Pickett's Men: A Fragment of War History

Soon after the failed Confederate assault on the third day at Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee told General George E. Pickett that, despite the defeat, “the men and officers of your command have written the name of Virginia as high today as ever it has been written before.” Like Lee, Walter Harrison―inspector general for the division―admired the gallantry of the men with whom he served and sought to honor them. To that end he wrote this history of his division, the only book by a participant devoted to one of the more famous large units in the Army of Northern Virginia.

Harrison knew his unit inside and out and vividly recounts the many important campaigns and battles in which it saw heavy action―including Seven Pines, Seven Days, Fredericksburg, the siege of Suffolk, and Gettysburg. Originally published in 1870, before the Lost Cause controversialists dramatically shaped the literature, Harrison’s narrative is restrained and dependable. His willingness to criticize generals and politicians makes his portraits of Pickett, Lewis A. Armistead, Richard B. Garnett, James L. Kemper, Montgomery D. Corse, and others less renowned balanced, revealing, and often moving. Even Lee himself comes under close scrutiny.

Now widely available for the first time, Pickett’s Men is rewarding reading for Civil War scholars and enthusiasts.