taking a chance. He knew, however, that the benefits gained from such a charge far outweighed the risks associated with one. And further, he knew that a massive frontal assault on the Union center had a reasonable chance of success. Lee's plan to attack the Union center on Cemetery Ridge was bold, but it was also a plan that had much merit to it and could have succeeded. Largely regarded as the low point of Lee's soldiering career, it should instead be considered a highlight that went slightly awry.

One first has to take into account the confidence level of both armies after the close of the second day. Lee's army was just coming off a very unlikely victory at Chancellorsville where they were outnumbered nearly two to one. They had been trapped in between two huge bodies of Union troops (one at Fredricksburg and one in the Wilderness), and they had fought off Hooker, and then smashed his left flank with a devastating flanking maneuver. On the first day of Gettysburg, Lee's men had sent the Union army scurrying into the town of Gettysburg and beyond onto Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill.

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