Civil War 1863 - Gettysburg Pickett's Charge 

film-making at its very best

Very good film my dad was in this he was a union

​@@washingtonsquare113 se

I agree, this is good acting and displaying. The rebel yell before the charge was frightening.

It's simply an unbelievably detailed and amazing reenactment👌

Who?

Stonewall died June 19 1863 or we would have won

@@brandonbentley4677 you make that sound like it would have been a good thing... He wasn't undefeatable and lost at Kernstown. In the end the BEST he could have done was delayed the inevitable.

Brandon Bentley I do believe he would have taken the high found.

@@CaesarCassius Albert Henry Woolson (February 11, 1850 - August 2, 1956) was the last known surviving member of the Union Army who served in the American Civil War; he was also the last surviving Civil War veteran on either side whose status is undisputed.

A

The movie studios could learn a thing or two from these re-enactors they managed to include a lot of the reality of the blood and gore of Pickets charge which would have been the same for every other large scale battle of the American civil war.The re-enactors even managed to include fake arms and legs with fake blood looking the real thing and they would had a much smaller budget than any Hollywood movie studio,the movie Gettysburg lacked the reality of war namely the blood and gore plus the bodies of thousands of dead soldiers. The Hollywood studios way too much sanitise their war movies when it comes to the American civil war .

Thank you for your reply to my comment. All the best to you From Co Cork Ireland 🇮🇪.

There were alot of Irish men who fought in the Civil War...the most famous on the Union side was the New York 69th Infantry, but was later called the "Fighting 69th" 🇮🇪 It comprised of 5 Regiments; 63rd New York Infantry, 69th New York Infantry, 88th New York Infantry, 29th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (formally) 28th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, 116th Pennsylvania Infantry... Years active September 1861 to July 1865 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🍀🍀🍀 The Irish Brigade was known in part for its famous war cry, the, "Faugh a Ballaugh", which means "Clear the Way ". Of all Union Army brigades, none suffered more combat dead than the Irish Brigade during Americas Civil War...😔🇮🇪🍀🇺🇸 On the Confederate side was the 10th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, it was lead by Colonel Randall McGavock, an Irish-American. It was formed in Nashville on April 1861, it's the only known Irish Brigade in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.. Also fighting for the Confederate Army was Irish-American Major General Patrick Cleburne, who was the highest ranking Irish born Confederate General...🇮🇪🍀 He was born in County Cork, he had served in the British Army before purchasing his discharge and emigrating to the United States in 1849. Those brave and courageous Irishmen who fought on both sides of the Civil War deserve our respect and our admiration for their sacrifices...💗💗💗

Agree hope it never happen again

amen

Well, the liberals in this country are coming close to our country repeating a civil war! 😒🇺🇸

Yes, anyone who visits Gettysburg will learn a lot from starting at the Virginia Monument of Seminary Ridge and walking over to the High Water Mark. Nothing beats walking the terrain for yourself.

Confederate dead were left on the field to be eaten by feral hogs. The remains were digested and excreted on the battlefield.

When you look at the terrain, including the road and TWO RAIL FENCES that the Confederates had to negotiate, you have to wonder what Lee was thinking. I've always been amazed that they made it as far as they did. Realize it was only due to the number of troops massed in that Confederate advance.

All the blood that was spilled

The reason is because of the positions, the Confederates had no cover, the American troops did. Both sides were equally brave, but in this specific battle it took more courage to charge into the open like that.

@@davidca96 Looking back at the battle, the Confederates might have been ‘brave’ but suicidal (charging your enemy in an open field)! Never could understand the Generals strategy of fighting this type of war (charging an enemy in an open field).

@@brucedeerhaven absolutely mad what was Lee thinking ? Should have concentrated on opening up the sea blockade.and fought a defensive war.

@john Mullholand And then the Confederates in the open field were exposed to cannon fire. What kind of fighting strategy was that? Confederacy could have won the war if they won a few of the major battles & a lot of ifs!

@john Mullholand Yes, you are correct! Always wondered why the Confederate army did not fight like the “Swamp Fox” - using guerrilla war tactics!

56th Virginia.

