This is the first in a series of posts dedicated to preserving the memory of some of the Confederate heroes who fought in the War Between the States.
Gen. Richard B. Garnett (November 21, 1817 - July 3, 1863) - was killed while leading his regiment in the ill fated charge against the federal center at Gettysburg, an assault known today as "Pickett's Charge."
Garnett had been a career officer in the US Army before the Civil War. Like many officers, he resigned his commission and fought for the South.
Stonewall Jackson had charged Garnett with cowardice after the Battle of Kernstown in 1862. Jackson had ordered Garnett arrested and planed a court martial. However, the trial was never held and Garnett felt he did not have an opportunity to defend himself against the charges. Lee reassigned him to Pickett's former brigade. Fellow officers noted that Garnett thereafter seemed to look for ways to expose himself to danger in battle, supposedly to demonstrate his bravery. (Most soldiers and officers who knew Garnett did not find Jackson's charges credible).
He arrived on the field of battle near Gettysburg on the second day of the great battle, July 2, 1863. Because of any injury to his leg, Garnett was unable to march during Pickett's Charge. Both Gen. Longstreet and Garnett's good friend Gen. Lewis Armistead urged him not to participate in the battle. Garnett replied, "You know why I must."
"Then don't ride a horse," Armistead urged him, looked at the magnificent black charger upon which Garnett was mounted. "We have all been ordered not to ride during this charge and you will be the only mounted man among us. Every rifle on that hill will be aimed at you. You won't stand a chance."
"See you on the top of the hill," Garnett said and rode away to join his brigade.
Garnett's regiment occupied the left front of the formation making the assault against Meade's army, flanked by Kemper's and Armistead's brigades. His beautiful black charger carried him upward, ascending the hill, over the rail fences in the way. He reached the sunken road, where his Confederates were being slaughtered by murderous canister, called grape shot. Garnett placed his black felt hat on the end of his sword, lifted it high, and yelled, "Virginians! With me! With me!" Onward, Garnett reached the stonewall, the further most point reached by the Southern assault. Federal canister fire was like being in a fierce hail storm, except that this hail was hot, not cold, and it tore great, bloody holes in the Confederate lines. Black smoke obscured his vision. There were no sounds that could be distinguished, just the thunderous roaring of battle in a continuous, deafening volume that seemed to shake the very earth.
Halfway up the slope, Confederates were already retreating, mostly walking, not running. Many were wounded, dragging rifles behind them. Out of the billowing smoke came a black horse, running wildly, blood frothing from its dark gray muzzle, more blood bubbling from a wound in its left shoulder, its eyes full of terror, not knowing where to run.
The next day, July 4th, the remains of Lee's army withdrew toward Virginia, leaving the dead behind. Confederates were mostly buried in mass, unmarked graves. The body of Gen. Richard Garnett was never identified. Toward the end of the 19th Century, many bodies were exhumed and returned to Virginia for reburial as an act of humanitarianism. It is assumed that Richard Garnett's was among them and that he rests in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.
In one of history's most intriguing mysteries, a beautiful sword turned up in a second hand store in Baltimore around 1902. It bore the engraved name "R.B. Garnett, US Army." It appeared to be the sword that Garnett wore during his service in the US Army and the one he wore during Pickett's charge on July 3, 1863. How it got to a pawn shop in Baltimore has never been explained. The man who purchased the sword died shortly after the purchase and his son returned the sword to Richard Garnett's family.
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