Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg

The stirring and important events which marked the prosecution of the war in the West during the year 1863 were matched by equally important ones in the East. Three great battles were fought, one in the closing days of 1862, and the others in the following year, of which the last, that of Gettysburg, was in certain respects the greatest battle of the war, and has been generally accepted as the turning-point, from which the fortunes of the Confederacy began to flow rapidly downward. We select, therefore, a detailed description of the closing scene of this great conflict, preceding our selection with a review of the events that succeeded the battle of Antietam.

It was on September 19 that Lee crossed the Potomac and retired into Virginia, after that battle. November arrived ere McClellan was ready to follow him. Meanwhile, the impatience of the authorities at McClellan's lack of activity had grown extreme, and on the 7th of November he was removed, and the command of the army given to General Burnside. The events that succeeded gave no encouraging warrant for this change of commanders. Feeling that he must do something at once to satisfy the government and the country, Burnside moved upon Fredericksburg, with the intention of occupying that town. His pontoon-bridges, however, were not ready, and he delayed crossing the Rappahannock so long while waiting for them that Lee had time to seize and fortify the heights back of the town and move his whole army to that situation. It was the night of December 10 before the crossing was attempted. Two bridges were laid, in front of and below the town. The march over the first proved difficult and sanguinary, on account of sharp-shooters concealed in the houses of the town. But during the day a crossing was effected at both points, and the army massed for an assault on the heights, which were strongly fortified, and guarded by an army of eighty thousand men.

The assault took place on the morning of the 13th, and was repulsed at every point with dreadful slaughter. The principal attack was made from the town, on the difficult position of Mary's Heights. It proved a murderous and futile effort, the assailants being mowed down in myriads and forced to retire in complete discomfiture. Charge after charge was made, but all with the same result. The Union losses during that fatal day are given by Draper at thirteen thousand seven hundred and seventy-one; those of the Confederates at five thousand three hundred and nine. Burnside intended to renew the struggle the next morning, but his leading officers were so strongly opposed to this that he withdrew the order, and on the night of the 15th evacuated the town and recrossed the river. Another movement was essayed by Burnside early in 1863. It was intended to cross the river at a point beyond the range of the Confederate works; but an unlooked-for thaw reduced the roads to quagmires, through which it proved impossible to move the trains and artillery, and the expedition had to be abandoned. Shortly afterwards General Hooker was appointed to replace Burnside in command of the Army of the Potomac.

With the opening spring Hooker attempted a flank movement on the Confederates, which resulted as disastrously as had Burnside's direct assault. He divided his army, leaving the left wing, under Sedgwick, to threaten Fredericksburg, while the main body of the army crossed the river some distance above the city, and marched into a wild district known as Chancellorsville, a country overgrown with a wilderness of thicket. Lee's army was considerably outnumbered, but he managed his forces with such skill as to defeat and almost disorganize his confident opponents. Leaving a small force to guard the heights at Fredericksburg, he marched towards Chancellorsville on the 29th of April. On the 1st of May, Hooker ordered an advance towards Fredericksburg. A flank attack was arranged by Lee, which proved remarkably successful. Jackson led the flanking column through the difficult country known as the Wilderness, and late on May 2 he made so sudden and furious a charge on Hooker's right that it was broken and driven back in confusion. Jackson was mortally wounded in this assault,--a serious loss to the Confederate army.

On the 3d the battle recommenced, and Hooker was severely pressed at all points. Meanwhile, Sedgwick had crossed at Fredericksburg, taken Marye's Heights, and was marching to join Hooker. Lee sent a strong force to meet him, and drove him back to the river, which Sedgwick recrossed on the night of May 4. This repulse ended the conflict. Hooker felt it necessary to retreat, and on the night of May 5, during a severe storm of wind and rain, the pontoons were laid and the whole army marched back to the northern side of the Rappahannock. The losses were heavy on both sides, though the Union forces suffered the most severely. With this battle ended the offensive efforts of the Army of the Potomac for that period. Its skilful antagonist immediately afterwards assumed the offensive, and threw his opponents into an attitude of defence, in which they much better proved their ability to cope with him.