Richard Brooke Garnett

So often, we hear about the major "characters" at a particular battle: Lee, Grant, Jackson, Meade, and the list goes on and on. These men are so well-known that we don't even need to add their first names....everyone knows them. But there are also men who fought on these battlefields whose names we don't necessarily know. We may know of their brigades or their regiments, but do we know these men. And, yes, they were men who lived, breathed, ate, and slept. These are people who had lives, children, wives, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers. These were people who had dreams for their future....and sadly, many did not see their dreams come true.

One of these "unknown" men was a man who commanded a brigade during Pickett's Charge. He had great reputation throughout his life....until a small blemish (was it really a blemish?) discolored his reputation and may have caused this man to put his life on the line....a line in which he crossed. This man was Confederate General Richard Brooke Garnett.

Richard Garnett was born on November 21, 1817 in Essex County, Virginia on his family estate. It seems that he had a twin brother named William who died in 1855. In 1841, he graduated from West Point, 29th out of a class of 52.

In 1862, while in command of the Stonewall Brigade, he was told to go attack a whole division at Kernstown. While facing the enemy, who was on three sides, and running low on ammunition, he ordered the brigade to retreat. This made Stonewall Jackson very angry and he had the general arrested for "neglect of duty". It seems that before he retreated, he should have asked Stonewall Jackson for permission to retreat and he didn't. So General Garnett was court martialed. It started in August of 1862. Stonewall Jackson and one of his aides were able to testify before the court martial had to be suspended because a military campaign was starting.

Eventually, Gen. Garnett was given a brigade to command and it became a permanent command for him. With Stonewall Jackson dying during the Chancellorsville battle, the court martial was put off permanently. At Gettysburg, General Garnett had a point to prove. He wasn't a coward....he retreated because that was the only thing left for him to do and he was going to prove it to the world. Prior to Gettysburg, Garnett had been kicked by a horse and suffered a wound to his leg. This wound left him in a position where he couldn't walk....so instead, he rode his horse.

Now, riding a horse doesn't sound so bad, but during Pickett's Charge, this placed him higher than the rest of his men and made him a moving target. Also, only commanders and their aides rode horses, so if you saw a guy on a horse, you could almost be guaranteed of hitting someone important.

Pickett's Charge was ordered in line and after waiting for a few hours, the charge took off....with Garnett on horseback. The last that anyone saw the General was about 20 yards from the "Angle". After that, no one saw him again. It is assumed that he was probably shot with canister shot and that his body was probably destroyed to the point that no one could recognize him. No one knows where he is buried, however, many Confederate dead where re-interred at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, years later. There is a good chance that he was re-interred at Hollywood Cemetery. Or worse, that he is still buried on the battlefield at Gettysburg. But its a safer bet that he is at Hollywood Cemetery.

I can't speak for others, but after studying up on him....I tend to believe that he was not a coward at Kernstown. Neither was he a coward at Gettysburg. I have not read nor seen anything that would tell me that Richard Brooke Garnett was anything but a fine commander who just happened to get on Stonewall Jackson's bad side (which seemed like an easy thing to do). I believe that his actions at Gettysburg helped clear his name, but did his name really need to be cleared????