Pickett's Charge

“ Such was Pickett's charge—a wave of human courage which recorded "the high-water mark of the Rebellion."
Chapter XXIII. — In the Face of Disaster
As the survivors of Pickett's heroic legion came streaming back toward the Confederate lines Lee stood face to face with defeat for the first time in his career. His long series of victories had not spoiled him and the hour of triumph had always found him calm and thankful, rather than elated and arrogant. But many a modest and generous winner has proved himself a poor loser. ”

“ An author who loses his temper always breaks the force of his argument and weakens his cause. And so in the present case some salient facts which Capt. Bond presents lose most of their strength and effect by the spirit in which he clothes them. * * * And suppose the charge of Pickett was given undue prominence in the general history of the war, (and we do not dispute it) , was it kind or proper on that account to make a systematic attempt to vitiate the record of all the service rendered by Virginia to the Confederate arms? ”

“ I tried to defend myself and set forth the greater advantages of the infantry service.
"Pickett is lucky," he replied, "in having such a champion. I am in love with him myself and agree with you perfectly, for Pickett can do anything. When I see him dance I think he ought to be a dancing-master. When I see him ride I think he ought to be a cavalry leader. [Pg 123] When he whistles I think he ought to be a bird. When he sings it seems that he ought to be an opera star. When I see him lead a charge I feel that he ought to spend his life on the battlefield. ”

“ Do you s’pose we sit up all night down at the gap?”
“Really, I didn’t know, Mr. Pickett, without inquiring.”
The witness was losing his temper, the lawyer was getting sarcastic, and the spectators were anticipating a still greater treat in store from the continuance of the examination.
[138]
In his seat at the rear of the court room Dannie sat, dazed, motionless, listening and hearing as one in a dream; in his breast still the imperious demand of his conscience urging him to confess; in his palsied limbs no power to move. Then Marshall took up a new line of examination. ”

“ Strange how stubbornness and obstinacy and the unforgiving spirit will rule the natures and thwart the happiness of men.
Gabriel was called to the witness stand to testify to having seen Nicholson and his men set their stakes from the mouth of the gap westerly on the afternoon of September twenty-seventh.
“Yes,” he replied, in answer to the lawyer’s question. “I seen ’em. They come straight from the gap acrost the graveyard an’ up into the potater field where I was workin’.” ”

“ In [174] the lower hall he met Charlie Pickett. He went up to him with outstretched hand, for he was generous as well as impetuous.
“Pickett,” he said, “if I made any fool remarks on the witness stand to-day reflecting on you in any way, I want to ask your pardon. You know there’s no man in the profession, nor anywhere else, for that matter, whom I esteem more highly than I do you. My quick tongue always did get me into no end of trouble, and I’m afraid it always will. It wasn’t two minutes ago that I was crushed in repartee by that wise fool from Pickett’s Gap, Gabriel, by name. ”

“ He turned aside to consult with his foreman. Nicholson, the engineer, observing the situation from a distance, hurried back with his men. The laborers had already congregated about their employer. Abner Pickett, with grim determination stamped upon every line of his face and every muscle of his body, still sat upon the wall holding his gun in readiness for action. Dannie, white faced and fearful, but with never a thought of desertion, sat beside his grandfather, while Gabriel, standing near by, gripped two cobblestones tightly in his hands. ”

“ I did not know there was a witness to all my bitterness till I heard a smothered chuckle and, looking up, saw my Soldier and his friend, General Rufus Ingalls, standing over me. With a twinkle in his eye, and in a voice full of suppressed laughter, General Ingalls said, as he patted me on the head:
"I don't blame you one bit, little woman—not a damn bit. I should feel just as terrible about it as you do if I were in your place. It's all different with Pickett and me, you see. We don't mind. ”

“ When Nicholson once started in to talk, it was of no use trying to interrupt him till he was through.
“Yes,” replied Charlie, sadly, “he recovered; he went home with his grandfather.”
Nicholson stood for a moment in deep thought.
“Look here, Pickett!” he exclaimed finally. “I don’t want to uncover any family secrets; but what I can’t make out is why in the world, if you own such a boy as that, he don’t know it. And, why in all the worlds, if you’ve got a right to have the company of a human being, with his intelligence [177] and conscience and grit and grace, you don’t avail yourself of it.” ”

