Book Description

"The letters composing this book begin in 1861, when the then Captain George Pickett resigned his commission in the United States Army & threw in his lot with the Southern cause. They continue through the war & at the end a few undated ones give glimpses of events & vicissitudes through later years...General Pickett commanded a division of the Confederate Army & his name stands out in the history of the Civil War because of the brilliant charge he made during the Battle of Gettysburg, which failed after his division was almost wiped out. After the battle General Pickett wrote to his wife that if his expected support had come, the South would have won the battle & the Confederate Army would have been in Washington within a few days...The half dozen letters dealing with the Battle of Gettysburg are the most interesting & important section of the volume. General & Mrs. Pickett were married during the war & his letters both during their courtship & after their marriage showed him to have been an ardent & devoted lover & husband, for nothing seems to have been deleted from even their most intimate passages."--New York Times Book Review.