In the bewilderment, thousands of Union soldiers were captured before they could rally on Cemetery Hill, just south of Gettysburg. Long into the night Union troops struggled over their lines while the majority of Meade's army arrived and took positions. On July 3, General Lee decided to push the battle to the Union center on Cemetery Ridge. At one o"clock in the afternoon, the southern artillery unlocked an assault that for a time engaged the massed guns of both sides in a vast gunfight for dominance, but it did not do much to soften up the Union's force. .
The culmination of the Battle of Gettysburg came when General George E. Pickett, in an anxious attempt to evoke the Confederates fractional success of the preceding day, led one of the most inconceivable efforts in military history and to this day: A "massed infantry assault of 15,000 Confederate troops across the open field toward the Union center on Cemetery Ridge. One mile they marched, while being pounded by artillery and rifle fire. Through it all, Pickett's men reached but failed to break the Union line, and the magnificent effort ended in disaster." (Internet Resource 4) The Confederate army charged with true dignity and power, but as they got closer, they realized that defeat was soon to come. They quickly retreated. In fifty minutes, 10,000 in the assault had become casualties, and this famous attack will forever be remembered as Pickets Charge. .
"Well, it is all over now. The battle is lost, and many of us are prisoners, many are dead, many wounded, bleeding and dying. Your Soldier lives and mourns and but for you, my darling, he would rather, a million times rather, be back there with his dead, to sleep for all time in an unknown grave." .
Major General George Pickett, CSA, to his fiancee, July 4, 1863 (Internet Resource 2).
Because of Picket's unforgettable charge, the Union was finally saved; for the first time, the Confederate troops suffered a brutal beating, and the North's triumph served to be the turning point in the war.