Let's acknowledge that Pickett's historical reputation is based on the famous charge. But in reality, Pickett only had direct command over his own three Virginia brigades, which actually achieved the greatest success of the nine brigades that were directly involved in the assault. Pickett had little control over the artillery barrage, or the actions of the supporting forces on the flanks. Otherwise, Pickett was a respectable, if not spectacular, division commander throughout the war, and at Dinwiddie Courthouse, helped delay the Union flank attack on the Petersburg lines. The subsequent Union onslaught at Five Forks would have been difficult for any confederate commander to overcome. But Pickett gets a bum rap for his absence at the shad bake, which probably did not make any difference to the battle, but certainly caused a perception problem for Pickett. Ironically, historians have been skeptical of Pickett's accomplishments because of the inflated image of Pickett created by his wife, LaSalle Corbell.
Excellent post, I like the point you raise about Five Forks being difficult for any confederate commander to overcome and on that point I’d have to agree, however, we have to concede that the whole situation could have been avoided had Pickett paid more attention in preparing his defences. He apparently made no attempt to request reinforcements despite the fact that he had enough intelligence reports telling him how precarious his situation was, he also appears to have ignored or at least miscalculated any problems that the three mile distance between himself and the main confederate line could potentially cause him. I understand that he ordered a small cavalry force to cover that gap and in some respects that makes sense in that the cavalry could react speedily but it clearly wouldn’t have been enough to hold a determined attacking force for any reasonable length of time, perhaps Pickett was using the small cavalry force as an early warning system.
I personally think that Pickett believed that he had everything in place, like I said in an earlier post, he probably felt that nothing was going to happen anytime soon (and it didn’t) and he obviously believed that his men were well dug in and that everything was under control. He would have known that his flanks were secure or he would have at least made that assumption.
Another point, we really can’t be sure what verbal orders Pickett gave prior to his absence, again I find it difficult to believe that he wouldn’t have issued orders with some kind of contingency plan. It’s alleged that he didn’t tell his subordinates that he would be absent but then if he’d given orders which covered any potential problems then he probably believed that he wouldn’t be missed, I’d like to know how the couriers knew where to find him given that he hadn’t told anyone that he’d be disappearing for a few hours.
I don’t think he can be blamed for not hearing the ensuing battle given that he was in an area which deadened the sound of battle, I’ll leave it to others to argue that he either should or shouldn’t have been at a Shad bake. I’m struggling with the idea that he ignored several couriers which came with warnings of the enemy advance, it makes absolutely no sense to me that Pickett would continue to remain at the Shadbake with the knowledge that his position was being attacked, again, do we know what the content of those messages from the couriers were.
I can think of many famous battles where commanding officers have taken themselves away from their line for various reasons and every single one of them made sure that everything was in place and I see no reason given his experience why Pickett would have been any different.
And finally...I’m going to give Pickett the benefit of doubt, I reckon he did what he could with what he had at his disposal, he obviously had confidence in his men and officers and I’d argue that if he’d remained with his men rather than leaving the outcome wouldn’t have been any different. It’s just a shame that he didn’t stay with his men and eat hardtack, if he had then Five Forks would have been seen as a good effort.