PDF Emancipating New York: The Politics of Slavery and Freedom; 1777–1827 (Antislavery; Abolition; and the Atlantic World) by David N. Gellman in History

Description

The man who gave his name to the greatest failed frontal attack in American military history; George E. Pickett is among the most famous Confederate generals of the Civil War. But even today he remains imperfectly understood; a figure shrouded in Lost Cause mythology. In this carefully researched biography; Lesley Gordon moves beyond earlier studies of Pickett. By investigating the central role played by his wife LaSalle in controlling his historical image; Gordon illuminates Pickett's legend as well as his life. After exploring Pickett's prewar life as a professional army officer trained at West Point; battle-tested in Mexico; and seasoned on the western frontier; Gordon traces his return to the South in 1861 to fight for the Confederacy. She examines his experiences during the Civil War; including the famed; but failed; charge at the battle of Gettysburg; and charts the decline in his career that followed. Gordon also looks at Pickett's marriage in 1863 to LaSalle Corbell; like him a child of the Virginia planter elite. Though their life together lasted only twelve years; LaSalle spent her five decades of widowhood writing and speaking about her husband and his military career. Appointing herself Pickett's official biographer; she became a self-proclaimed authority on the war and the Old South. In fact; says Gordon; LaSalle carefully and deliberately created a favorable image of her husband that was at odds with the man she had married.