BRIG. GENERAL LEWIS ARMISTEAD

The final Confederate charge at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863 was delegated to troops under Gen. George Pickett.  One of the brigade commanders was Maj. Gen. Lewis Armistead.

Armistead had been born in North Carolina but raised in Virginia.  He considered himself a Virginian.  

Armistead's five uncles had fought in the War of 1812.  One of them, Major George Armistead, was commander of Fort William McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore.  It was during this battle that Francis Scoot Key wrote "The Star Spangled Banner," which became the national anthem. 

On July 3, 1863, at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon, Lewis Armistead took his position in front of his brigade, forming for the attack on the Union center on Cemetery Ridge.  For two hours his men had endured nearly constant bombardment from Union cannon.  They had mostly stretched themselves on the ground in the woods and waited for the order to move forward.  General James Longstreet, in command of the attack, seemed unwilling to give the order.

Finally, the order came and Armistead held his had above his head and shouted to his 5,000 men:  "For your homes, for your wives, for our sweethearts....for Virginia!"  And the voices behind him thundered, "For Virginia!"

Armistead's brigade moved toward the center of the Union line, toward a small copse of trees which was his objective.  His brigade endured brutal shelling from the Union cannon.  Coming closer to the center of the enemy's line, his men then underwent savage rifle fire, leaving large holes in his lines.  His men reached out their arms, much as they would do on the parade ground, and dressed their lines--closing up the gaps made by the fallen dead and wounded--and moved forward up the hill.

Reaching the stone wall where the Union line had formed, Gen. Armistead removed his black hat, placed it on the top of his sword and waved it above his head as a rallying point.  "Follow me!" he yelled and stepped over the wall, reaching what historians call "the high water mark of the Confederacy."

Just after crossing the wall, Armistead was shot three times.  He received wounds just below the knee and in his arm.  Union Capain Henry Bingham assisted Armistead and received his personal effects, including a Bible.  Armistead asked that the Bible be presented to the wife of his old friend, Union Major General Winfield Scott Hancock.  

General Armistead's wounds were not thought to be mortal.  He was taken to a Union field hospital at a nearby farm and attended by a Union surgeon.  Two days later, however, Armistead died, probably of infection.

He was buried at the St. Paul Cemetery in Baltimore, next to his uncle, Lt. General George Armistead, the former commander of Fort William McHenry during the War of 1812.