#gettysburg

"Give Them the Cold Steel Boys, July 3, 1863"

Confederate General Lewis B. Armistead, with his cap on the tip of his sword, leads his men across the stone wall during Pickett’s Charge on the 3rd and final day of the battle of Gettysburg.

Approximately 12,500 Confederate troops, in nine infantry brigades, advanced over open fields for three-quarters of a mile under heavy Union artillery and rifle fire. Although some Confederate troops were able to breach the low stone wall that shielded many of the Union defenders, they could not maintain their hold and were repelled.

While the Union suffered about 1,500 killed and wounded, during the attack, the Confederate casualty rate was over 50%. Total Confederate losses during Pickett's Charge were 6,555, of which at least 1,123 Confederates were killed on the battlefield, 4,019 were wounded, and a good number of the injured were also captured. Confederate prisoner totals are difficult to estimate from their reports; Union reports indicated that 3,750 men were captured.