“ But, Pickett, say! whose idea was that moonlight survey, anyway? It was a genuine coup-d’état.”
“Oh, that was Wilson’s scheme. Our chief, you know. He knew that you were running along the westerly bank of the Delaware that afternoon and that a location by us next day would be too late. We didn’t dream that you would get through the gap that night. I didn’t dream that you had been through it when I went down in the moonlight. If I had seen your stakes there, I should more than likely have turned back.”
“Well, it’s lucky for your people that you [175] didn’t see them, then. ”

“ If we should give up there are many who would feel that we had sold the South—many of our Southern States would think so, for even they have no idea that we have come to the last of our resources and no realization of how starving and poor we are, and, alas, gentlemen, too much of the best blood of the land is being spilled, too many homes being despoiled and made desolate, too many mothers with broken hearts."
Solemnly they shook hands and General Lee and his companions galloped off, my Soldier and I standing in the doorway listening. ”

“ My Soldier, always solicitous for his men, was discussing with his staff the discomfort to which they would be subjected and the impossibility of alleviating their suffering.
"Poor fellows!" he said. "They will be almost frozen and no wood, and General Lee will not allow us to burn even a single rail. There will be the devil to pay and I powerless to help."
Observing that I had awakened and heard his last remark he turned reprovingly to Captain Bright, saying:
"Bright, how dare you use that gentleman's name in the presence of my wife?" ”

“ I am very weary and sleepy and would like to retire. If you please, sir, will you get me my stateroom and ticket? I am so tired—so very tired."
Baby was lying asleep on my lap, hypnotized by the chandeliers. The man looked down on him for a moment and then said, "Of course, I will get them for you," and was going, when an ex-Confederate officer, one of my Soldier's old comrades and friends, came up and, cordially extending his hand, greeted me:
"How do you do, Mrs. Pickett? Where is the General? What are you doing here, and where are you going?" ”

“ But Abner Pickett had a parting shot to fire.
“Mind what I tell you, David Brown. If they’re a-pointing toward your place, the only way to protect your rights is to set on your line fence with a shot-gun in your hands. The law won’t help you, an’ compensation for the right o’ way is nothin’ more nor less than an insult. There’s my advice to you. Take it, or let it alone, as you like.”
After David Brown had gone, the old man grew somewhat calmer. He took two or three turns up and down the porch, and then resumed his seat.
“Strike into the potato field, did they?” he asked of Dannie. ”

“ He glanced ahead at his flagman and directed him to a point farther up in the field, to which point, having fixed and recorded it, he himself hastened, followed by Gabriel and Dannie. Up to this moment the boy had not opened his mouth. Now, with the ring of rising indignation in his voice, he spoke up:—
“Has this railroad got a right to run through my gran’father’s land without his permission?”
Either the engineer was in haste and did not wish to be again interrupted, or else he did not [30] think the boy of sufficient consequence to demand his attention ”

“ Gabriel recalled, with startling distinctness, that night on his employer’s porch, when the old man declared with such terrible emphasis that no person could do a better deed than to pull out all the stakes and throw them into the brook. And there was Abner Pickett now, sitting on the front bench, head and shoulders above the crowd, piercing him through with those clear blue eyes. ”

“ Why, do you know, child, we have slept under the same blanket, fought under the same flag, eaten out of the same mess-pan, dodged the same bullets, scalped the same Indians, made love to the same girls—aye, Pickett, it won't do, by Jove, to tell her all we have done together—no, no—come, shake hands. I am dreadful sorry we have had this terrible kick-up in the family, and all this row and bloodshed, but we are all Americans, damn it, anyhow, and your fellows have been mighty plucky to hold out as they have. ”

“ Gabriel left the chair in which he was sitting next his employer, and went down and seated himself on the porch steps. Abner Pickett took his pipe from his mouth, and, grasping it firmly in the fingers of his right hand, looked questioningly from one member of the group to another.
“Well,” he said at last, “why don’t somebody speak? Are you all struck dumb? What is it about the railroad, Dannie?”
“Why, Gran’pap, they—the surveyors you know—they—they—”
“Well?”
“Whacked their stakes in regardless—” broke in Gabriel, in his intense anxiety to help Dannie out. ”

