[RightWhale]

Gettysburg was a very small battlefield. An intense, and accidental, battle. Pickett should have swung around to the left through town and rolled up the ridgeline. Hindsight.

[timpad]

An intense, and accidental, battle

I was always struck by the change that came over Lee at Gettysburg. He had constantly admonished his officers not to engage the enemy on ground not of their choosing in that region. But then, when they did as you say accidentally, he committed fully, even in the face of opposite counsel by those he trusted. Very odd, indeed.

[d_dguy]

I must disagree... Pickett's order were to strike the center of the Union line on Cemetary Ridge, as a soldier he was not afforded any other option. Besides, Lee had failed to succeed on either flank, July 1 and 2.

As he stated to Longstreet when the general argued a frontal assault, "...the enemy is there and that is where I plan to attack him...".