The Battle of Gettysburg: Pickett's Charge

General Lee orders Longstreet’s divisions, after sustained Confederate artillery bombardment, to strike through the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge. Longstreet realizes any assault through open terrain is doomed. At 3 pm on July 3rd, Pickett’s 12,500 Southern soldiers step from the ridgeline and advance the three-quarters of a mile across what is essentially a “valley of death.”