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Why did picketts charge fail?

Updated: 4/28/2022
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13y ago

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Pickett's charge failed for many reasons. It was not a well reasoned attack. The attack was unprotected troops marching across an open field approximately one mile long directly into the enemy center. General Lee believed that the Union had under-manned its center. He did not know the strength of the enemy there. He also did not seem aware that his own artillery was running quite low on ammunition.

Several hours before the attack, General Longstreet had difficulty communicating the plan to all of his officers on a timely basis. People were out of position and valuable time was lost.

A short time before the attack, Confederate guns pounded Union positions but did very little to weaken them. Union artillery officers held back some of their fire to conceal their guns and how well supplied they were. As a result, the Confederates thought they had seriously weakened the Union position and perhaps caused it to begin pulling back. In fact, the lateness of the attack allowed the Union time to bring up forces.

Some of the features of the battlefield played against the Confederates. A fence ran parallel to the Union line and only a short distance away. As rebel soldiers moved to cross the fence or knock it down, they bunched up and made excellent targets for Yankee rifles. Later waves had to step over the dead and wounded at the fence line. A turn in the Union lines called 'the angle' caused one battalion of Pickett's men to face fire from straight ahead and their right side.

Early in the attack, nearly all of Pickett's senior officers were killed or wounded. The men lacked strong leadership when they needed it most.

One thing amazing about Pickett's charge is that many of the men made it back alive to Confederate lines. The hell they walked into might have been thought capable of consuming every man in fire.

General Lee is said to have asked Pickett after the attack, 'General Pickett, should you not see to your division?' Pickett angrily replied, 'General Lee, I have no division.'

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13y ago
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Q: Why did picketts charge fail?
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