“ I seen ’em start to’ards the depot.”
“Yes,” replied Charlie, rising and going again to the window; “but I doubt whether they will get farther than Port Lenox to-night. The trains will be late, and the roads will not be broken. Poor boy! I shall be glad to feel that he is at home with Aunt Martha, resting from his physical strain, relieved of his mental burden. Well, Gabriel, let’s go back into court. I don’t suppose they’ll want us any more, but we’ll see what they are doing with the case.” ”

“ Virginia. Every Federal post gave them up to us, from Arlington, where Colonel Robert E. Lee laid down his allegiance to the old flag, to the Pacific, where my Soldier had upheld the integrity of his country against hostile Indians and foreign foes.
In July, 1861, Captain Pickett resigned from the United States Army, made a perilous journey from San Juan, passing by sea around to New York, going thence to Canada and then southward, barely escaping arrest three times. From the window of a railway car along a Kentucky road is seen an old home where he spent a night in his long journey. ”

“ Eleven hundred from forty-five hundred leaves thirty-four hundred, and that was the number of casualties suffered by Pickett’s little division at Gettysburg.” I have known individuals who took pride in poverty and disease. The surrender of soldiers in battle was often unavoidable; but I have never known a body of troops other than Pickett’s, who prided themselves upon that misfortune. ”

“ Through a misconception of orders, the Confederate line had become disjointed, and the supports of Pickett were repelled and a large number killed or taken prisoners, but Pickett's own division came on unfalteringly, let fly with a volley at the breastworks in front of them, and then, with their resounding yells, dashed up the crest of Cemetery Ridge and drove out the defenders at the point of the bayonet.
Immediately the hand-to-hand fighting became like that of so many tigers. ”

“ The President shook his head, and entered upon a brief account of the fighting after the battle of Gaines's Mill, praising my Soldier's brother, Major Charles Pickett, who had been wounded at Frazier's Farm, carrying the flag on foot after his horse had been shot from under him. I saw the President's eyes flash as he said:
"I am too much of a soldier to keep out of it in this way, I want to be in the fray. I would much have preferred fighting in the field to warring in the council chamber. I had gone out to consult with the Generals when the artillery duel between Jackson and Franklin began. ”

“ Declares that the Deed of Right of Way through Pickett’s Graveyard is Invalid, having been Obtained through a Misunderstanding of Facts. Concludes that the D. V. & E. Company has no Right to Lay its Tracks in the Gap or the Graveyard.”
“I’m so glad!” exclaimed Dannie.
“I knowed we’d knock ’em out in the fust round,” said Gabriel. “Ez ol’ Isra’l Pidgin use to say, ‘It ain’t ev’ry—’”
“Gabriel,” interrupted the old man, with a smile on his face that told of the joy in his heart even though he gave voice to the old familiar words, “Gabriel, you’re a fool.” ”

“ On the evening announced for the entertainment, the Courthouse was packed from floor to dome. Among the conspicuous figures toward the front was Colonel Robert B., a fine old Kentuckian of antique Norman type—tall, ruddy, high-featured, light haired; hearty, convivial, and profane—a boon companion and bon vivant. He sat expectantly but at ease, a bandaged arm resting upon the seat in front. He was cordially greeted by kinsmen and friends in every part of the house. The curtain rose and the minstrels filed upon the stage, looking for all the world like a lot of "free nigger" swells. ”

“ As long as the writer confines himself to natural scenery he acquits himself very creditably, but when he attempts to describe events which occurred there so many years ago he flounders fearfully. Of course Pickett’s men advance “alone.” Of course there is a terrific hand-to-hand battle at what he calls the “bloody angle.” In this battle he says that many of Doubleday’s troops lost from twenty-five to forty per cent. “The slaughter of the Confederates was fearful—nearly one-half of them were left upon the field, Garnett’s brigade alone having over three thousand killed and captured.” ”