Pickett's CHARGE!

July third; 150 cannon have been bombarding union positions all day. The smoke cleared, ahead of them were 50,000 union soldiers, behind a low stonewall. The cannon was so loud, it shook Washington DC, 100 miles away. Two days of Battle wore on both Sides. Confederate general Lee attacked the union left and Right with minimal success. The Confederates needed to do one more attack and the union will break. But where? Lee disscussed it With Lieutenant General Longstreet, And Lee wanted to Attack in the Center, But Longstreet did Not. Lee: "Gen. Longstreet, I want you to take your entire Corps, And attack those People's center." Longstreet sighed, "General Lee, I would be marching over a mile of open ground. If I attacked with the Right flank of the army, we won't have a flank at all. I..." "They Shall break in the center. We attacked on the left and Right flanks so they withdrew their troops there, So there Center will be Weak. I will give You The divisions of Pickett,Trimble and Maclaws. With 22,000 men,150 guns and my old Warhorse,You,Leading them, WE will prevail." "General, I have been a soldier all my life. You know my record,I have served from the ranks on up. And no 22,000 men can take that . Those are Hancock's Boys, and they have the Stone wall that we defended at Fredricksburg! That's Hancock out there, and he ain't going to Run." "General,We do our duty,We do our duty" And Lee rode off. Longstreet walked off to tell Pickett, One of his generals. "George, There is a big fight coming up! So get ready George, GET READY!" Pickett saw to his troops. Four Confederate Divisions formed. On the left General Trimble, Commanding the deceased Pender,with 6,000 men. Followed by Pettigrew, Commanding Heth's old division, With 7,000 men. Behind him, Wilcox formed 3,000 men. Finally at the Right, The fresh division that has not seen action for eight months. It was commanded by George Pickett, with two brigades in front under Garnett and Kemper, then in reserve a heavy Brigade under Lo Armistead. 22,000 men marched forward.: The high water mark of the Confederacy, Always victorious, They marched over a Mile to a fence, then another half to the wall. George Pickett, Yelled on His horse, "Up men,Up,And to your Posts! And may no man, forget today, That you are from old Virginia!" They marched. Under a hail of Cannon shot, They reached the Fence! Trimble's men fell back, Wilcox never advanced. Pettigrew charged past the fence But was Pushed back to to Cross fire at the angle in the line. Garnnett Charged on Horse back waving his hat, "Forward men, Not too fast, SAVE YOUR STRENGTH! "They charged to the Angle.He was riddled with bullets and his men fled. Kemper was caught trying to stop a union flanking maneuver. It was up to Armisted to take the wall. Armisted raced to the fence. Climbing on top of it, he turned around and shouted "Virginians! Virginians! With me! Who will come with me? "He Stabbed his sword through his hat, Holding it high in the gleaming sun and yelled "now Let's give them the Cold Steel, Boys!"and proceeded to dash dead on at the line.Bullets, Shells and canister would not stop them. Others rallied behind the Virginians as they charged in the final, suicidal dash. Armistead leaped on top of the wall defended by the federal and urged the men on toward the rally point- the copse of trees. General lee looked up in hope to see the battered five thousand scaling the wall. The flags went over as Armistead urged his men to turn around the cannon, turn the guns. The entire first union line broke. As He pressed forward, placing his hand on a cannon, a rattle of union muskets brought him down. He crumpled alongside the cannon, as he looked over to see the union advance. Moments later, His Friend from the Mexican war, his best friend whom he had sworn never to harm, a leading union general was cut down by a bullet to the stomach. Armisted looked around frantically to see the confederate line breaking with the new union wave. All was for nothing. The effort had failed as the rebels fled. From Seminary ridge, Pickett saw his boys charge in, flags flying, only to be swallowed up. Armisted learned of his friends wounding to much grief. He was placed in a union hospital, next bed over from his wounded friend. Though they were but feet away, Armistead would never see him again. Lee looked at the thousands or Stragglers. Hundreds of Confederate soldiers wandered back to the line. They formed around Lee.He began to speak "It is all my Fault, It is entirely all my Fault. I thought We were invincible."
The battle was over. Longstreet rode up and Formed what was left of the men. During Pickett's Charge, Out of the 22,000 confederates, seven thousand were lost. Out of the fifty Thousand Union, 5,000. As a whole at Gettysburg, Lee lost 18,000 men out of 88,000. Meade lost 32,000 out of 130,000 men. Read Victory At Gettysburg to Find out more!