Garnett did not have the 51st Virginia under his command.

Lucky to be captured? There were horrible conditions in civil war prisons on both sides. I hope they were traded or paroled

@@robertschultz6922 Yeah, truth, Mr. Schultz. I've read some of the deplorable conditions both sides prison camps P.O.Ws had to endure😕

Quite a background. You should be proud. Saylor's Creek was a real debacle, with the artillery being sent off on an alternate route. Perhaps if they had been available, things would have turned out differently and Lee would not have been moved to say, "My God, has this army been dissolved?"

Courage? More like foolishness and blind devotion to stupid authority figures like Lee

Sorry but it’s his fault if he volunteered. Going into a war zone then complain?

Nobody gives a shit.This is the internet not your family's dinner table

​@@eddiehoes8481 Who said anything about complaining - learn to read

@@eddiehoes8481 At what point did this person say that their great grandfather complained?

You can’t see cannon balls landing though, it’s not like CGI in films

But true..

Me embarga una infinita emoción al ver estás escenas,(09:44),...Me llena mi corazon y alma, de mucha admiración y respeto, por estos hombres.... ¡Dios mio..¡Que hombres tan valientes.!!...Que Dios les tenga en el mejor lugar de su descanso eterno....

This part of the civil war fascinates me

Yep, was just there this past 4th of July weekend standing on Little Round Top, looking down on the Devil's Den and the Slaughter Pen, and across at the field where Pickett's charge began, its a sobering experience, a place everyone should try to visit

@@HHCKY67 I remember being on little round top looking across the field aswell but the main thing I remember thinking about when I was up there was the movie Gettysburg and seeing how steep it actually was and thinking no wonder that attack failed.

@@HHCKY67 It certainly is an experience of a lifetime to stand on 1 of those hallowed battleground sites and comtemplate the mindsets of the men who fought there so long ago, sir

@@HHCKY67 I did that several times up on Little Round Top. Being from Central Maine, Little Round Top is surely a special Place to me. Using my imagination I could see myself, From behind the trees firing my rifle as a Yankee down the hill and imagine as a Rebel from behind the rocks shooting uphill. It can really get to you with a little imagination. After the charge downhill, it's suddenly over. Our part anyways. The place still rings in my ears. The smoke still stings my nose. My eyes still see the wounded and the dead. I'm hungry. I'm tired. Thirsty and I smell. So sweaty from the humid air. Not sure where the blood on my pants came from, but it's not mine, I don't think so anyway. But I sure am tired. Now the Sargent is saying we got to take the prisoners up to the top of that other bigger, taller hill we just came from and hold them there. I'm not even sure where the Hell I am...but I got to help this wounded guy climb up there. Gonna be a long night. All I hear is groaning and crying in the distance and shots still being fired. The top of the hill is small and crowded with about maybe three hundred of us. Yankee and Southern boys. Lots of the Rebels ain't got no shoes. This Lieutenant walks up to me and says I got watch duty and to stay alert. I get a little coffee and an Alabama boy offers to trade some tobacco for a sip of my coffee. Hell yeah. Good chew it was. Anyways most folks from both sides was soon sleeping by then. I get relieved after a couple hours and get some sack time. I used a flat rock as a head rest. I was so tired it felt like a feather pillow. I looked at the stars through the trees, happy to still be alive, thought about my Mom and Then I was out. I don't like to think about the next day anymore...

MikeEgypte War is where hero’s are born and the innocent die, it is the best of us and the worst of us. It can wrap us within its grip of death and produce both a sense of awe and also despair. There are never any winners there are just those who have lost less. Death smiles when the drums of war beat for its lust for the blood of men can never be quenched and we seem to never fail to provide it. The true sign of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again with the expectation that the result will be different. Perhaps that is the reason that humanity has soaked this earth in blood and will continue to do it until there is not a drop left to spill!

Those involved in the charge were mostly just walking and getting cut to pieces by artillery and rifle fire instead of fighting.

Those were the days of lead bullets.

