The Go Point: How to Get Off the Fence by Knowing What to Do and When to Do It by Michael Useem

Author:Michael Useem
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2006-10-02T18:30:00+00:00

“General Lee, I Have No Division!”

One thing was certain as the sun rose over Gettysburg on July 3, 1863: this would be the day.

George Pickett needed hours to assemble and position his thousands of soldiers along the less imposing Seminary Ridge, opposite the enemy stronghold. When he was through, the troops were arrayed in straight-line formations that stretched for a mile. As Pickett prepared, more than 150 Confederate cannons pounded the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge for well over an hour. Now they were running low on ammunition. The time had come.

Waiting to give the command to attack until the moment was just right, James Longstreet asked the Confederate artillery commander if he had been able to open up the center of the Union line. With smoke hanging in the still, hot air of July, the artillerist said he could only guess at success. The answer unsettled Longstreet. He was still hesitating, standing motionless near the center of the Rebel line poised for attack, when George Pickett approached him for the final go-ahead. Paralyzed by the disaster he foresaw, Longstreet could utter no words and simply nodded as an approving gesture. Receiving his “silent order,” Pickett saluted and declared, “I shall lead my division forward sir.” With drums rolling, Picket shouted, “Up, men, and to your posts! Don’t forget today that you are from old Virginia.”21

Pickett’s Charge would prove to be one of the greatest Southern blunders of the entire Civil War, a metaphor for bloody futility. It was repulsed within an hour, more that half its infantry wounded, captured, or killed. When Lee instructed Pickett during the retreat to rally his division for an anticipated Yankee countercharge, Pickett is famously said to have responded, “General Lee, I have no division.” The next day, Lee began a retreat toward Virginia, ending his Pennsylvania campaign defeated and with his army drastically depleted. His casualties totaled 28,000 for the three days, while Meade lost 23,000. The most forward point of Pickett’s advance near what became known as the “bloody angle” is sometime referred to as the high-water mark of the Confederacy.22

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