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

Maybe Lee found it very difficult to forgive Pickett for Gettysburg. Not because Pickett did anything wrong, but because he was the continual, living, breathing, and apparently somewhat resentful reminder of Lee's tragic mistake.

Armchair psychology to go along with armchair generalship.
 
I'm not following as to why Lee would need to forgive Pickett for anything having to do with Pickett's charge. I'm not sure I'm following this thread very well either.
 
The post is about Pickett forgiving Lee which he never did according to what Iv read, Pickett blamed Lee for the destruction of his entire Division
 
This post is a perfect example of what happens to a perfectly good topic when no one bothers to read it before they answer.

Pattyjo, that's what I've always read, plus the part about Sallie...who I'm sure worried it to death like a terrier.Not sure I wouldn't be the same way, if I adored my husband as she did. (Oops, I do!)

On the other hand, Lee had plenty to feel let down about at Five Forks. (And I'm not sure Matthew doesn't have a very good point. Lee would never admit it, but somewhere in the back of his mind, it must have been a nagging thought).
 
General Lee rode out to meet the men returning from Pickets Charge. He stated to them that the failed attack was his fault not thiers. General Lee even offered his resignation to Davis. Just look at human behavior today how often do you see anyone take responsibility for thier actions and decisions when things go wrong? Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan comes to mind. If you really want to study someone's strength and character take note of how they deal with failures and setbacks not just victories. I also credit those who did some of thier best work when things were going badly like Stuart, Hampton, and others at Brandy Station and even Sheridan at Cedar Creek or Thomas at Chickamauga. Even in defeat there are heroes who lend great service and hold the enemy back or demonstrate boldly that pressing and pursuing them hard is much less than cost effective look at some of Forrest's work in such scenarios. At the same time I fault Grant for not asking Lee for a truce sooner after his disasterous attack at Cold Harbor. Those were his men lying in agony and bleeding out and I suspect Grant allowed his ego or pride to delay what he should have done sooner. That Grant finally did ask for and receive a truce speaks well for him despite the delay and I'll bet that day haunted General Grant for the rest of his life also. Remember back then asking for a truce was often considered admitting defeat.
 
I'm not following as to why Lee would need to forgive Pickett for anything having to do with Pickett's charge. I'm not sure I'm following this thread very well either.

The first post was actually about Five Forks, not Pickett's Charge. But I needed to do a little amateur headshrinking.
 
I read once of a post war social event in Virginia that might have even been some type of reunion for the ANV where a young southern belle or maybe it was several of them walked about the party asking former Confederate officers why they thought the south lost the war. When this question was asked of General Pickett he replied "I always felt the yankees had something to do with it." For the life of me I can't remember which book I read contained this quote but this happened after the war at an event that was very pro Confederate yet someone there recorded Pickett's answer. As brief an answer that it was it tells me the former Confederate General was less than willing to indulge in lenghty if only this one had or that one had not, or had I been allowed to posturing or blame that he felt the young ladies hoped he would give.
 
Yes, I've read that too. I'm remembering, "I believe General Meade had something to do with it." But I'm not sure.
 
Diane, ma'am;

You wrote:
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.

Has that report, General Pickett submitted, that Lee rejected ever turn up? If so where?

M. E. Wolf
 
No, to the best of my knowledge nobody has ever seen Pickett's missing battle report. Sallie claimed to have it, and wrote some things using it as support, but she never produced the actual report. It would seem that, after her death, it would be among her effects if she had it. So, there has always been a question as to whether or not the report was even kept by her husband after it was rejected by Lee. Pickett might have torn it up for all we know!
 
However, Pickett also did Lee wrong at the battle of Five Forks. I am sure Lee ultimately forgave Pickett. His behavior at Five Forks was atrocious. I would not be so quick to forgive him for his conduct at Five Forks. The height of irresponsibility.

Lee didn't forgive Pickett for Five Forks, although Lee never said a word about Fitz Lee being at the same shad bake.
 
I'm not sure that Lee's opinion of Pickett's performance at Five Forks had anything to do with the Pickett being defeated there. After all, Lee had warned Davis that his lines couldn't be extended further, and eventually they would break. Lee would have expected that perhaps the railroad would have been captured, and that Pickett would have rallied enough of his troops to make a stand while the rest of the army prepares to evacuate Petersburg (and Richmond), buying perhaps a day or two of time.

As for the shad bake, Lee didn't know about the shad bake until some time later (I've forgotten about when Lee actually learned of this). Lee was too busy after Five Forks to conduct much of an investigation.

I think what really hit Lee about Five Forks was that the Union troops were allowed to roll up the ANV right without any warning from Picket that the flank had been turned. Lee's first clear warning came from escaping Confederate soldiers and Union skirmishers appearing in the yard of the very house where Lee had his headquarters. The resulting confusion, along with Grant's orders of a general charge, had the effect of depriving Lee of yet another corps commander, A.P. Hill, who was shot when he ran into Union soldiers while trying to find his own men. To Lee, a general officer's failure to inform the army commander of such a threat to the army's position was inexcusable.
 
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