Pickett, leader of the charge

Description

The leader of the most famous charge in American history, George E. Pickett was destined for immortality, but the man behind the famous name has remained a mystery. This, the first full-length scholarly biography of the general, reveals the complex personality and explores the contradictory behavior of one of Robert E. Lee's most enigmatic subordinates. What emerges is a portrait of a gallant leader who risked his life on many fields but refused to accompany his troops into the jaws of death at Gettysburg; an incisive, quick-witted tactician who graduated at the foot of his West Point Class; and a chivalrous Virginian who in 1865 barely escaped trial as a war criminal. This biography of one of the Civil War's most celebrated commanders, a general whose career both greatness and tragedy touched, is based largely on published and unpublished primary sources. The book provides a multi-faceted portrait of an officer whose life has long been obscured by error, stereotype, and myth. As the first Pickett biography published since 1899, Leader of the Charge debunks a century of myth-making about him, exposes two postwar collections of letters reputedly written by Pickett as fiction concocted by his widow, and publishes for the first time numerous authentic Pickett letters.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Pickett, leader of the charge: a biography of General George E. Pickett, C.S.A.White Mane1998-01-01
• Leader of the chargeWhite Mane1995-01-01
• Leader of the ChargeHardcoverWhite Mane Pub1995-10-01