George Pickett Failures

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Pages: 6

Throughout American History there has been a great amount of hard-working leaders who put all their effort in to fight for their cause. George Edward Pickett was one of these men who was known for his failures, but never gave up even when the task seemed impossible. He is an extremely important general in the Civil War and was a very good leader throughout his entire life. George Pickett is one of the greatest generals in American history because of his consistent effort even after many failures.

George Edward Pickett was born on January 28th, 1825. He was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. He had grown up on his father’s plantation until entering the United States Military Academy in 1842 (Green). He was known as a jovial and likable
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His purpose at this battle was to fight for his home state. “Up men and to your posts! Don't forget today that you are from old Virginia” is what Pickett yells to his men while attacking the Union (American 1). The Battle of Gettysburg was a three day battle, with Pickett and his army arriving on the third day, July 3rd 1863. Robert E. Lee commanded Pickett to attack the center of the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge. Although Pickett was weary about Lee’s orders to attack the Union, he hadn't had much action in the Civil War and was eager to fight. This is most famously known as Pickett’s Charge and was a complete failure on the confederate end (George Pickett 1). More than 50% of his men died, bullets flew in the air and blood was scattered everywhere. “It was the first battle I had seen, and I hope that it will be the last one” stated one of the soldiers (Ainsworth 1). George’s army was completely shattered, and was a big disappointment. “General Lee, I have no division” was the first thing Pickett said to Lee after the disaster (Shaara 333). Pickett’s Charge resulted in a huge number of confederate casualties. “Oh the dead and the dying on this bloody field” was the sight of what one of the Union soldiers saw after the awful attack (Rhodes 1). Most importantly, Pickett’s failure also resulted with the Union winning the Battle of Gettysburg. This failure ended the war for the …show more content…
The Battle of Gettysburg was extremely crucial and was the turning point in the Civil War. As was already stated, if he had succeeded in attacking the Union, Lee would have been able to move toward the Union’s capitol, Washington D.C. If this had happened, they could have threatened and conquered more Northern cities and states, and they also could have threaten or capture President Lincoln (George Pickett 1). The victory could have been given to the Confederates, slavery would still exist, and we would still have slavery going on and expanding in the present