MikeEgypte ryyt

MikeEgypte eeeeeeeertyuqwdg6it

sh- lee should hav been arrested there and then by longstreet and Longstreet should hav talken over Con army cause lee was sectretly trying too destroy Virginia army

@@seanodwyer8691you mind not obnoxiously using spsces

Yes, can you imagine the smell. Temperatures in the upper 80's or 90's. Dead horses and humans. Makes a person hungry.

@@moonmunsterI found the disrespectful person

i've done gettysburg many times. although 155th will be my last. i just can't stand gac.

I did the 154th and 155th. With 1st ANV Artillery. I may do a foot soldier next year. Cannon placement was bad this year. Couldn’t see nothing.

You know what flag represents it a battle flag not confederete

My sister and girl friend and me was in the movie Gettysburg my sister and girlfriend were in Confederate uniform all three of us was in Pickett's Charge but thank you for your Confederate service God bless the Confederate States of America

@@robertsilva8097 I don't agree with the Confederate States, but I admire your dedication. I have done some reenactment myself, and I hope that you felt the same sense of history.

I have heard that Gettysburg's battlefield has an eerie feel to it.. Did you notice that at all while there?? 😔

@@OrbitFallenAngel there has been paranormal activity associated with the battlefield.

@@southeasternindianaoutdoor9209 I can only imagine...all those deaths...its no wonder...with all of the sudden and brutal bloody deaths of all those men!! 😞

@@OrbitFallenAngel There's much energy on the Gettysburg battlefield present to this very day, sir. So many souls of the men killed there are what's causing it with their perpetual unrest

@@michaelvaughn8864 Do you think that those souls would want to cross over with some help from a medium or psychic?? 🤔 Or do they simply want to stay there forever on the Battlefield...??

but it keeps happening with deadlier weapons!

I have seen that bloody mile of ground and cannot begin to imagine the horror. My great great grandfather was a POW. May we never whence we have come.

Could you imagine looking and seeing that. Um theory ghosts fighting again

You need to watch ParalightWorx

Maybe they were given permission to record a re-enactment for this video.

Reynaldo Flores So the whole operation would start with a massive barrage. It was meant to dislodge the union and draw their fire. It only dislodged them. They held their fire until the confederates stopped, all because an artillery officer thought something might happen. Upon ceasing the firing (which was short as they didn't have enough ammo), the infantry were to "charge" whilst the artillery was coming back, and use the canon smoke as some cover for a bit. Well a few interesting things happened which actually caused this to fail. Lee thought Meade would reinforce the flanks, as Lee had attacked them the prior day. So the centre would be weak. Meade strengthened the centre because he that's what he thought lee would do. The artillery officer, at the start of the barrage went all down the ridge and commanded no one to fire back until he said to. This was essential in why the charge failed, instead of walking into unmaned and spent positions, the positions were ready to return superior fire before they even started out. The charge also started too late. After the Reb firing stopped, the men were called to charge but didn't start going until the union started firing back. Only one section I believe took the field, they were suppose to make the line and reinforcements would come behind. The reinforcements didn't take to the field. The Rebs made the line. And got over the wall and started fighting but at that time, union reinforcements that were called when the barrage started, arrived and pushed them out. With no reinforcements, they couldn't hold and they had to retreat. That plan wasn't crazy. It had been done to varying effect all throughout the war. This was no different except it caused close to 2,000 casualties in 50 minutes and it was Lee who commanded it.

@@tobyoneil1969 Wow. I'm real impressed. Are you a history professor? Or perhaps a military man? Anyway, I am neither, so thank you for your input. Very comprehensive. But to make it simple, why didn't the Rebel commanders, when confronted with the blizzard of Union fire, order their men to advance in successive waves, with one wave providing cover fire for the advancing waves? And when the enemy fire became almost intolerable, why was the order to get down and take cover not given. They just went on and on, literally just target practice for the Federal gunners and infantry. This would've at least increased their chances of survival and success, and made the charge less suicidal.

