How Deadly Was Pickett's Charge Pickett's Charge By The Numbers (Reupload)
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2024
- I made some mathematical errors in the originals upload, so quickly corrected it and reuploaded the video. How deadly was the famous assault made by Confederate George Pickett's Division on July 3, 1863? By sifting through the numbers of killed, wounded, missing, and captured, we can better understand how destructive the charge was, especially when we compare it to other divisions within the Arm of Northern Virginia.
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I understand what Pickett meant when he told Gen Lee, “I have no division.”
He certainly would have no division because troops marching slowly up a slight Hill in July heat coming under direct and later oblique fire from Round Top meant that the cannonballs were plunging through the ranks at an increasing angle mean that more men were destroyed with every hit
It's great that there's someone who cares about the civil war on CZcams I mean there's a few people but they rarely upload these days so it's good to have a strong basis and great video
This guy and the American battle field trust have the best videos!
It's great for Have History Will Travel to correct mistakes he made for his content and reupload it 2 days later.
Great upload. I took my wife to Gettysburg for our first anniversary bc she found out she had some family lost in the battle. I took her to Seminary ridge first and she said it looked like it was not a bad march. I took her to Cemetery ridge after and she said our troops were marching into certain death. Thanks again for your great videos.
Thank you so much.
That's pretty romantic
I have been to Gettysburg and stood at the angle and on Confederate ave where the attack kicked off and still can't figure how General Lee thought this would work out well for his troops.
This was standard practice in battles prior to Gettysburg and had worked. It had already been done on the second day’s fighting at Gettysburg. Secondly the confederate advance started well out in front of confederate ave, Garnett and Kemper’s men were laying in the hollow out ahead of seminary ridge so they were a third of the way there when they jumped off.
Watching the movie Gettysburg. There was a point were Gen Longstreet is talking to the guy in charge of the artillery. Said he had to move the caissons back out of range. This caused the Confederate artillery to not be as effective as Gen Lee had planned. Just my opinion.
@@f1david Doubt it would have made much difference. They overshot the Union lines as is. The Union had sheltered ground right behind their lines. Meade held the high ground of the ridge AND Little Round Top and Culp’s Hill. Meade had impressive reserves.
Longstreet’s suggestion of a tactical retreat towards DC, find some high ground and force Meade to attack might have had a different result.
Full disclosure: my GG grandfather James Devlin fought and held at the Angle with the PA 69th Company E.
His daughter, Sarah, my Great GM, was born in 66. Lucky I am here.
My only conclusion was Lee was actually a mole working with Lincoln to both Undermind and waste the South's Premiere fighting force. A traitor from within is many times more destructive to a Standing Army than an enemy Army confronting it without. Lee had won the confidence of Jefferson Davis who proved himself to be very short sighted. Lee refused to send Troops to Mississippi to relieve Vicksburg and crush General Grant which could have readily been done and that is what Davis advocated but gave in to Lee who promised an entire campaign and defensive occupation of Pennsylvania that would last months and transfer the War out of Virginia and Threaten Washington and the Norths principal supply lines and Coal industry. But when Lee got to Pennsylvania, he quickly recanted on his promise to Davis and to Longstreet and engaged with a blind Offensive drive against the first Union forces that he encountered. It set off a battle that the South never had to fight and should not have fought. Meanwhile With no assistance coming from Virginia, General Joe Johnston waited too long and allowed Grant to capture Vicksburg without any real effort to break the siege. Almost at the same instant Lee was busy wasting the Army of Northern Virgina on the quiet farmlands of Southern Pennsylvania far from any strategical object of importance to the Northern war effort.
There's decent defilade behind the Union front line at the stone wall. Lee was confident in Confederate artillery and up to that point in the war the Union didn't show much resolve. He was confident after the previous 2 days of fighting the shelling would soften them up enough the charge would route the Union and break the line. And at first it looked like it was working. But the Union had substantially more re-inforcements to flood into the lines than anticipated hidden behind the defilade.
