'It is all my fault' - Gettysburg

The Virginia State Memorial stands on Seminary Ridge, topped by an equestrian figure of Robert E. Lee and not far from where he both watched Pickett's Charge and moved among its survivors returning to the ridge. Lee accepted blame for the failed attack as he tried to make sure his army was in position to respond to a counter attack. "It was not your fault this time. It was all my fault," Lee said. (Click image for larger view).

Robert E. Lee - Gettysburg

Confederate General Robert E. Lee's image in bronze, astride his trusted Traveller, stands on top of the Virginia State Memorial on Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg. He regally gazes over the field of Pickett's Charge, back straight and shoulders held high. It does not match the picture described by rebel General John Imboden, who waited for Lee at his headquarters the evening following the charge:
"When he arrived there was not even a sentinel on duty at his tent, and no one of his staff was awake. The moon was high in the clear sky and the silent scene was unusually vivid. As he approached and saw us lying on the grass under a tree, he spoke, reined in his jaded horse, and essayed to dismount. The effort to do so betrayed so much physical exhaustion that I hurriedly rose and stepped forward to assist him, but before I reached his side he had succeeded in alighting, and threw his arm across the saddle to rest, and fixing his eyes upon the ground leaned in silence and almost motionless upon his equally weary horse, - the two forming a striking and never-to-be-forgotten group. The moon shone full upon his massive features and revealed an expression of sadness that I had never before seen upon his face." (Click image for larger view).

Two of seven - The Virginia State Memorial, Gettysburg

Two of the seven figures at the base of the Virginia State Memorial peer out over the field from Seminary Ridge, where attacks on the second and third day of fighting at Gettysburg began. The monument was erected as the United States was entering another massive war in 1917, 54 years following the battle. It remains the largest of the Confederate memorials on the battlefield. (Click image for larger view).