Lincoln (Neb.) - Oct. 10, 1997 - Who was the man behind "Pickett's Charge" at the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg?
Edward G. Longacre, staff historian at the headquarters of the Air Command, Langley Air Force Base, Va., will try to answer that question in an Oct. 16 lecture at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. Longacre's talk, "Gen. George Edward Pickett, Confederate States of America: The Man behind the Myth," will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Library Instruction Room on the second floor of Love Library, 13th and R streets. The lecture is free and open to the public.
As the leader of the most famous charge in American military history, George Pickett is a well-known name to anyone familiar with Civil War history. But Pickett's complex and contradictory personality is much less well-known.
Longacre, who earned his master's degree at UNL (1974), will attempt to explain the behavior patterns of this famous yet little-known and therefore little-understood soldier while stripping away many myths and misconceptions that surrounded his career.
A gallant leader who risked his life in many battles, Pickett failed to accompany his troops in the attack at Gettysburg that immortalized him. An incisive, quick-witted tactician whom many observers considered a born soldier, he nevertheless graduated at the bottom of his West Point class. A chivalrous Virginian who claimed to fight the war by a gentleman's code, he barely escaped prosecution as a war criminal.
Refreshments will be served following the talk, which is sponsored by the Civil War Roundtable of Lincoln and the Friends of the Libraries at UNL.
Gretchen Holten Poppler, history bibliographer at the UNL
libraries, will demonstrate a recently acquired CD-ROM containing
the Official Records of the American Civil War. The CD-ROM was a
gift of the Civil War Roundtable of Lincoln.
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