James Johnston Pettigrew (July 4, – July 17, ) was an author, lawyer, linguist, diplomat, and a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was one of three division commanders in the disastrous assault known as Pickett's Charge and was mortally wounded a few days after the Battle of Gettysburg.
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According to Carol Reardon, the disputes have centered on Pickett's division of Virginians, the veterans of which claimed to have numbered fewer than 5, but who actually had numbered anywhere from 5, to 6, depending on the source.
Pickett’s Charge
Of course, one of the central facts of Pickett's Charge is that once these men did begin their advance—arrayed in a mile-long arc, their regimental flags unfurled so that they awed the Union troops nervously waiting for them behind a low stone wall atop Cemetery Ridge—they were forced to march across a valley of wide-open ground. Historians have disagreed about the distance of this hellish march, which left the Virginians and North Carolinians and Mississippians and Alabamans and Tennesseans completely exposed to enemy fire.
Most state that it was between three-quarters of a mile and a mile—ground that can be covered in about twenty minutes, according to Stephen Sears, "marching at 'common time,' with perhaps a pause or two for realignment along the way. Part of the confusion comes from the fact that the Confederate line at the foot of Seminary Ridge was not parallel to the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, meaning that Trimble and Pettigrew's men on the Confederate left had farther to go than Pickett's, while Pickett's men were forced to execute what was called a left oblique—a difficult maneuver under murderous musket fire—in order to line up properly with Trimble and Pettigrew.
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In the meantime, the Emmitsburg Road represented a substantial logistical problem, as it cut across the valley from the southwest to the northeast and was covered on both sides by sturdy fencing that needed to be climbed or broken through somehow. Whatever the distance, only a handful of infantrymen, a hundred Virginians led by Confederate general Lewis A. Armistead , ever made it to the Union lines and they were quickly repulsed. Historians agree on this and on the fact that Pickett's Charge, in the end, failed.
Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was forced to retreat from Pennsylvania two days later, in "thunder and lightning," according to Professor Jacobs, "torrents of rain, the road knee-deep in mud and water. Numbers at Pickett's Charge. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 4 Dec. Thanks to your advocacy efforts on our behalf, we're happy to report that the recently passed Omnibus Spending Bill includes a very small increase in funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities!
While our work is not over with regards to the upcoming budget to be passed in the fall, the Omnibus Spending Bill represents an endorsement of the important work that the humanities do for our communities. These funds will continue to support our work of providing free access to authoritative content about Virginia's history and culture. Picketts charge on the Union centre at the grove of trees about 3 PM Numbers at Pickett's Charge Contributed by Brendan Wolfe Pickett's Charge , which might be better understood either as Longstreet's assault or the Trimble-Pickett-Pettigrew Charge, was a failed Confederate frontal assault on July 3, , on the third and final day of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War — Sears has written, continuing: Categories Civil War, American — Military Memoirs of a Confederate: A Study in Command one-volume abridgment by Stephen W.
University of North Carolina Press, Pickett's Charge in History and Memory. The Operational Battlefield, — Icon for a Nation.
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Contributed by Brendan Wolfe , editor of Encyclopedia Virginia. A Publication of Virginia Humanitites. In partnership with Library of Virginia.
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Henry Heth 's Division of Lt. Hill 's Third Corps.
Numbers at Pickett's Charge
Freshly uniformed and armed with rifles from state military depots, his regiments presented a fine military appearance during the march through Maryland and Pennsylvania. Some of his regimental officers were also members of the North Carolina planter "aristocracy," including Colonel Collett Leventhorpe leading the 11th North Carolina Infantry and twenty-one-year-old Harry Burgwyn at the head of the 26th North Carolina Regiment , the largest Confederate regiment at Gettysburg.
Not having been in serious combat for nearly a year, his brigade mustered a strength over 2, officers and men. Pettigrew's Brigade tangled with the Iron Brigade on July 1, , at the McPherson and Herbst farms to the west of Gettysburg, where all four of his regiments suffered devastating losses—over 40 percent—but were successful in driving the Union forces off of McPherson's Ridge.
Heth that afternoon, and attempted to reorganize the battered division during the next day's battle as they lay behind Seminary Ridge. On July 3, Lee selected Pettigrew's division to march at the left of Maj. George Pickett 's in the famous infantry assault now known as Pickett's Charge although some recent historians have used the name "Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Assault" to describe it because Pickett led only one third of men in the attack. This was an error on Lee's part.
He did not consult with Pettigrew to find out the terrible condition of the division. As the division advanced, it received murderous fire. Pettigrew's horse was shot out from under him, and he continued on foot. Reaching within yards of the stone wall on Cemetery Ridge partially held by his cousin John Gibbon, he was severely wounded in the left hand by canister fire. Despite the great pain he was in, Pettigrew remained with his soldiers until it was obvious that the attack had failed. Holding his bloody hand, the despondent officer walked toward Seminary Ridge and encountered General Lee.
Pettigrew attempted to speak, but Lee, seeing the horrible wound, spoke first: General Pettigrew continued to command the division during the retreat to the Potomac River until Heth recovered. Stopped by the flooded Potomac River at Falling Waters, West Virginia , Pettigrew's brigade was deployed in a dense skirmish line on the Maryland side protecting the road to the river crossing.
Union cavalry probed the southern defenses throughout the night as Lee's army crossed the pontoon bridges into West Virginia. On the morning of July 14, Pettigrew's brigade was one of the last Confederate units still north of the Potomac River, when the Union troopers closed in. On foot and in the front line, Pettigrew was directing his soldiers when he was shot by a Union cavalryman from the Michigan Brigade at close range, the bullet striking him in the abdomen.
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He was immediately carried to the rear and across the Potomac, having refused to be left in federal hands. The loss of Pettigrew emotionally devastated his family and there was an official day of mourning held for him in North Carolina. His death also affected Lee who remarked, "The army has lost a brave soldier and the Confederacy an accomplished officer.
Pettigrew was named in his honor. Pettigrew was portrayed by actor George Lazenby in the film Gettysburg.
Pickett's Charge | HistoryNet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. American Civil War portal Biography portal. Stuart Thomas Trimble J. Walker Wilcox Wofford Wright.