“Battle Plans" Of all battles in the American Civil War, no conflict is more famous (or infamous) than the battle of Gettysburg, and during the battle of Gettysburg, no moment more defining than what has come to be known as Pickett's charge. This particular engagement has always completely fascinated me. I have been to Gettysburg many times and stood at the place on Seminary Ridge from where the Confederates made their fateful charge that July day in 1863. To behold the scope and distance of the land over which they had to march and reflecting on the courage it must have taken to make the attempt is awe-inspiring to say the least. This too being couple with the fact that Pickett's charge has come to be known also as the high tide of the Confederacy, it gives this moment in Civil War history an almost unparalleled importance, and is a subject worthy of reflection and immortalization. I wanted to capture a sense of this moment as an artistic subject, and instead of re-doing a scene of the battle itself (which to me, in some ways, has been done to death), I found inspiration from a segment of the classic documentary "The Civil War" by Ken Burns. It is always my desire to seize upon those things which most humanize the conflict, and this particular segment offered a touching example. Renown author and Civil War historian Shelby Foote is speaking of the disastrous implications of Pickett's charge; that this failure cost the Confederacy the war. He finishes with an extraordinary example of its effect on future generations of southerners yet unborn: "William Falkner in 'Intruder in the Dust' says that for every southern boy, it's always in his breech to imagine it being 1 o'clock on an early July day in 1863; the guns are laid, the troops are lined up, the flags are already out of their cases and ready to be unfurled, but it hadn't happened yet. He can go back to the time before the war was going to be lost, and he can always have that moment for himself." This work is about that moment. Generals Pickett and Pettigrew stand on Seminary ridge as General Longsteet gives instructions for the assault. For me, this image is filled with all the desperation, yet all the hope, that drove men to impossible heroism. Though Pickett's charge was a disastrous failure, no one can remove the courage and valor from the brave men who believed that faith and determination evened out the longest of odds. This piece is a tribute to every southern boy, from that time to this, who will always have that moment for himself. |