Reynaldo Flores I believe wave attacks would make it slow going and increase the casualties. It ties into your second point. It was open terrain, so nowhere to take cover. The force has to advance to at least 500 feet to have a chance of shooting the enemy, then stand there and provide cover for a wave out in the open. I don't see either tactic working. Also the Rebs were going up hill. So they might've eventually gotten directly in front of their covering fire. The best bet of it working was moving as one big unit and getting real close then breaking into shooing squads to cover those going over the centre. Get real close so the artillery couldn't hit. Then pin down the union behind the wall as the men break through. Those outside the wall could provide cover for a retreat if necessary. But alas that didn't happen as too many fell before that point, which all tied into lack of cover fire and being late to the field. I'm not an academic but I have spent a considerable amount of time looking at the civil war. And Gettysburg is very important.

Walking in the open like that was negligent. The commanders didn’t have the creativity to do anything different.

Ya

The recreation is weak at best imagine a 22inch oak cut in half by small arms fire one of many that remain at the battlefield described as sounding like a swarm of bees this isn't counting any of the artillery war sucks

Neither can I.

Daniel Cline Gee whiz. Sorry this doesn’t meet your impossibly high standards for a modestly budgeted short film Civil War re-enactment.

You missed the point why would you reenact the most horrid thing americans ever did to each other maybe we should get together with the japanese and the koreans and the germans and the vietnamese and act out some of that shit too reenacting murder is not learning from history

Charles Saint nice 👍🏻 that seems fun that probably why he had a simile

One of the very few bloopers of this reenactment. If they were not acting but it was Battle of Gettysburg for real, the poor b**tards would not be smiling.....and I mean both, bluecoats AND greycoats...(Yes, I say greycoats even if a lot of Confederates seem to be on civilian clothes for some reason)

@@Cybernaut76 the reason is actually pretty simple. The south may have had cotton, but they used most of their resources for guns, as a result many confederate soldiers were not given uniforms, and some didn’t even get rifles and shoes. Meanwhile the north had a massive industry and lots of iron and steel, as a result the north was able to purchase and produce rifles and in this case, uniforms far more then the south (the Union also produced more shoes). But with that being said due to how many people died during the battles, quite a few Union troops also weren’t given shoes and rifles; but with that being said not as much as the CSA, which had entire militias of troops without shoes and proper uniforms.

For the ghosts the war never ended

What's goin on Cody viewer?

Such brave and courageous young men! God Bless them all and God Rest their Souls. 💗 I pray that they have found peace..😔💗 This charge should have never ever happened!! So many men obliterated because General Lee wouldn't listen to General Longstreet..

I saw a ghastly picture looking from the perspective of the canoniers. Hundreds of boots with legs cut off near the thighs and kneecaps. I dont want to imagine what lay further down.

Now we have the direct descendant of it, called "Bee Hive".

Reading accounts of it by veterans describes the red mist of blood in the air, and the unspeakable horror of seeing all sorts of body parts flying. Sadly, the survivors were haunted by their memories for life, and some went mad. The psychiatric help for these men was nowhere near what it is today, poor fellows!

Each canister held 30 golf ball sized steel balls.... Hell, unleashed..

@Golden Frog more like 12 gauge on steroids

horseman528 this is Gettysburg but yee

Mr. Moleratucas man lll, Don't understand your comment, but best to you.

If stonewall lived nobody would know where Gettysburg is we wouldn't fit there

We would have won

horseman528 No body hates the confederate soldiers. It what they fought for that is hateful.

Glad you found our channel and thanks for the comment.

"I can not spare this man... becuase he fights!" Abraham Lincoln

Lee was totally committed to his cause and he did not take unnecessary risks unless he had to. But this charge is his biggest mistake, he should have listened to Longstreet.

Nathan Rodriguez, there never was a more qualified, more dedicated,braver army in history than those boys that wore the gray

bcwest56 I dont think Lee respected Longstreets opinion, if Stonewall had been there it may have been different

Dale Johnson, if Stonewall would have been there it WOULD have been different, everyone agrees on that. It prolly would have been over on day one cuz he would have captured Culp's Hill...

Battle of Eylau - plenty of militaries at that time launched terrible frontal assaults that ended in slaughter to include Napoleon. What's even more surprising is how many times in the Civil War this actually worked. Entire divisions/armies would melt away under a charge (or threat of one) and then stand and fight it out on another day.

