Who's charging, anyway?

infomanpa

1st Lieutenant
Joined
Feb 18, 2017
Location
Pennsylvania
I understand why the term, "Pickett's Charge," isn't accurate, but why do current writers use the awkward, "Pickett, Pettigrew, Trimble Charge?" Would't it be less wordy to simply call it "Longstreet's Charge?" My understanding is that he was totally in command of all 3 divisions.
 
Well, some sources refer to it as Longstreet's Assault. Certainly it's referred to as such at the High Water Mark monument in Gettysburg...

http://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2013_05_01_archive.html

high+water+mark.jpg
 
Pickett's Charge suffices, I don't think we need to parade knowing that other divisions were involved by using another, clumsier name for the event. If you say "Pickett's Charge" people who know what you're talking about know what you're talking about, know what I mean?
Well...true, but along the way, we've made it difficult for the neophytes to grasp: Antietam/Sharpsburg, Bull Run/Manassas, Chaplin Hills/Perryville, Stones River/Murfreesboro, Fair Oaks/Seven Pines, South Mountain/Boonesboro, Pea Ridge/Elkhorn Tavern, etc.
 
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