40 Fun Facts About George Pickett

Which future president, his widow claimed, secured George Pickett's appointment to West Point?

Abraham Lincoln was only a state legislator at the time and could not nominate cadets; the appointment really came from his law partner, Congressman John T. Stuart.

What does West Point call the cadet who graduates last in the class, as George Pickett did in 1846?

The goat is a backhanded honor for stubbornness and tenacity, and Pickett earned it by finishing 59th of 59 cadets after years of pranks and demerits.

The 1859 San Juan Island standoff where George Pickett led US troops is named for which animal?

A pig shot while rooting in an American settler's garden nearly set two nations at war, and it turned out to be the only casualty of the whole affair.

When Union troops broke his lines on April 1, 1865, George Pickett was away at what kind of meal?

A shad bake hosted by cavalry general Thomas Rosser, who had brought the fish on ice from the Nottoway River, kept Pickett from his troops as they were overrun.

Which personal trademark made George Pickett the talk of the Army of Northern Virginia?

Long perfumed ringlets fell loose over Pickett's shoulders, and he matched them with a tailored uniform, gold spurs and a riding crop he carried everywhere.

Asked why his famous charge failed, whom did George Pickett reportedly say had a hand in it?

The Yankees were Pickett's stock answer to reporters, a dry reminder that the Union defenders, and not only Confederate mistakes, decided the day at Gettysburg.

Which famous cavalryman matched Pickett's feat by graduating last in his West Point class in 1861?

George Custer finished 34th of 34 in the class of 1861, and like Pickett he was rescued from an obscure posting by a war that needed junior officers at once.

Fearing trial for hanging Union prisoners, to which country did George Pickett flee after the war?

Canada sheltered Pickett, his wife and their baby son for about a year, until word came that the investigation into the executions had been dropped.

Facing warships off San Juan Island in 1859, George Pickett vowed to make which battle of it?

Bunker Hill was his model for a defiant stand: with a few dozen soldiers he lined the beach under the guns of a frigate and refused to leave.

After the Civil War, George Pickett tried farming and then earned a living selling what?

Insurance kept him in Norfolk for the rest of his life; Congress lifted his political penalties in 1874, a year before he died there.

Which wounded lieutenant handed George Pickett the colors in Mexico, then led him at Gettysburg?

James Longstreet fell with a thigh wound and passed the flag to his friend; sixteen years later he could only nod when the moment came to send Pickett's men forward.

George Pickett won fame in 1847 by carrying the US flag over the wall of which Mexican castle?

Chapultepec guarded the road into Mexico City, and Pickett fought his way to the palace roof to unfurl the colors, which earned him a brevet promotion to captain.

Which famous Confederate graduated from West Point in 1846 alongside last-placed George Pickett?

Stonewall Jackson ranked 17th of the 59 graduates after starting at the bottom, and classmates said one more year would have put him first.

George Pickett was born in his grandfather's shop in which Virginia city?

Richmond also gave him his last parade: when he was reburied there in 1875, more than 40,000 people lined the route of the funeral procession.

Pickett's Charge crossed nearly a mile of open fields to hit the Union center on which high ground?

Cemetery Ridge was the target after a two-hour cannonade meant to soften its defenders; instead about half of the attackers became casualties.

Which Union general, in command of his army for mere days, repulsed Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg?

George Meade had been appointed just three days before the battle, and on the night before the charge he predicted that Lee would strike his center.

Which of George Pickett's brigadiers crossed the Union wall waving his hat on the tip of his saber?

Lewis Armistead led his brigade to the farthest point the charge reached before he was shot down inside the Union line, and he died two days later in a field hospital.

George Pickett surrendered with Lee's army and was paroled in April 1865 at which Virginia village?

Appomattox Court House saw the remnant of his command form up in the army's final battle line, shrunk by then to roughly the size of a brigade.

Which Union general, an old Army friend, helped end the inquiry that drove George Pickett abroad?

Ulysses S. Grant recommended that the case be dropped, a favor to an old comrade that stirred public controversy and let Pickett come home in 1866.

What was the highest rank George Pickett reached in the Confederate army, awarded in October 1862?

Major general was as high as he rose; the promotion came weeks after he returned from a shoulder wound that had kept him out of action for three months.

