Pickett's charge was a last ditch effort in the Battle of Gettysburg. All previous attacks on the flanks had failed and Lee resolved that the best way was to send 12,500 Confederate infantry from 9 brigades on a charge right into the Union's center. The plan was to make a break through in the Union line and separate the two halves of the Potomac Army.

The decision was very controversial in the ranks of the Army of Northern Virginia. Longstreet and Lee butted heads on the plan to...