It's the missing number that should be noted, showing the carnage a Canon can inflict... missing as in nothing to identify usually more than the killed figures
The assault was comprised of 3 Divisions: Pickett’s, Pettigrew’s, and Trimble’s. While the video depicted the losses of Pickett’s but omitted those of the latter 2; their involvement was similarly sacrificial. Pettigrew led a brigade on 7/1 against the Michigan Iron Brigade, was injured, and prevailed with others in taking McPherson’s Ridge, but the brigade among others suffered heavy casualties.
Pettigrew was given the command of Heth’s Division following the latter’s head injury prior to 7/3 and led the Division on foot following his horse’s being shot from under him. Sustaining an arm wound, he commanded his Division in retreat as one of the last to cross the swollen Potomac at Falling Waters, Maryland. Attacked by Michigan cavalry under George A Custer, he suffered a abdominal gunshot wound that led to his death days later at Bunker Hill, W Va.
Please consider an addendum including his and Trimble’s Divisions in the charge.
Also, Law's Brigade of Hood's Division was not included??
McLaw's division of Longstreets Corps was not included either. They attacked through the Peach Orchard on the second day and routed Sickle's corps, only to be stopped with bloody losses, most likely of the same percentages as the other's mentioned. General William Barksdale, commander of Barksdale's Mississippi brigade of McLaw's Division, was killed in the area of the Peach Orchard leading his troops after they had broken through Sickle's line.
The losses were even worse than the raw numbers tell because, as usual for the Civil War, casualties in Pickett's division were disproportionately higher among officers. Almost all the colonels, the usual rank for regimental, were hit--something like 80%, if I recall--and there were a number of regiments that returned from the charge with no one above the rank of lieutenant unwounded. Further down the chain of command, almost half the companies had lost their captains, and some of them began the march back to Virginia without anyone above the rank of sergeant to lead them. Statistically, throughout the war the rank of brigadier general was the most dangerous, i.e., the percentage of brigadiers who were killed or wounded was higher than for men of any other rank (as Pickett's charge demonstrates), but regardless of specific rank, officers had a higher overall mortality rate, both because there were fewer of them, but also because both sides specifically targeted them during battles, as the loss of officers greatly diminished troops cohesion and effectiveness. Speaking of which, modern military calculations figure that units lose their combat effectiveness if they take casualties of 30%, so when Pickett lamented to Lee immediately following the charge that he "had no division," it wasn't too far from the truth.
Why was Law's Brigade not included in Hood's Division total casualties??
Given it was nearly as a banzai type charge at a firmly fixed position I don't think the casualties can be underestimated.
Thanks for sharing the video and all the information. I'm named after my great great Grandfather that was in the 7th VA infantry and was wounded and captured at Pickett's charge. He was patrolled in 1865 and he came home and died an old man.
One thing about the comparison of casualties between the 2nd and 3rd days of Gettysburg is that Union forces probably suffered about the same relative %-ages on the 2nd day, but far less than the Confederates on the 3rd day. i.e. the 'charge' in terms of unbalanced loss of manpower cost the Confederate army the Gettysburg Battle.
As a Southerner who had ancestors in Pickett's Charge I had most survive luckily. This survival rate is worse than The Light Brigade
Awesome!! Numbers mean a lot and percentages give you a complete different perspective of the events of those three days.
To me, when the loss of life is so great as this, it becomes just a number. Its hard to see the loss of several hundred men in a brigade as individuals. To see each as a face is just to much.
apparently picket never forgave ol bobby lee for this monumental blunder.
I probably wouldn't in his shoes. I'd be like Ron Swanson when he got a scalp full of birdshot. "Why hello, Robert. Say, you wanna spend some time at my house. We could catch up and then get my division slaughtered. Maybe we can go see a play, then you can send my men into an inevitable grisly death."
