George Pickett was a career United States Army officer who joined the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War to serve his home state Virginia. He is best known for 'Pickett's Charge', the disastrous attack on the Union Army on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, even though the offensive was ordered by General Robert E. Lee and commanded by Major General James Longstreet. As he was the only prominent Virginian officer involved, his participation was glorified by the state media in a way similar to how his whole life will be mythicized by his widowed wife following his death. Pickett, who graduated last in his class, reached the rank of Captain serving in the United States Army and went on to become a Major General for the Confederacy. Known as a tragic figure due to several failures, he had served with distinction in the Battle of Chapultepec during the Mexican-American War and in the Peninsula Campaign.
