Credit: ©1996, Keith Rocco and Traditional Studios www.keithrocco.com
Armistead at Gettysburg, by Keith Rocco. At the height of Pickett's Charge on July 3, Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead, with his hat on his sword, led a group of soldiers from his brigade over the stonewall on Cemetery Ridge into the Union line. Armistead was fatally wounded and captured as the survivors of the charge fell back, repelled by Union reinforcements. Making the Masonic sign of distress, the general was taken to the rear and sent to a field hospital, where he died on July 5. On his deathbed, Armistead asked that his personal effects be delivered to Union General Winfield S. Hancock, a dear friend in the pre-war army, whose troops had repelled the Confederates.
