General George Pickett
Compiled Military Service Record
George Edward Pickett
(Confederate)
Pickett, George Edward, born in
Virginia,
appointed from Illinois cadet United States
Military Academy, July 1, 1842;
graduated forty-ninth in a class of fifty-six.
Biographical data and notes: - Born Jan 28, 1825, in Richmond -
George Edward Pickett died on Jul 30, 1875
U.S. Army Compiled
Military Service Record
Brevet second lieutenant, Eighth Infantry, July 1, 1846.
Second lieutenant,
Second Infantry, March 3, 1847; transferred to Seventh Infantry, July 13, 1847; transferred to Eighth Infantry, July
18, 1847.
Brevet first lieutenant, August
20, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco,
Mexico, and Brevet Captain, September 13, 1847, for gallant conduct
in the battle of Chapultepec, Mexico.
First
lieutenant, June 28, 1849.
Captain, Ninth Infantry, March 3, 1855.
Resigned June 25, 1861.
C.S. Army Compiled Military
Service Record
Enlistment: -
Enlisted on Oct 10, 1862, as a General Officer
Promotions: - Promoted to Major (Full, Army) (date not indicated) -
Promoted to Brig-Gen (Full, Vol) (date not indicated) - Promoted to Colonel (Full, Vol) (date not indicated) - Promoted
to Major-Gen (Full, Vol) (date not indicated)
Major, Corps of Artillery, C.
S. A., March 16, 1861. * * * * * * Brigadier general, P. A. C. S., January 14, 1862. Major general, P. A. C. S.,
October 10, 1862.
Commands.
July 23, 1862,
commanding Third Brigade, Longstreet's Division, Army of Northern Virginia.
Brigade composed of the Eighth, Eighteenth,
Nineteenth, Twenty-eighth and Fifty-sixth Virginia Regiments Infantry, Army of Northern Virginia.
August 13,
1862, commanding division in Longstreet's Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, composed of the brigades of Garnett, Armistead,
Kemper and Jenkins. Corse's Brigade was afterward added.
Commanding Department of North Carolina, September 23, 1863.
August
31, 1864, commanding a division in First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.
January
31, 1865, same command.
Sources: General Officers of the
Confederate States of America; Confederate Military History, (1987)
Recommended Reading: Pickett, Leader of the Charge: A Biography of General George E. Pickett, C.S.A. Publishers Weekly: This first modern biography of the man who led the final Confederate
attack at Gettysburg depicts neither an archetypical cavalier
nor a shallow incompetent. Though Pickett's promotion owed something to the patronage of his superior Lt. Gen. James Longstreet,
he had an excellent record of brigade command and did as well on July 3, 1863, as anyone was likely to have done in the circumstances.
Continued below.
Nevertheless,
Pickett lost the confidence of Robert E. Lee and spent most of the rest of the war on peripheral assignments in North Carolina and southern
Virginia. Performing adequately under direct supervision,
Pickett showed no aptitude for independent command despite some successes, notably in organizing the defenses of Petersburg in 1864. Longacre's sympathy for his subject leads him both
to overestimate Pickett's military capacities and to understate Gettysburg's
impact on a man who in its aftermath arguably suffered from what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder. This work is
still a useful addition to the literature on Confederate command in the Civil War.
Recommended Reading:
Pickett And His Men, by La Salle Corbell Pickett (448 pages). Description: A graduate of West
Point Academy and classmate of such military notables as George B. McClellan and Thomas J. Jackson, George Edward Pickett
began his Confederate career as a Colonel, then rose to the rank of Brigadier General, in which capacity he served under General
James Longstreet at the Seven Days' Campaign in January of 1862, and finally to the rank of Major General later that same
year. He is perhaps best known for commanding the ill-fated charge up Seminary Ridge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Continued
below.
After the war,
he fled to Canada and was denied a full pardon until only one year before his death in 1875.
LaSalle Corbell Pickett spent the rest of her life honoring her husband and shaping his image as a Confederate hero and this
book is the product of her efforts. I am unaware of a single Pickett biography that doesn't quote this book. This work
also allows the reader the opportunity to walk in the shoes of George Pickett. Highly recommended for the Civil War buff and
anyone remotely interested in the Battle of Gettysburg.
