04/07/2026
On July 3, 1863, the third and final day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee launched one last attempt to break the Union Army's defensive line. The assault, remembered as Pickett's Charge, ended in catastrophic failure and marked the decisive conclusion of the most important battle of the American Civil War.
After two days of intense fighting, Lee believed the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge had been weakened. He ordered approximately 15,000 Confederate soldiers, led by Major General George Pickett and supported by other divisions, to advance across nearly a mile of open ground after a massive artillery bombardment.
The bombardment failed to inflict significant damage on Union defenses. As the Confederate troops crossed the exposed fields, they came under devastating artillery and rifle fire. Only a small number reached the Union line before being killed, wounded, or captured. In less than an hour, more than 7,000 Confederate soldiers became casualties, making Pickett's Charge one of the most costly assaults of the Civil War.
That night, both armies remained in place before Lee began withdrawing his Army of Northern Virginia on July 4. He would never again lead an invasion of the North.
The Union suffered approximately 23,000 casualties during the three-day battle, while Confederate losses reached about 25,000. Gettysburg is widely regarded as the turning point of the American Civil War, ending Lee's northern campaign and shifting the momentum decisively in favor of the Union. Just four months later, President Abraham Lincoln returned to the battlefield to deliver the Gettysburg Address, one of the most influential speeches in American history.
