Pickett, George Edward

Life Span
to
Full name
George Edward Pickett
Place of Birth
Birth Date Certainty
Exact
Death Date Certainty
Exact
Gender
Male
Race
White
Sectional choice
South
Origins
Slave State
No. of Spouses
3
No. of Children
4
Family
Robert Pickett (father), Mary Johnston (mother), Sally Harrison Minge (first wife, 1851), La Salle "Sally" Corbell (third wife, 1863)
Education
West Point (US Military Academy)
Occupation
Military
Businessman
Military
US military (Pre-Civil War)
Confederate Army

George Edward Pickett (American National Biography)

Scholarship
Pickett's division arrived on the field at Gettysburg late on 2 July, in time for a night's rest before their famous and fateful action on 3 July. [General Robert E.] Lee believed that the fighting on 2 July had weakened the Union center, and that was his target on the third day. Pickett's division spearheaded the charge. Pickett was apparently confident of success, according to some witnesses, notwithstanding the obvious hazards his soldiers faced. After a long and largely ineffective cannonade, Pickett's men stepped off, as if on parade. Within the hour, the Confederate attack and Pickett's division were destroyed.

Lee accepted blame for the debacle, but Pickett came under severe criticism for not leading his men. Rather he was variously to the rear or elsewhere. Others defended his conduct. In either case, his morale, his spirit, and his reputation were ruined. He never recovered from that awful day, although he served in North Carolina and Virginia until relieved of his command as the war was ending.
John T. Hubbell, "Pickett, George Edward," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00787.html.
How to Cite This Page: "Pickett, George Edward," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/6406.