Richard B. Garnett

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Richard Brooke Garnett
Born(1817-11-21)November 21, 1817
Brigadier General (CSA)
Commands heldStonewall Brigade
Garnett's Brigade, First Division, Army of Northern Virginia
Battles/warsMexican–American War
American Civil War

Richard Brooke Garnett (November 21, 1817 – July 3, 1863) was a career United States Army officer and a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was court-martialed by Stonewall Jackson for his actions in command of the Stonewall Brigade at the First Battle of Kernstown, and killed during Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Early life

Garnett was born on the "Rose Hill" estate in

Utah Expedition
, and was a noted Indian fighter.

During the

first lieutenant on February 16, 1847.[1] He learned of the outbreak of the Civil War while serving in California as a captain, the rank to which he had been promoted on May 9, 1855.[1] Despite believing strongly that the Union
should not be dissolved, he returned to Virginia to fight for his native state and the Confederacy.

Civil War

Garnett resigned his commission in the U.S. Army on May 17, 1861, and entered the

Confederate Army of the Potomac,[1] which was the brigade originally formed by Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, the Stonewall Brigade; Jackson was now in overall command in the Shenandoah Valley
.

During

Northern Virginia Campaign and the Second Battle of Bull Run
that August.

Lee ordered Jackson to release Garnett from arrest and he was assigned to command the injured

Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's First Corps in the Army of Northern Virginia. Garnett commanded the brigade credibly at the Battle of Antietam in September, after which he assumed permanent command of the brigade on November 26[1] when Pickett was promoted to divisional command, and at the Battle of Fredericksburg that December. He did not participate in the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863 because Longstreet's Corps was assigned duties in Suffolk, Virginia
.

Stonewall Jackson was gravely wounded at Chancellorsville and died soon after from pneumonia. Upon Jackson's death, Garnett returned to Richmond where the general's body lay in state. Despite his professional disagreement with Jackson, Garnett set aside any ill will against him and served as a pall bearer[2] along with Longstreet, Richard S. Ewell, and others at his funeral.

Gettysburg and death

Map of Pickett's Charge, July 3, 1863.
  Confederate
  Union

During the

Gettysburg Campaign, Garnett's brigade continued in the division of George Pickett and, due to the order of march, did not reach the battlefield from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, until late on the afternoon of July 2, 1863, missing the first two days of the Battle of Gettysburg. Pickett's division was assigned by Gen. Lee to lead a great assault on the Union's center on Cemetery Ridge on July 3. Garnett's brigade was in the front rank of Pickett's division, on the left, next to Brig. Gen. James L. Kemper's brigade. Garnett was in no shape to lead an infantry charge; he was suffering from fever and an injured leg when his horse kicked him and he could not walk. But Garnett yearned to settle the record of his military dishonor from Kernstown, which the aborted court-martial could not. Despite protestations from other officers, Garnett insisted on leading his soldiers into battle on horseback, becoming a conspicuous target for Union riflemen.[citation needed
]

Prior to starting out toward the Union defenses on

Lewis Armistead, another of Pickett's brigade commanders, about the proposed charge. Garnett reportedly said: "This is a desperate thing to attempt" to which Armistead added his prediction that "the slaughter will be terrible."[3]

Garnett got within 20 yards of the "Angle" on Cemetery Ridge before he was killed, a bullet striking him in the head as he waved his hat to urge his men forward.[4][5] His courier, Private Robert H. Irvine of the 19th Virginia, witnessed his death. Irvine's horse was hit and fell on Garnett, so the private pulled Garnett's body from underneath the animal and retrieved the general's watch, which he gave to the brigade adjutant. There are conflicting stories about whether Garnett's horse, a bay gelding named Red Eye, returned to the Confederate lines.[6] Although Garnett was wearing a new uniform,[7] somehow his body was never identified and he was buried by Union soldiers in a mass grave. Robert K. Krick presumes that his remains were later transferred to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.[8] Garnett and Armistead were both killed; Kemper was gravely wounded.[9]

In memoriam

Cenotaph to Richard Garnett in Hollywood Cemetery.

