Monday 9 August 2021

1403) George E. Pickett

George Edward Pickett (1825 – 1875). United States Army officer who became a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He is best remembered for being one of the commanders at Pickett's Charge, the futile and bloody Confederate offensive on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg that bears his name.

Following the war, Pickett feared prosecution for his execution of deserters and temporarily fled to Canada. An old Army friend, Ulysses S. Grant, interceded on his behalf, and he returned to Virginia in 1866. He could not rejoin the Army, so he tried his hand at farming, then selling insurance. He died at age 50 in July 1875 from an "abscess of the liver".
Pickett made a colorful general. He rode a sleek black charger named "Old Black," and wore a small blue kepi-style cap, with buffed gloves over the sleeves of an immaculately tailored uniform that had a double row of gold buttons on the coat, and shiny gold spurs on his highly polished boots. He held an elegant riding crop whether mounted or walking. His moustache drooped gracefully beyond the corners of his mouth and then turned upward at the ends. His hair was the talk of the Army: "long ringlets flowed loosely over his shoulders, trimmed and highly perfumed, his beard likewise was curling and giving up the scent of Araby."
 
- "... his long, dark auburn hair floating backward in the wind..." https://themossback.tripod.com/soldiers/pickett.htm
 
- "... his jaunty cap raked well over his right ear, and his long auburn locks nicely dressed, hanging almost to his shoulders." http://www.civilwar.si.edu/leaders_pickett.html
 
- "He wore his hair so long that his auburn locks almost touched his shoulders..." https://books.google.it/books?id=3l4UEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT199...
 
- "Looking this way, with his auburn hair cascading in corkscrew ringlets..." https://books.google.it/books?id=Nj8k8yILKYEC&pg=PT588...
 

 

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