"At Chancellorsville when Jackson stated in the presence of three of his former colleagues on the VMI faculty that the Institute would be heard from that day, he was fully aware of the large number of VMI men present. In this battle one corps, two divisions, four brigades, numerous regiments, and most of the cavalry were commanded by Institute alumni. In the Second Virginia Cavalry alone twenty-one officers had formerly worn the uniform of a VMI cadet. And had "Stonewall" Jackson been alive at the time of Gettysburg he could have made a similar statement about the school's performance on the battlefield. For one thing, thirteen of Major General George Pickett's fifteen regiments were at some point during the great charge on the afternoon of 3 July 1863 led by men of the Institute. Tragically, only two of these officers survived unscathed in that heroic but suicidal assault. Three of Pickett's colonels- Lewis B. Williams, W. Tazewell Patton, and Robert C. Allen- were not only in the same VMI class (1855) but also had been roommates in school and had become lawyers after graduation. All three were killed in the charge."