This scene depicts Pickett's Charge, which Bachelder reported was "the high water mark of the Confederacy." On July 3rd, 1863 General Robert E. Lee ordered Lt. Gen. Longstreet and his commanders (including Pickett) to assault Union General Meade's positions on Cemetery Ridge. Approximately 12,500 Confederate soldiers marched across open fields in an attempt to breach the Union lines, but were ultimately repulsed and suffered a 50% casualty rate. While the war would continue for another two years, the Confederates never launched another offensive campaign. Engraved by H.B. Hall Jr. and based upon a much larger painting by James Walker under the supervision of Bachelder.

John Bachelder was a portrait and landscape painter, lithographer, and photographer. During the Civil War he accompanied the Army of the Potomac and made many sketches of military life and important battles. He is best known as the historian of the Battle of Gettysburg and was a dominant factor in the preservation of the Gettysburg Battlefield.

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Condition: B+

A crisp impression on very thick paper with some scattered faint foxing in the image. There are a few damp stains and minor soiling confined to the blank margins, and some staining on the verso from an earlier frame that does not show through.