Recommended Reading: Into the Fight: Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg.
Description: Challenging conventional views, stretching
the minds of Civil War enthusiasts and scholars as only John Michael Priest can, Into the Fight is both a scholarly and a
revisionist interpretation of the most famous charge in American history. Using a wide array of sources, ranging from the
monuments on the Gettysburg battlefield to the accounts of
the participants themselves, Priest rewrites the conventional thinking about this unusually emotional, yet serious, moment
in our Civil War. Continued below.
Starting with
a fresh point of view, and with no axes to grind, Into the Fight challenges all interested in that stunning moment in history
to rethink their assumptions. Worthwhile for its use of soldiers’ accounts, valuable for its forcing the reader to rethink
the common assumptions about the charge, critics may disagree with this research, but they cannot ignore it.
Recommended Reading:
Pickett's Charge, by George Stewart. Description: The author has written an eminently readable, thoroughly enjoyable, and well-researched
book on the third day of the Gettysburg battle, July 3, 1863.
An especially rewarding read if one has toured, or plans to visit, the battlefield site. The author's unpretentious, conversational
style of writing succeeds in putting the reader on the ground occupied by both the Confederate and Union
forces before, during and after Pickett's and Pettigrew's famous assault on Meade's Second Corps. Continued below.
Interspersed
with humor and down-to-earth observations concerning battlefield conditions, the author conscientiously describes all aspects
of the battle, from massing of the assault columns and pre-assault artillery barrage to the last shots and the flight of the
surviving rebels back to the safety of their lines… Having visited Gettysburg several years ago, this superb volume makes me
want to go again.
Recommended Reading: Pickett's Charge: Eyewitness Accounts At The Battle Of Gettysburg (Stackpole Military History Series). Description: On the final day of the battle
of Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee ordered one of the most famous
infantry assaults of all time: Pickett's Charge. Following a thundering artillery barrage, thousands of Confederates launched
a daring frontal attack on the Union line. From their entrenched positions, Federal soldiers decimated the charging Rebels,
leaving the field littered with the fallen and several Southern divisions in tatters. Written by generals, officers, and enlisted
men on both sides, these firsthand accounts offer an up-close look at Civil War combat and a panoramic view of the carnage
of July 3, 1863.
Recommended Reading:
Pickett's Charge--The Last Attack at Gettysburg (Hardcover). Description: Pickett's Charge
is probably the best-known military engagement of the Civil War, widely regarded as the defining moment of the battle of Gettysburg and celebrated as the high-water mark of the Confederacy.
But as Earl Hess notes, the epic stature of Pickett's Charge has grown at the expense of reality, and the facts of the attack
have been obscured or distorted by the legend that surrounds them. With this book, Hess sweeps away the accumulated myths
about Pickett's Charge to provide the definitive history of the engagement. Continued below.
Drawing on
exhaustive research, especially in unpublished personal accounts, he creates a moving narrative of the attack from both Union and Confederate perspectives,
analyzing its planning, execution, aftermath, and legacy. He also examines the history of the units involved, their state
of readiness, how they maneuvered under fire, and what the men who marched in the ranks thought about their participation
in the assault. Ultimately, Hess explains, such an approach reveals Pickett's Charge both as a case study in how soldiers
deal with combat and as a dramatic example of heroism, failure, and fate on the battlefield.
Recommended Viewing!
The American Civil War (DVD Megaset) (2009) (A&E Television Networks-The History Channel) (14 DVDs) (1697 minutes)
(28 Hours 17 Minutes + extras). Experience for yourself the historical and personal impact of the Civil War in a way that
only HISTORY can present in this moving megaset™, filled with over 28 hours of American Civil War content. This MEGASET is the most comprehensive American Civil War compilation to date and is the
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Jackson, delve into the full military and political contexts of these men, their armies, and the clashes between them. Continued
below.
Almost 150 years after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House,
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High Tech Lincoln * Sherman’s March * The Hunt For John Wilkes Booth * Civil War Combat (4 Episodes): The Hornets’
Nest At Shiloh, The Bloody Lane At Antietam, The Wheatfield At Gettysburg, The Tragedy At Cold Harbor * Civil War Journal
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War Enemies, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Sherman And The March To The Sea
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