Today we spent much of the morning learning about and walking the route of Pickett’s Charge. Now it’s a large field, but in 1863 it was a noisy and nervous walk that ended badly for about 13,000 Confederate soldiers. This action took place on the third day of the battle, and it was the last effort made by Lee to defeat the Union Army at Gettysburg. After Pickett’s charge, the Confederates took up defensive positions to the West of town; when the Union did not attack them, they retreated to Maryland and eventually Virginia. In total, about 150,000 troops were present at Gettysburg, and about a third of those were killed or wounded.
