Namesake

On July 1-3, 1863, General Robert E. Lee’s Confederates attacked General George Meade’s Union forces, who were entrenched near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The climax of the battle was Pickett’s Charge. Losses at Gettysburg were heavy on both sides, but it was the defeated Lee who was forced to retreat into Virginia.

The Battle of Gettysburg ended in one of the bravest, and most disastrous, attacks in American history. Confederate general George E. Pickett (1825-75) advanced against the Union trenches with 15,000 men. They were mown down by artillery and rifle fire. About 10,000 Confederates were killed or wounded in the attack. Afterwards, it became known as Pickett’s Charge.