Charging into Immortality: The Life and Legacy of George Pickett
ISBN: 9781978292451
*Includes accounts of Pickett's Charge by some of the soldiers who made it.
*Includes excerpts of letters Pickett wrote about Gettysburg to his wife Sallie.
*Discusses controversies surrounding Pickett's Charge and his relationship with Robert E. Lee
*Includes pictures of important people, places, and events in Pickett's life.
*Includes maps of important battles.
*Includes a Bibliography for further reading.
*Includes a Table of Contents.
Before July 3, 1863, George Pickett was best known among his comrades for finishing last in his class at West Point, being a jocular but courageous soldier, and his carefully perfumed locks. As part of West Point’s most famous Class of 1846, Pickett was classmates with men like Stonewall Jackson and George McClellan, and despite his poor class standing he distinguished himself fresh out of school during the Mexican-American War.
Pickett’s reputation for bravery extended into the early years of the Civil War, to the extent that former West Point classmate George McClellan wrote, "Perhaps there is no doubt that he was the best infantry soldier developed on either side during the Civil War." A native Virginian, the impeccably styled Pickett represented all of the antebellum South’s most cherished traits, and as such he was a “beau-ideal” Confederate soldier.