U.S. Grant saved George Pickett's neck

[LincolnMan]

I was reading through my copy of the book Captain Sam Grant by Lloyd Lewis when I found this passage regarding George Pickett at West Point on page 91:

"A fiery Virginian, rebellious against some of West Point's sartorial rules, was George E. Pickett, who had been appointed from Illinois where he had gone to seek his fortune with an uncle, John G. Stuart, a former law partner of Abraham Lincoln. Pickett would be forever slow in class, and, thanks to his frequent insistence upon wearing a soft collar and tie instead of the prescribed stock, would always be near the bottom of the Conduct Roll."