I'm a born northern man. But you have to give credit to the nen of pickets charge.they had to cross 1 mile open ground. And never hesitated that shows courage and sense of duty.
Lee had some balls to turn to Pickett and say "look to your divisions" after sending them to certain death...
Numbers from eyewitness accounts- Pickett sent 4,800 into battle only 800 came back. Pettigrew and Trimble combined sent approx 7,500 into battle, 5,200 came back. Pickett lost 80% of his men, Trimble/Pettigrew lost 30% of their men. Now you know why they call it Pickett's Charge.
Gettysburg is my home town. Would love to tour Gettysburg with you.
Lee messed up.
Yep.
I heard some veterans wouldn’t take that charge.
Not really the attack itself at the Center was smart to a degree Lee had enough ammo for maybe for a few more days and that's not even with Stuarts Wagon train coming in. Lee did this same attack and won with a mass attack at Grains Mill against Maclellan which is often overlooked lee lost 6k men compared to the Unions 5k men even attacking he made a 1:1 ratio what he wasnt counting for was Hancock's boys who were trying to restore there Units honor after Chancellorsville had the Confederate artillery been more on point who knows what would have happened another Grainsmill perhaps
@@Billybob-bm7vt disagree, the g mill terrain and fortifications were nowhere near as formidable as at Gettysburg. Lee was running out of options, though, but Longstreet s suggestions seemed less asinine.
@@Billybob-bm7vt Lee had a 5:3 numerical advantage at Gaines Mill, and he got himself whipped. If McClellan had sent Porter another brigade or two it would have been a confederate defeat. As it was, McClellan was a horrible commander and did not send help. Porter was, however, able to withdraw in good enough order to continue fighting for days, whipping Lee again at Malvern Hill when Lee tried attacking uphill again.
Lee apparently learned nothing from the thrashing Porter gave him in those two battles. He was outnumbered at Gettysburg but tried again with the uphill frontal assault, this time against Meade, who predictably thrashed Lee again.
Lee should have withdrawn after the first day and saved his strength for a more opportune moment, perhaps as Meade pursued him out of Pennsylvania. Gettysburg was the predictable result of Lee believing the hype about his own army.
Subbed for the dope logo. Good video friend.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Lee was a brilliant General I just can't wrap my head around how he could have let that happen. I'm sure there's many more including himself baffled by it down through history. I wonder if they've ever examined the physical aspects that surely had to play on his mental stability heat stress probably no sleep poor diet anxiety depression all that stuff had to reap havoc on his mental performance
He was desperately trying to end the war in one mighty assault. He let his feelings rule his better judgement. As Longstreet said after the war, "His blood was up, and when his blood was up there was no stopping him". Then there's the fact he was physically weak and sick. He wanted it all to end.
Thanks Bill Merry Christmas👍
Lee was a loser. Highly overrated.
Lee was indeed a great leader. However, in my humble opinion, the real genius behind many of the victories by the Army of Northern Virginia was Gen. Stonewall Jackson. Without Jackson at Gettysburg, Lee was missing his best strategist. So, he resorted to massed frontal attacks. Unfortunately too many Civil War generals, Lee included, believed and practiced the frontal attack. This led to mindless slaughter, of which there is no better example than Pickett's Charge.
The charge should have been called Longstreet's Assault. But that's history for you.
You know picketts charge was bad when you say" It's all my fault, I thought we were invincible!"
I doubt that Grant would have ordered this charge yet I also doubt if he would have done as Lee did at chancellorsville
A rumor...Lee might have had a slight stroke and this.is what effected his thinking. Can anyone confirm?
Yes that's true
Pickett's charge was a corps level assault, by a scratch corps consisting of divisions from two formal corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. I have never understood though, whether Pickett was acting in command of the entire corps, or just his own division. Who gave the orders to the other division commanders as to how they should deploy their brigades and how they should maneuver? Who performed the corps level staff work in planning the attack? Pickett, or Longstreet? If Longstreet was, in fact, in tactical command of the corps, which consisted of one of his divisions and two others from another corps, then why is the engagement called Pickett's Charge?