Which officer declined George Pickett's 1853 duel challenge, then met his charge at Gettysburg?

Winfield Hancock shrugged off the challenge when the two junior officers crossed paths in Texas; a decade later his II Corps held the center that Pickett's men attacked.

Which firm owned the animal whose shooting sparked George Pickett's 1859 island standoff?

Hudson's Bay Company ran a sheep farm on the island to back Britain's claim, and it wanted the American who fired the shot hauled before a magistrate.

The house George Pickett built as a US Army captain is now the oldest in which Washington city?

Bellingham now covers the bayside spot where he was sent to build a fort; the two-story house, made of lumber from a local mill, is now a museum.

Which charger did George Pickett ride as a Confederate general?

Old Black suited a rider who dressed for show, in a small blue cap, buff gloves and a tailored coat with a double row of gold buttons.

George Pickett missed which great Confederate victory of May 1863 while away besieging Suffolk?

Chancellorsville was won without two First Corps divisions, and Pickett spent part of the quiet Suffolk campaign slipping away to court his future wife.

Which spot on a stone wall, pierced by Pickett's Charge, is the Confederacy's high-water mark?

The Angle was where the leading Virginians got over the wall, but no reinforcements followed and they were quickly killed or captured.

George Pickett was routed in April 1865 in which Virginia battle, after orders to hold at all costs?

Five Forks was the key to the last railroad supplying Petersburg, and its fall made Lee give up the city and begin the retreat that ended in surrender.

What kept George Pickett from hearing a battle begin as he lunched behind his lines in April 1865?

An acoustic shadow, the work of thick pine forest and heavy air, swallowed the gunfire, and his officers could not find him as the attack rolled in.

Which actor, later the villain of Avatar, played George Pickett in the 1993 film Gettysburg?

Stephen Lang said he saw sadness in the general's portraits, and he came back for the 2003 prequel in a different role while Billy Campbell took over as Pickett.

Which Pulitzer-winning Michael Shaara novel features George Pickett leading his doomed charge?

The Killer Angels won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was adapted for the screen in 1993 as the film Gettysburg.

The idealized George Pickett of his widow's books became a hero of which Southern mythology?

The Lost Cause gained its perfect gentleman soldier in her pages; she toured America for three decades and published war letters that historians consider fictionalized.

What became of George Pickett's Gettysburg report, which Lee reportedly rejected as too bitter?

It was never found, and no rewritten version was ever filed, so the general's own account of his most famous day is missing from the official record.

Heading home to join the Confederacy in 1861, where did George Pickett cross between the oceans?

Panama was the fast route: he took a steamer from San Francisco, crossed the isthmus overland, then caught another ship to New York.

Which cousin of George Pickett also graduated last at West Point, one year after him?

Henry Heth finished at the bottom of the class of 1847; his own division, led by another general after he was wounded, also marched in Pickett's Charge.

Which Confederate ranger claimed he told a bitter George Pickett that Lee had made him immortal?

John S. Mosby said the exchange followed a chilly postwar meeting between the two generals, though most historians doubt his version of it.

At which 1862 battle was George Pickett shot off his horse and sidelined for three months?

Gaines's Mill left him with a shoulder wound he feared was mortal; he kept going forward on foot, leading his horse, and his arm stayed stiff for a year.

What nickname was given to the brigade George Pickett led in his first combat command in 1862?

The Gamecocks won Pickett commendations at Williamsburg and Seven Pines; a year later the same brigade crossed the fields at Gettysburg under Richard Garnett.

Which North Carolinian led a division in Pickett's Charge, only to die on the retreat?

Johnston Pettigrew took a hand wound in the assault and was shot again eleven days later in a rearguard fight; some historians now add his name to the charge's.

George Pickett had 22 Union prisoners hanged after failing to capture which North Carolina town?

New Bern stayed in Union hands; many of the condemned said they had served only in the home guard, and the hangings later sent Pickett into exile.

George Pickett's son Jimmy, born to a Native American mother, made his name in which profession?

Newspaper artist was the career of James Tilton Pickett, raised by foster parents in Washington Territory; he illustrated for The Oregonian and died in Portland at 31.