Chapter 37: Day Three: 5:00 PM–Midnight

From the moment Pickett’s charge is turned back, the spotlight falls on Meade to decide whether or not to launch a counter attack.

Alfred Pleasanton proposes sending his cavalry into Lee’s rear to box the Confederates in. Several other commanders, led by the wounded Hancock, urge him to send Slocum’s and Sykes’ Corps down the Ridge to finish off the rebels.

One man even takes matters into his own hands. He is Cavalry General Judson Kilpatrick, nicknamed “Kil-Cavalry” and later called by Sherman “one hell of a damned fool.”

Kilpatrick earns his moniker by deciding that his small command could drive into Longstreet’s left-over Confederate infantry below Plum Run and prompt them to stampede. He assigns the task to Captain Elon Farnsworth whose first foray is easily crushed by Evander Law’s remaining Texans.

When Farnsworth reports back saying such a mission cannot succeed, Kilpatrick says that if the Captain is afraid, he will lead the charge himself. Of course this leads Farnsworth to ride again into the inevitable slaughter – which ends with his death in a final one man suicide charge.

Aside from Kilpatrick’s ill-advised action, the entire field is relatively quiet by 6:00PM.

Lee has restored a semblance of order along Seminary Ridge, while Meade, after sending a few skirmishers down to Emmetsburg Pike, calls a halt to further bloodshed. The Union’s three most aggressive Generals – Reynolds, Sickles and Hancock – are all down and his soldiers have just withstood a fierce assault.

Meade sums up the events, telling his cavalry commander, Alfred Pleasanton:

“We have done well enough.”