DOCUMENT: GEORGE E. PICKETT

Although Gen. James Longstreet was technically in commandof the forces that stormed the centre of the Union lines atGettysburg on the final day of the battle, it was Gen. GeorgeE. Pickett and his Virginia division that led the charge. Pickett'sdivision paid a heavy price: nearly half of it fell in battleand three of its brigadier generals and all thirteen of itscolonels were killed or wounded. Pickett, who had graduatedlast in his class at U.S. Military Academy but who had distinguishedhimself during the Mexican War, would continue to command hisdivision after Gettysburg. The letter printed here was writtenby Pickett on July 6, 1863, to his future wife. It reveals bothhis pride in the efforts of his troops and his despair, as wellas his belief that the end of the war was now imminent. On the Fourth -- far from a glorious Fourth to us or to anywith love for his fellowmen -- I wrote you just a line of heartbreak.The sacrifice of life on that bloodsoaked field on the fatal3rd was too awful for the heralding of victory, even for ourvictorious foe, who, I think, believe as we do, that it decidedthe fate of our cause. No words can picture the anguish of thatroll call -- the breathless waits between the responses. The"Here" of those who, by God's mercy, had miraculously escapedthe awful rain of shot and shell was a sob -- a gasp -- a knell-- for the unanswered name of his comrade called before his.There was no tone of thankfulness for having been spared toanswer to their names, but rather a toll and an unvoiced wishthat they, too, had been among the missing. But for the blight to your sweet young life, but for you, onlyyou, my darling, your soldier would rather by far be out there,too, with his brave Virginians -- dead. Even now I can hear them cheering as I gave the order, "Forward"!I can feel their faith and trust in me and their love for ourcause. I can feel the thrill of their joyous voices as theycalled out all along the line, "We'll follow you, Marse George.We'll follow you, we'll follow you." Oh, how faithfully theykept their word, following me on, on to their death, and I,believing in the promised support, led them on, on, on. Oh,God! I can't write you a love letter today, my Sallie, for, withmy great love for you and my gratitude to God for sparing mylife to devote to you, comes the overpowering thought of thosewhose lives were sacrificed -- of the brokenhearted widows andmothers and orphans. The moans of my wounded boys, the sightof the dead, upturned faces flood my soul with grief; and heream I, whom they trusted, whom they followed, leaving them onthat field of carnage, leaving them to the mercy of -- -- andguarding 4,000 prisoners across the river back to Winchester.Such a duty for men who a few hours ago covered themselves withglory eternal. Source: Arthur Crew Inman (ed.), Soldier of the South:General Pickett's War Letters to His Wife (1928).