In 1872, remains of Confederate dead were brought from Gettysburg and reinterred to

Baltimore pawnshop and was purchased by former Confederate Brig. Gen. George H. Steuart, who died before he could return it to Garnett's family. It was subsequently returned by Steuart's nephew.[10]

In popular media

Garnett was portrayed by American actor Andrew Prine in the 1993 film Gettysburg, based on Michael Shaara's novel, The Killer Angels. In the movie, Garnett is killed by a cannon shot and his horse returns to the southern lines riderless, perhaps to reflect how his body was never found. He reprised this role in 2003 in film's prequel Gods and Generals, although uncredited and without any dialog.

Disputed photograph

A photograph long believed to be one of only two photos of Garnett, is, in fact, a photograph of his cousin, Robert Selden Garnett, as indicated by the script along the black edge, which, when mirrored, reads "R.S. Garnett 6589." The bottom photograph of this article is possibly the only photograph known, although it is likely also a photo of Robert Garnett, as Richard B. Garnett was described by contemporaries as a fair-haired man with blue eyes. A letter to the editor of America's Civil War magazine claims that the Library of Congress possesses a photograph of Richard B. Garnett that has been mislabeled as "Franklin Gardner, CSA, Born N.Y.C."[11]

  • This image, commonly identified as of Richard B. Garnett, is actually of Robert Selden Garnett, as can be noted by the reversed script on the right border of the image.
    This image, commonly identified as of Richard B. Garnett, is actually of Robert Selden Garnett, as can be noted by the reversed script on the right border of the image.
  • This photo, labeled as Brig. General Garnett, is the most likely surviving photograph, if one exists. It is likely, however, that this is either Robert Garnett or another cousin, as Richard Garnett was described as fair-haired and blue eyed.
    This photo, labeled as Brig. General Garnett, is the most likely surviving photograph, if one exists. It is likely, however, that this is either Robert Garnett or another cousin, as Richard Garnett was described as fair-haired and blue eyed.
  • Library of Congress photograph labeled "Franklin Gardner, CSA, Born N.Y.C.," which may actually be Richard B. Garnett
    Library of Congress photograph labeled "Franklin Gardner, CSA, Born N.Y.C.," which may actually be Richard B. Garnett
  • "Franklin Gardner" picture.
    "Franklin Gardner" picture.

Personal life

General Garnett is mentioned in the Memoir of Emily Elizabeth Parsons[12]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Eicher, p. 249.
  2. ^ Dozier, Graham T. Richard B. Garnett (1817–1863) Encyclopedia Virginia. Web. 9 March 2016.
  3. ^ Wert, p. 287.
  4. ^ Krick, p. 122; Wert, p. 213; Hess, p. 265; Eicher, p. 249: Cause of death was possibly due to being "... hit in the head, Gettysburg, Pa., July 3, 1863."
  5. 19th Massachusetts reported that in front of his line of the 19th Massachusetts and 42nd New York, '... I saw one leader several times try to jump his horse over our line. He was shot by some of the men near me ...". The Gettysburg Cyclorama
    mistakenly shows General Armistead falling mortally wounded from his horse near the Union lines—he was actually afoot. If this painting was based on Rice's report, the Confederate officer falling from his horse was actually Garnett.
  6. ^ Hess, p. 265: the horse was seen racing to the rear with a severe wound. Krick, p. 122: the horse was badly wounded along with Garnett and could not move, citing an account by Lt. Col. Norborne Berkeley of Garnett's Brigade. In the 1993 film Gettysburg, his horse is portrayed running riderless to the rear.
  7. ^ E. Porter Alexander in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War Vol 3, p. 365, reported that Garnett had come out of an ambulance to lead his brigade in Pickett's Charge and was "... buttoned up in an old blue overcoat ..."
  8. ^ Krick, p. 123.
  9. ^ Wert, pp. 291-93. Armistead died of his wounds on July 5. Kemper was wounded, captured by Union troops, and then rescued by the Confederates and returned to Virginia.
  10. ^ Eicher, pp. 249-50.
  11. ^ Garnett, Doug, "Hidden at the National Archives", America's Civil War, September 2009, p. 6.
  12. ^ Parsons, Emily Elizabeth; Parsons, Theophilus (Jan 23, 1880). "Memoir of Emily Elizabeth Parsons. Published for the benefit of the Cambridge hospital". Boston : Little, Brown, and co. Retrieved Jan 23, 2023 – via Internet Archive.

References

External links

Wikisource has the text of a 1900 Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography article about Richard B. Garnett.

Media related to Richard Brooke Garnett at Wikimedia Commons

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