Longstreet coordinated the overall attack, although he disagreed with it and argued against it to Lee to the point of angering him. The divisions from Hill's corps were to dress off of Pickett's left, so when he began the deployment, they followed. Longstreet could barely give the order, when Pickett asked if he should commence, Longstreet sort of nodded and waved him off. Lots of questions about why it was called Pickett's charge, seems mostly because his was the only division not yet engaged and because he kicked it off. Does seem kind of unfair to have that as his legacy.
Shocking statistics, puts Pickett’s charge into perspective
It staggers me to see how under strength these brigades were. Instead of five thousand men they are literally regimental strength let alone that Pickets division was brigade strength. I know the same was true for the federal army literally after the Somme in wwi the British saw the same thing.
What's the soundtrack you use for your videos?
That's just what it sounds like in the south
Must have been an awful time for the wounded on the way back to Virginia....
Awesome research
Thank you very much.
There were many hundreds who took cover at the sunken road and simply failing to cross the fence which was exposed and many who tried died. Many of those who never advanced past this road stayed there and surrendered later that evening when Union troops went out to clear the field of wounded. The other main reason for the large number of surrendered was in Armistead's Brigade which advanced into Union lines but were too exhausted to even retreat when counter attacked. They had also lost almost all their officers. Many of the "missing" simply deserted. The Southern Army had a desertion rate of almost 30% throughout the war.
Desertions were not known to be as high following this battle, as they were for battles fought below the Mason-Dixon. Not like for battles fought in VA, TN and GA, where significant numbers of soldiers were campaigning in their home regions.
Its a good thing that General JEB Stuart brought over two hundred captured new ambulances to this battle.
Underrated comment and thank you for that small but important perspective how many hundreds of men would have been left behind if not for those ambulance wagons
What is your source for the ambulance
A great book called Glory Road by Bruce Catton, also This Hallowed Ground by Mr. Catton as well, he is a fantastic writer, he brings to life Army life and those battles together with the challenges, really good imho.
I love this guy
I think Lee was out of his mind. But that said, you have only a few choices, attack, maneuver or retreat. The ANV was living off the land, so they could not support themselves for long. So they had to do something. Meade could have just sit there waiting on an attack. That said, I think Meade should have attacked Stuart while he was on a raid, bringing back supplies. If the ANV had killed or captured him, with Stonewall just killed it would have been a double wamma for the ANV. That said, they had supplies lines in the rear to attack. Think about it to cut off communication in that day, run the horses off. No moving supplies, troops, etc.
Lee was overconfident going into Gettysburg. Longstreet was correct in arguing for a defensive battle, but Lee was stubborn. He had won most of his previous battles, and felt his troops would win the day at Gettysburg just like they had at Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, and Second Manassas. He was wrong.
Whatever the total losses, the Confederate Army would never venture North again.
Surprised by the "missing" numbers. I know that missing from the Vietnam War usually meant killed. Retrieving a body generally means an unacceptable risk to the living immediately following a combat action. Remains being returned or identified depends on a lot of factors. If you were a Confederate soldier who surrendered to the Union do you really want to go back and face possible execution of social disgrace? Better to serve out your time in a POW camp, no picnic, then make some sort of life for yourself in New York or Chicago after the war. Changing your name and assuming a new identity was easier then than now.
Look at the much larger % of missing & captured among the Virginians. There is a lot of your difference.
My God!😥
Jesus
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North Carolina furthest at Gettysburg. NC troops were still attacking and holding the left after the Virginians had already been repulsed. Virginians co-opted the entire battle postwar painting NC in a negative light which can't be further from the truth. Also, more North Carolinians fell during the Gettysburg campaign. The 26th N.C. was covered in glory after day 1 and breaching the lines during the charge on day 3.