Walk Pickett's Charge

[Jim Garrett]

Pickett's Charge was indeed doomed from the start. The armies still had not fully adjusted tactics to meet the new technologies. The charge was still a classic attack out of a Napoleonic text book, which had been indeed, been made futile with the invention of rifled barrel.

The artillery barrage unleashed by the Confederate gunners was ineffective and did not "soften" the Union line. About 25 years ago, I saw Shelby Foote give a talk and he opined that the Southern gunners failed to take into account the softer soil in Pennsylvania and the cannon's trailers dug deeper into the ground and changed the elevation. By the second volley, they were unable to see they were overshooting their target.