Pickett's Charge in History and Memory

October 15, 1997
Reardon, whose essay in "The Gettysburg Nobody Knows," edited by Gabor Boritt, wrestled with the disconnectedly remembered sequence of events at Gettysburg, here analyzes what veterans, blue and gray, have written concerning the Confederate repulse on the battle's third day. Their immediate impressions, emerging from the maelstrom of combat, made their way into the first newspaper reports, which in the aftermath of the battle made a mighty and lasting impression. One report, set down by a Confederate correspondent (named Jonathan Albertson), still sways many minds: that Pickett's Virginians spearheaded the attack, and that the blame for their failure lay with North Carolinian regiments that did not support them. After the war, amnesia was the order of the day, but by the 1880s interest in what happened revived; articles were published, reunions were held, monuments were built--all exciting as much controversy as reconciliation. Reardon's capable discussion of rare historiographical topics of interest to nonhistorians should find scattered but intent readers. ((Reviewed October 15, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)