 And it goes on to talk about July the 2nd. I don't have all the time, but on July 3rd, Lee, having failed on the right and the left, planned an assault on Meade Center. A 15,000-man strong column under General George Pickett was organized, and Lee ordered a massive bombardment of the Union positions. The 10,000 Federals answered the Confederate artillery onslaught, and for more than an hour, the guns raged in the heaviest cannonade of the Civil War.