[ Music ]
>> We're standing now on Cemetery Ridge,
not far from the famous Bloody Angle, on the Gettysburg Battlefield.
And behind me is the famous Copse of Trees,
better known as the Highwater Mark of the Confederacy.
By the end of the day on July 2nd, 1863,
Confederate troops had gained ground along the Emmitsburg Road and at the Peach Orchard,
they pushed [background drums] back elements in the Union Army,
but they hadn't achieved a decisive victory.
And you'd think by the end of the day on July 2nd, Robert E. Lee would be discouraged.
On the contrary, Robert E. Lee is encouraged.
He came very close to winning a decisive victory at Gettysburg on July 2nd.
He came very close to driving the Union Army off Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill,
and Lee believes that if he can simply achieve what he calls a concert of action,
having his troops move forward at the same time, applying constant pressure
to the Union Army, he'll win the day.
And so his plan for battle on July 3rd, 1863, the third day of the battle,
is simply to pick up where he left off the day before.
Have General Ewell attack the right flank of the Union Army
on Culp's Hill and drive them off.
Have General Longstreet attack the left flank of the Union Army and drive them in,
crush the Union Army, win the battle, and win the day.
And Robert E. Lee will probably wake up somewhere around 4 a.m.
on the morning of July 3rd, 1863.
He'll hear the sound of gunfire in the vicinity of Culp's Hill, he may even see smoke rising
above the tree line, but little does Robert E. Lee know
that even before the sun has fully risen over the battlefield on July 3rd,
his plan of battle is already out the window.
It's already breaking apart.
On Culp's Hill, Confederates attack again and again and again, but are driven back
by Union troops of the Twelfth Army Corps. To the south, in front of General Longstreeet's position,
well Longstreet doesn't advance at all.
And Lee would ultimately ride down Seminary Ridge,
meet with General Longstreet, and talk about what to do next.
The attacks on Culp's Hill fail.
General Longstreet is adamant that another attack on the left flank
of the Union Army will not succeed.
So what is Robert E. Lee to do?
He knows he's attacked the left and right of the Union Army
and hasn't been met with success there.
And he knows he only has about 6,000 men left on the battlefield that haven't seen any fighting.
6,000 men, all of them Virginians, led by Major General George Pickett,
and Lee will use these 6,000 Virgnians, as well as about 6,000 additional troops,
men from North Carolina, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, to launch an attack
on the center of the Union battleline [background cheering].
Lee believes that the left and right flanks of the Union Army are strong,
there must be a weak point somewhere,
and Lee believes that weak point could very well be here, on Cemetery Ridge.
And so these 12,000 men, under the direction of General James Longstreet,
will advance across a mile of open ground, strike the Union Army here, and drive them off,
but before a single Confederate soldier begins to advance,
Lee will order a massive artillery barrage, a bombardment.
150 Confederate guns, virtually all of them aimed
at this relatively small [gunfire] spot on the battlefield.
The idea being that bombardment will drive off Union artillery.
It will kill and demoralize Union infantry and that's going
to make it a whole lot easier for those 12,000 Confederates to make it across the battlefield.
Now General Longstreet does not believe this plan will succeed,
and he tells General Lee that very thing that morning.
He says that in order for this plan to work, it would take at least 30,000 men.
And even then the question would be in doubt.
But Lee knows that time is not on his side.
The longer he's in Pennsylvania, the weaker his men get.
He's not getting anymore ammunition, he's not getting any more food,
and he needs to strike a blow now.
So all throughout the morning hours of July 3rd, Union troops here along the stone wall
on Cemetery Ridge can look across that valley, that mile of open ground, and they could tell
on the Confederate side of the battlefield something is going on.
Men are moving into position.
Artillery is being rolled forward.
The question most men had is, what did it mean?
Maybe the Confederates were beginning to retreat.
Maybe they'd already won the battle.
Well, Union soldiers would find the answer to that question a little after one o'clock
on July 3rd as two Confederate single guns go off.
About a moment later, the entire length of Cemetery Ridge explodes into a sheet of flame
and iron as that massive bombardment began.
And the bombardment will last two hours.
At its height, one historian estimates
that three Confederate shells would hit Cemetery Ridge each second.
But the longer the bombardment goes on, the smokier the field gets,
and it becomes increasingly difficult for Confederate gunners to aim,
and before long, most of those Confederate shells are actually sailing
over Cemetery Ridge and not landing on it.
