Pickett's Charge: A New Look at Gettysburg's Final Attack

A look at one of the most important events of the Civil War in an “almost minute-by-minute account of the most famous infantry charge in history (William C. Davis, Civil War author and distinguished scholar).

The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the Civil War, producing over 57,000 dead and wounded in a battle that would stand as the Confederacy’s high watermark. On the third day of fierce fighting, Robert E. Lee’s attempt to invade the North came to a head in Pickett’s Charge. The infantry assault consisted of nine brigades of soldiers in a line that stretched for over a mile, and would result in a horrific slaughter with casualties of over fifty percent for the Confederates. It was a devastating blow to Southern morale.

Pickett’s Charge is a detailed analysis of one of the most iconic and defining events in American history, presenting a much-needed fresh look—including unvarnished truths and ugly realities—about an unforgettable story. With the luxury of hindsight, historians have long denounced the folly of Lee’s attack, but this work reveals the tactical brilliance of a master plan that went awry.

Special emphasis is placed on the common soldiers on both sides, especially the non-Virginia attackers outside of Pickett’s Virginia Division. These fighters’ moments of cowardice, failure, and triumph are explored using their own words

Without romance and glorification, the complexities and contradictions of the dramatic story of Pickett’s Charge have been revealed in full to reveal this most pivotal moment in the nation’s life, as “a popular historian deconstructs ‘the greatest assault of the greatest battle of America’s greatest war’” ( Kirkus Review ).