Background
He was born on January 25, 1825 in Richmond, Virginia, United States, the son of Colonel Robert and Mary (Johnston) Pickett, and a descendant of William Pickett of Fauquier County.
He was born on January 25, 1825 in Richmond, Virginia, United States, the son of Colonel Robert and Mary (Johnston) Pickett, and a descendant of William Pickett of Fauquier County.
He received his early education in the Richmond Academy and the law office of his uncle, Andrew Johnston, in Quincy, from which state he was appointed in 1842 to the United States Military Academy. He graduated in 1846, the last of his class of fifty-nine members.
From school he went directly into the Mexican War. He was commissioned second lieutenant, 2nd Infantry, March 3, 1847, and was transferred in July, first to the 7th and then to the 8th Infantry. He served from the siege of Vera Cruz to the capture of Mexico City. For gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco he was brevetted first lieutenant, August 20, 1847. He was first to go over the parapets of Chapultepec on September 13, 1847, and under the menace of enemy fire, he lowered the Aztec emblem and hoisted the flag of his infantry.
From 1849 to 1856 he did garrison duty in Texas, receiving the rank of captain on March 3, 1855. He was assigned frontier duty in 1856 in the Northwest and was engaged almost constantly in Indian fighting. In 1859 American settlers on San Juan Island (Puget Sound) complained of Indian outrages and threatened British aggression.
Pickett was ordered to take possession of the island, which he did promptly with a force of sixty soldiers. Three British warships anchored broadside to the camp and warned him off the island, and later the British magistrate aboard the flagship summoned him for trial, but he disregarded both messages. The British next proposed landing a force equal to Pickett's for joint military occupation. To this he replied, "I am here by virtue of an order from my government, and shall remain till recalled by the same authority". He further announced he would fire upon any landing force. Joint occupation by British and American forces was the solution reached, and Pickett remained in command of the American forces there almost continuously until 1861 when he resigned from the Federal forces.
He went to Richmond, was commissioned colonel, and assigned to duty on the lower Rappahannock. He was made a brigadier-general in February 1862, and his command, by the dash and courage displayed at Williamsburg, Seven Pines, and Gaines's Mill, earned the sobriquet, "The Game Cock Brigade. " At Gaines's Mill, on June 27, 1862, he was severely wounded in the shoulder and did not rejoin his command until after the first Maryland campaign.
He was promoted major-general in October 1862, and given command of a Virginia division. At Fredericksburg he held the center of Lee's line and later served creditably in the campaign against Suffolk. At Gettysburg, on July 3, 1863, with a strength of 4, 500 muskets, his command advanced over half a mile of broken ground against withering artillery and musket fire. With the precision of parade drill they descended one slope, ascended the next, and, with unmatched courage of individual gallantry, assaulted the formidable Union line only to be forced back in defeat.
After the Gettysburg campaign, he commanded the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. His advance from Petersburg on February 1, 1864, to free New Bern, North Carolina, failed of its objective but secured 500 prisoners and valuable stores. Late in April 1864, his troops, with Robert Frederick Hoke commanding, recaptured Plymouth, just as Pickett was ordered to Richmond. Before he could start, however, General Butler's fleet appeared off Citypoint in the James River, and threatened the back door of the Confederate capital. Butler's sluggish action enabled Pickett to turn the command over to Beauregard with Butler's troops still bottled up at Bermuda Hundred.
In the final Union offensives near Petersburg, his division bore the brunt of the attack at Five Forks on April 1, 1865, where he made the greatest fight of his career. He joined Longstreet with the remnants of his command and remained with him until the surrender at Appomattox.
Peace found him in poverty and deprived of his profession. The khedive of Egypt offered him a commission as brigadier-general, but he refused service which would separate him from his beloved wife. When Grant became president, he offered him the marshalship of Virginia, but he declined. Instead he accepted the Virginia agency of the Washington Life Insurance Company of New York and was so employed at the time of his death.
He died at Norfolk, Virginia.
George Edward Pickett served with distinction in Mexican–American War, Pig War, American Civil War and was promoted to the rank of major general. He is best remembered for leading Pickett's Charge, the futile and bloody Confederate offensive on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg that bears his name. Fort Pickett in Blackstone, Virginia, is named in his honor.
Quotes from others about the person
Historian John C. Waugh wrote of Pickett, "An excellent brigade commander, he never proved he could handle a division. " He quotes George B. McClellan, the Union general, as saying: "Perhaps there is no doubt that he was the best infantry soldier developed on either side during the Civil War. "
In January 1851, he married Sally Minge of Richmond, who died the following November. On September 15, 1863, he married the young and beautiful La Salle Corbell of Chuckatuck, Virginia. Two children, one of whom lived to maturity, were born to them.