After two hours, Confederate artillery batteries are running out of ammunition,
the order to cease fire is given, the smoke clears,
and then Major General George Pickett will go up to General Longstreet
and ask for the order to advance.
And General Longstreet, so overcome with emotion, so sure the attack will fail,
can't even bring himself to order the command forward.
He simply nods.
And with that, Pickett's Charge would commence.
The time is 3 o'clock p.m. and if we were standing here on Cemetery Ridge looking
across the open field toward Seminary Ridge,
we'd see the Confederate battle line had stretched for nearly a mile.
On the left would be Pickett's Virgnians, 6,000 of them.
To the right would be men from South Carolina, Mississippi, Tennessee,
elements of Isaac Trimble and Johnston Pettigrew's divisions.
And for a Union soldier standing here on Cemetery Ridge, these 12,000 men appeared
to be moving all at once across that open ground towards their position.
It became very clear very quickly to those Confederates
that the bombardment did not succeed, because almost the second those 12,000 men are
in the open, Union artillery from Little Round Top to the south to Cemetery Hill
to the north began to open fire, blowing great gaps and holes
in the Confederate battle line as it surged forward.
One Confederate soldier remembered seeing 12 men killed by a single shell and a mangled mass
of flesh and blood, indistinguishable one from the other.
But still, the Confederate attack pushed onward,
the gaps were plugged, and they began to move forward.
Now, ultimately, these Confederates would reach the Emmitsburg Road, which,
just like today, in 1863 had fence lines on either side of it.
And if you're a Confederate soldier and you've reached
that fence line, you have to navigate it.
Most men tried to go over it.
Some tried to knock it down, but it was so well-built they found it nearly impossible.
Some tried to sneak through the rails, and that moment that the Confederates hit the rail fence,
it's almost the same exact moment that Union infantry along Cemetery Ridge and hunkering
down behind the stone wall, rise up and for the first time, lower their rifles and open fire.
[ Gunfire ]
Most of the 12,000 Confederates that began the assault never make it past the Emmitsburg Road.
They never get past that contested point.
And those that do enter the field behind me.
And by this point, all organization is gone and really the men in front
of the Union position are more of a mass, a mob of men, most of the officers are down.
Almost all the brigade commanders have been hit, and for a moment, the Confederate attack stalls.
But then Brigadier General Lewis Armistead,
commanding one of Pickett's brigades, arrives on the scene.
He takes off his hat, skewers it on the end of his sword, holds it up so that the men
around him can see him, and that causes a dash toward the Union battle line.
Armistead had anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 men actually break through the Union position
where the stone wall makes a sharp 90-degree turn or a right angle, and for the briefest
of moments, it appears as though this Confederate assault may actually work.
Confederates have breached the Union line.
Confederates are taking part of Cemetery Ridge itself, but Union reinforcements
from virtually every corner of the battlefield begin to arrive.
Men from Massachusetts and New York push through the Copse of Trees,
see the Confederates to their front and open fire.
Other elements from New York and Pennsylvania rise up on the opposite side of Cemetery Ridge,
see the Confederates, and they too open fire.
And for the Confederates who've broken through the Union battle line, who have that little lodgment
on Cemetery Ridge, it becomes very evident that no reinforcements are coming
across that field to help them out.
So they can surrender and be sent off to a prisoner of war camp.
Maybe they'll live, maybe they won't.
They can retreat, but going back is just as dangerous as -- as is getting here.
Or they can keep fighting and likely they'll be killed.
All told, Pickett's charge or Longstreet's assault,
from beginning to end, only lasted about 45 minutes.
And for those 12,000 Confederates, it was a complete disaster.
Over 50 percent, or over 6,000, are casualties, killed, wounded, missing, or captured.
The survivors stream back to Seminary Ridge and are met by Robert E. Lee
who proclaims the entire disaster was his fault.
And that essentially ends the Battle of Gettysburg.
The next day, the 4th of July, in the driving rain, Robert E. Lee and his Army
of Northern Virginia will begin their long retreat back to the Potomac River.
The Gettysburg Campaign was approaching its end, and this, Gettysburg,
became the first decisive victory the Union Army of the Potomac won over Robert E. Lee
and his Army of Northern Virginia.