Frank Haskell’s Incredible Account: Union Eyewitness To Pickett’s Charge

Pathfinder History   "This is a faithful retelling of Union officer Frank Aretas Haskell’s firsthand account of Pickett’s Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Haskell served as aide-de-camp to General John Gibbon and was positioned directly behind the Union center on Cemetery Ridge during the Confederate assault on July 3, 1863.

"While the wording has been edited for clarity and pacing, every scene and detail comes directly from Haskell’s original letter. This story is drawn entirely from his observations, recorded just days after the battle, and reflects the Union perspective at the critical turning point of the Civil War. "This is not fiction. This is history—told by the man who saw it. "I produced and edited this version. AI wrote and narrated. I’m thrilled that we now live in an era where history enthusiasts like me can produce this kind of content."

"For all of Lee's successes against much superior numbers and resources, his order to charge the middle of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge was just unexplainably stupid. Just unexplainable attacking a superior force, with artillery, across an open field and up a ridge. His generals in years after the war never forgave Lee's order in spite of their advice and warnings of a disaster. This single decision ended any hope that the Confederates had of a negotiated end of the war." @Theywaswrong

"I have walked Pickett's charge from Seminary Ridge where the 57th Virginia Reg't started marching to the corps of trees by the angle to the area where King David Richards, yes his proper full name, fell and died the next day. His wife, Harriett Love Richards, my 3rd great aunt gave birth to their only child, a daughter, a couple of months later. She never met her father. It was an extremely chilling experience to walk in his steps knowing his story." @bryanlove3513

Frank A. Haskell - Wikipedia   . . . "Haskell (July 13, 1828 – June 3, 1864) was an American lawyer and Union Army officer during the American Civil War. He spent much of the war as a top aide to general John Gibbon, as Gibbon ascended the ranks from brigade to division to corps command. On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, their corps bore the brunt of the pivotal Confederate assault; Haskell personally rallied the troops of Gibbon's division after Gibbon was wounded. Gibbon later commented that "I have always thought that to him, more than to any one man, are we indebted for the repulse of Lee's assault."

"In 1864, Haskell was promoted to colonel and given his own command, but he died just a few months later at the Battle of Cold Harbor. Before his death, Haskell wrote a famous account of the Battle of Gettysburg that was published posthumously." . . .