To make it even worse, just months earlier the Confederates had decimated the Union forces during the Charge at Marie's Heights at Fredericksburg, where the topography and positions were the same but the sides reversed. Lee, having witnessed that, should have realized that it would end about as well for him as it did for the Union.

@@Stardweller1 So Lee had plently of information how bad this charge could be. He'd had terrible losses at Antietam and saw what happened at Fredericksburg, also Longstreet had been very clear about his opposition to this suicidal charge. It was all Lee's fault, but thousands of Virginians died because of his stubborn decision.

I've been to some reenactments this is the best I've ever seen personally

Chelley Sometimes it does not matter what an average person might think. In the end, it is always the rich and wealthy who can influence the politics and guide the flow of the country, and in the case of the Confedracy, it is the slave owners who has the wealth to do so. That being said, I do believe that most of the soldiers and General Lee himself joined the Confedracy because they love their homeland and have the sense of duty to protect it. The Confedracy claim that they are fighting for their way of life, but when you really look at it, the lives of an average Southerner and a Yankee is not so different, even after the war. The only actual difference after the war is that slavery is banned throughout the US and the only people who would be affected are the slave owners. This war could have probably been avoided in the first place if certain individuals in the Confedracy did not grow to their power and wealth that made them who they are in the first place.

You are correct that Lee had no intention of fighting at Gettysburg. Neither did General Meade for that matter. However it was the result of (For lack of better terms) Union cavalry accidentally running into General Heaths Confederate infantry. It was Union General John Buford who decided to fight at Gettysburg.

I been there before back in 1974

@@shaun5328 Lee and other slaveowners who led the confederacy gave no thought to the people. Their love was for their power over the South rather than for the people or the land itself, as the land was largely spent and had been exploited, overfarmed. The war was for the ability to extend slavery and continue on to new, fresh land foist the Slave Codes for blacks and abysmally poor existence for poor whites, about 95% of the population. This is why there was no support from Britain for their effort; it would have been slash and burn agriculture of virgin soil in Cuba and Central America plus extension of slavery throughout.

Chelly, the poor will, and always have fought the wars that the wealthy have started ,to gain more power, money, land ,oil,name it. The poor are the pawns to the War Pigs.

@Megan O not here to argue with you or anyone about our history i'm just presenting my opinion about what I feel regarding our country's history. We can't change it only can try not to repeat it like I said. I do honor the poor souls that died in that horrible war BOTH SIDES.

@@don1985don nobody honours Nazis. And slavery isn’t coming back.

@Lefty Labeau ..... You're high on whatever crack they have in the South.

Wonderful comment

@@nowthisnamestaken I also had a great Uncle who lost a leg at Shiloh. He went back to the KFC for another one.

And yet the people this war freed are still bitter against white people. Prejudice works both ways.

They aren't bitter at all white people, only the ones that espouse white supremacy

@@bcwest56 are you completely ignorant of what happens ESPECIALLY in the South but in the North as well for the time since for not only freed, and emancipated black people?? But Hispanics in Texas, NM, Nevada, California?? Jim Crow laws, segregation, persecution, lynching, burning, robbery of property? Even General Sherman despised black people. Most of Congress that passed the Amendments after the Civil War did so only to make black, Indian, and other non-whites EQUAL UNDER THE LAW. Not full equality in all matters. That is still in progress.

I have read and known soldier/poets that lament this so much and the only ones who seem justified are the ones forced to go. But those who joined willingly for whatever reason it would seem a hollow lament since in their hearts they looked forward to the grand adventure and had no doubt in their hearts. To look to the heavens and shout why? is a lie told by one who willingly went to inflict misery for his beliefs. It is a lament of one who failed in his fantasy.

Scorchio!

LOL Trump

@Doug Bevins although I agree with you we should never blame the soldiers.

@Doug Bevins And you don't think American soldiers have committed atrocities? It's easy to sit there and criticize when you have never been through the hell of Combat before. It's well known combat can break men down into animals. Blame the leaders, not the soldiers.

@Doug Bevins No. I stand completely against the Confederacy. But being a Veteran myself I know that soldiers don't get to chose what wars they fight for. I don't shit on Vietnam Vets for fighting an unjust war. But I will most certainly will shit all over the leaders that sent them into this butchery over a horrible Ideal.

