Lee Pickett I have read many times that Pickett never forgave Lee for Gettysburg....

However, I am sure Lee ultimately forgave Pickett. I would not be so quick to forgive him for his conduct at Five Forks. The height of irresponsibility.

Why should Lee forgive Pickett for the Charge? Shouldn't it have been the other way around. Lee did accept the blame for ordering the charge.

About Five Forks, you are correct, but then, Tom Rosser and the younger Lee were also involved in the shad bake - Pickett was not alone.
 
Why should Lee forgive Pickett for the Charge? Shouldn't it have been the other way around. Lee did accept the blame for ordering the charge.

About Five Forks, you are correct, but then, Tom Rosser and the younger Lee were also involved in the shad bake - Pickett was not alone.

No, I am saying that Lee probably forgave Pickett for Five Forks. He didn't do his duty at Five Forks.

Pickett himself held a grudge against Lee for Gettysburg.
 
No, I am saying that Lee probably forgave Pickett for Five Forks. He didn't do his duty at Five Forks.

Pickett himself held a grudge against Lee for Gettysburg.

Okay, I misinterpreted your OP. Pickett was fired after Five Forks, but so should have Rosser and the younger Lee (I forgot which one). It was the younger Lee who invited Pickett to the shad bake.
 
I've always chuckled about Shelby Foote's story about Lee and Pickett. Lee relieved him of command but the order never reached him. One day Pickett came riding by Lee's tent all aglitter with his perfumed ringlets flying. Lee glowered at him and murmured, "Is that man still with the army?" George Pickett was one of Lee's many cousins, by the way.

Then there was the little scene only Mosby relates. Pickett and Mosby had visited Lee and, according to Mosby, it was an uncomfortable visit. As they walked away, Pickett burst out, "That old man massacred my division at Gettysburg!" Mosby, who wasn't much for a whiner, replied, "Well, at least it made you famous!" A friend of the family, a Miss Stiles, reports a different meeting - she was present when Pickett and Mosby visited and detected no hard feelings on either side. There may have been a bit of stiffness on Lee's part but Pickett should not have taken it personally although he couldn't have known the real reason for Lee's somewhat cold demeanour - he had been told that day by a doctor that he was dying.

No, Pickett did not forgive Lee for the charge but the one who REALLY didn't forgive him was Sallie (LaSalle) Corbell Pickett! She spent the rest of her life defending her husband like a mama bear, and was a popular speaker. She died in 1931. She claimed to have Pickett's mysteriously missing report of the battle that Lee is said to have rejected, but never produced it.
 
I've always chuckled about Shelby Foote's story about Lee and Pickett. Lee relieved him of command but the order never reached him. One day Pickett came riding by Lee's tent all aglitter with his perfumed ringlets flying. Lee glowered at him and murmured, "Is that man still with the army?" George Pickett was one of Lee's many cousins, by the way.

Then there was the little scene only Mosby relates. Pickett and Mosby had visited Lee and, according to Mosby, it was an uncomfortable visit. As they walked away, Pickett burst out, "That old man massacred my division at Gettysburg!" Mosby, who wasn't much for a whiner, replied, "Well, at least it made you famous!" A friend of the family, a Miss Stiles, reports a different meeting - she was present when Pickett and Mosby visited and detected no hard feelings on either side. There may have been a bit of stiffness on Lee's part but Pickett should not have taken it personally although he couldn't have known the real reason for Lee's somewhat cold demeanour - he had been told that day by a doctor that he was dying.

No, Pickett did not forgive Lee for the charge but the one who REALLY didn't forgive him was Sallie (LaSalle) Corbell Pickett! She spent the rest of her life defending her husband like a mama bear, and was a popular speaker. She died in 1931. She claimed to have Pickett's mysteriously missing report of the battle that Lee is said to have rejected, but never produced it.

Sallie's writings were suspect at best, fabrications at worst.
 
Why should Lee forgive Pickett for the Charge? Shouldn't it have been the other way around. Lee did accept the blame for ordering the charge.

About Five Forks, you are correct, but then, Tom Rosser and the younger Lee were also involved in the shad bake - Pickett was not alone.


There is the contributing issue of the acoustical shadow which kept them from hearing the battle. Had they heard the battle, their indiscretion might have gone unnoticed.
 
There is the contributing issue of the acoustical shadow which kept them from hearing the battle. Had they heard the battle, their indiscretion might have gone unnoticed.

Still it smacks of being unconcerned, especially given the dire straits of the ANV at the time.
 
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