The term “Pickett’s charge” is burned into the collective memory of the nation, and on its 150th anniversary, it is the subject of countless articles and TV shows. But here we will look at the Jerseymen who faced it and stopped it cold.

The story of “Pickett’s Repulse” began two days before as the 12th New Jersey Regiment, formed mainly of men from counties along the southern Delaware River, Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem, but including two men from Tuckerton, crossed the Mason-Dixon Line as part of the Army of the Potomac commanded by the builder of Barnegat Lighthouse Gen. George Gordon Meade.

Twenty-year-old George A. Bowen from Cumberland County kept a diary.