@Doug Bevins Do you think the average southern soldier even knew what was in the constitution? They were fighting for their State. People held more loyalty to their State than the Union itself at that time. Many had no idea they were figthing for rich white slave owners and when they figured it out they deserted. Many more were conscripted. I am not excusing the cause they fought for or what the Southern States did but they were welcomed home as brothers of the same mother once again afterwards. That was the same men who shed their blood to save the Union. The problem is the South never really welcomed us back and instead have picked at the scab for 154 years.

Martial courage, to be sure. But a dog has that. Its actually more important historically to have ethical and moral courage not to pledge your life to selling of your fellow man, commerce of his/her children, the rape of your human property, the theft of your fellow citizen's labor. For if we forget about those things, how do we ever designate an evil man and evil man? Remember, these southerners claimed to be religious -- followers of a church whose Old Testament features the escape of enslaved men, women, and children from their Egyptian 'owners' such that even their god intervened to part a sea for their escape. Yet...the Southerners you praise so readily rejected this in the name of self-indulgence, ignorance, skin-color narcissism, greed, and thinly disguised depravity. Along with their martial courage, they must be identified as moral cowards and a national disgrace.

Wow. That is truly amazing! Someday I would love to visit Gettysburg and listen to the silence of the battlefield...maybe even experience something supernatural...💗

According to Lt. Gen'l James Longstreet, Second Manassas was Lee's greatest victory.

Robert Reisner that's why I said arguably....

Claudia nails it. The canon fire over the defensive line was to keep a defensive flaw clear that opened up due to the right and left flank probes prior and a imminent threat on the center. If yo< look at the Conferate build up on the Unions right flank, that was likely the main attack. If Stuart's cav had hit the gap and hung a left about the time the Confederates reached the center, it would have almost certainly collapsed the flank and freed up a shit ton of troops behind the defensive line. Knowing a major assault is taking place behind you while you brace yourself for a major attack on your position, to get hit unexpectedly from behind by rebel cavalry. Would've broken almost any unit believing the Confederate army broke through behind them, leaving them trapped and about to be overran.

Note: **Hung a right not left. It's funny how the tactic isn't pointed out more seeing that it's a classic textbook maneuver that has been used since the ancient days of swords and spears....

Most didn’t anyway, 50 percent that were shot fell wounded

Nathan Rodriguez

Confederates were bare footed

I was too lucky. Found two or three civil war vets, unionside and two revolutionary war veterans in mine. One is buried in Wooster Cemetery in Ohio.

Oh, personally, I'd be Confederate back then. Grey all the way.

Cheers to you Bruce B!

Bruce B, my man. Nothing wrong with being proud of your heritage. It’s what took young uneducated southern boys out of the corn fields and put them in the killing fields. Fighting for your family, beliefs and your state. Whether the cause was right or wrong, they answered the call and became part of history. See ya in hell Billy Yank

Also, the “Stars and Bars” was a red and blue striped flag with a circle of stars representing the Confederate states. You might be referring to the battle flag used by many states that’s a sideways X

Amen brother. The whims of fools (those that desecrate Southern heritage, culture and pride), passes like the seasons of time. But our heritage stays forever. Stay strong Johnny Reb. With respect...a Blue Belly Hawkeye Yankee.

I think you would be correct. Thank you for point it out. Appreciated.

One word:Pride! He thought that he could do what he wanted to do, and still win. General Longstreet, however, knew that it would turn into a disasterous bloodbath. In the end, over 50% of those men never came back. General Pickett's division had been slaughtered! He never forgave General Lee, saying "That old man had my division slaughtered".

Longstreets plan was better than Lee's. Lee made a decision based on political pressure and the narrow window of time the CSA had. Longstreet delay on Day 2 cost the CSA from taking LRT. An Earlier Assault on LRT on Day 2 would have had a chance of Success.

Because the Union flanks fought so well, Lee thought our center weak.

tim Anderson he liked in the butt

He wanted to finish the war and win it.

165,000 men fought at Gettysburg that was just in the east