At Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, Confederate soldiers launched one of historys most famous infantry assaults: Picketts Charge. Using the participants own words, Richard Rollins deftly reconstructs that momentous event. Separate sections cover planning and preparation; the preliminary artillery barrage; the charges of Picketts, Pettigrews, and Trimbles Divisions; and defensive actions up and down the Federal line. From the generals who devised the assault to the lower-level officers and men who bravely walked through shell and shot, Rollins offers a comprehensive, panoramic view of the charge, with more than 150 firsthand accountsincluding accounts from Lee, Longstreet, Pickett, Meade, and Hancockmany of them long forgotten and previously unpublished.