Pickett's Charge, a Confederate infantry assault during the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, is often called the high water mark of the Confederacy because it marked their deepest push into the Union line in the North. Roughly 12,500 Confederate soldiers advanced across open fields toward the Union center on Cemetery Ridge and took devastating artillery and rifle fire as they closed in. The attack collapsed with heavy casualties, crushing Confederate hopes of winning a decisive victory in the North and forcing General Robert E. Lee to retreat to Virginia.
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