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4-2018 A Whole Lot of Blame to Go Around: The Confederate Collapse at Five Forks Peter S. Carmichael Gettysburg College

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Carmichael, Peter. "A Whole Lot of Blame to Go Around: The onfeC derate Collapse at Five Forks." In Petersburg to Appomattox: The End of the War in Virginia, edited by Caroline E. Janney, 83-109. Chapel Hill: The nivU ersity of North Carolina Press, 2018.

This is the publisher's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/histfac/88 This open access book chapter is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Whole Lot of Blame to Go Around: The onfedeC rate Collapse at Five Forks

Abstract While Confederate major general George E. Pickett asw finishing his plate of fried fish at a shad bake, Union major general Philip H. Sheridan was devouring Pickett's command at Five Forks. The ounds s of the Federal assault were supposedly silenced by abnormal atmospheric conditions called an acoustic shadow. Pickett nda his luncheon companions -- Maj. Gen. Thomas Rosser and Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee -- heard nothing over the sounds of conviviality, but the sudden appearance of the courier alerted the dining party to an alarming reality. This solider claimed that he was nearly shot out of his saddle by Federal soldiers who were sweeping the Confederate infantry. Plates and cups must have dropped to the ground when he pointed to the enemy skirmishers advancing just a few hundred yards away. It was abundantly clear to every person at the shad bake, whether the man had imbibed or not, that the enemy was on the verge of enveloping Pickett's entire command. [excerpt]

Keywords Appomattox, Civil War, Lost Cause

Disciplines History | United States History

Comments From PETERSBURG TO APPOMATTOX: THE END OF THE WAR IN VIRGINIA by Caroline E. Janney. Copyright © 2018 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. www.uncpress.org

This book chapter is available at The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/histfac/88