The charge simply didn't include enough Confederate soldiers to win. They were wise to retreat when they did. We next evaluated how many soldiers the Confederate charge would have needed to succeed. Lee put nine infantry brigades, more than 10,000 men, in the charge. He kept five more brigades back in reserve.

Why was Pickett's Charge a mistake?

Though Pickett received the majority of the blame for the blunder of the charge, he was acting under orders from superior officers. Often Longstreet is forgotten as the main player and orchestrator of the deadly charge. Longstreet later reflected on the mistakes made to Lieutenant Colonel Fremantle.

Who did General Lee blame for the failure of Pickett's Charge?

Lee told the men trudging past him "It is my fault," but in his three official reports on the battle and in the postwar years, he never repeated those words and generally implied the failure was due to others. Many in the South placed the blame on Longstreet, although he had strenuously argued against the plan.