The failure of Pickett’s charge By Adam Salas

The third day of the battle of Gettysburg was on Friday July 3rd, 1863. On that day was Pickett’s Charge. This was known as the mistake of mistakes because it was so unbelievably unsuccessful. This battle was so unsuccessful because the confederates were bouncing off of 2 failed attempts at beating the union already in the battle, their artillery launch was not impressive by comparison, they faced what the union faced in Fredericksburg, and they lost too many men in the fight. All of these things put together made Pickett’s charge famous.
The day began with the largest artillery fire in the history of the world up to that point, but the damage they did wasn’t as bad as the attack was. Many southern soldiers aimed their guns too high and shot above them. Also, the shots were off target, some landed in the dirt way up front, some were off to the side, and some exploded in mid air. When General Pickett and his army charged towards hill, they were greeted with severe return fire!
In the return fire, Pickets army quickly diminished and the north had no problem defending the hill. In the middle of the field, was a large fence. The confederate soldiers had to climb over the fence to get past it, making them easy targets. Pickett lost over 2,000 of his men. Other generals and commanders lost a several men. All-in-all, the Southern army lost about 5,575 men in Pickett’s Charge, due to death, capture or being wounded. General Armistead of the Army of Northern Virginia didn’t survive. Pickett escaped the battle without a scratch. His career was never the same after this. The Union only lost about 3,450 men. That is about half of what the south suffered. The south got a little sense of déjà vu in a sense that a similar event happened in the battle of Fredericksburg. In the battle of Fredericksburg, the south had the high ground, leaving the North charging up and making them easy targets. This time, the north got the advantage and took advantage of their revenge. Due to the wonderful position of the Army of the Potomac, almost no one died on the northern side during this part of the charge. The Irish brigade, who was massacred in the battle of Fredericksburg, was unstoppable this time.
If Lee had not ordered picket to attack, and found another way to win the day or at least drew it to a stalemate, the ultimate result of the battle of Gettysburg could have been entirely different. If General Lee had managed to give the Confederates a win at Gettysburg, it would have broken the balance and the war probably would have ended at that. There could still be a Confederate States of America on our maps today if that were the case.
A victory by General Robert E. Lee on July 3rd, 1963 may just have changed the history of our nation and the world. The failure of Pickett’s Charge was the start of the fall of the Army of Northern Virginia. All because they were bouncing off of 2 already failed attempts, their biggest attack wasn’t very damaging, they found themselves at Fredericksburg, and they lost too many men. So thank General Pickett’s foolishness for us having 50 stars on our flag today!