The battle of Gettysburg, and especially Pickett's Charge, remain favorite subjects among the Civil War's vast popular audience. Although scholars try to find fresh ideas and topics to explore, the public seems perfectly content hearing again and again the familiar narrative of Robert E. Lee's failed frontal assault on July 3, 1863. Gettysburg: Pickett's Charge, a program made for the Discovery Channel, labels the event one of history's “unsolved mysteries,” suggesting that there remain many unanswered questions surrounding it. Various Civil War historians, including Gary Gallagher and John Michael Priest, discuss the charge on camera, speculating about why Robert E. Lee's bold plan for attack failed so terribly. They also consider why there were not more Confederate casualties than reported. Reenactors too respond to these questions by attempting to re-create parts of the charge.
The film especially focuses on the role of a wooden fence located at the Emmitsburg Road that cut across the path of the charging troops. Priest contends that a significant portion of the Confederates faltered at the fence and refused to move beyond the road. However, Priest, who made this argument in his densely detailed 1998 book Into the Fight: Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, insists this was not an example of cowardice, but veterans simply showing their “common sense.”