Bringing Home the Confederate Generals killed during the Maryland Campaign

   There were eight generals, four from the Confederate army and four from the Union army, killed or mortally wounded at the battle of Sharpsburg in September 1862. None of the eighth are buried on the battlefield along Antietam Creek. All were taken back to their respective states and interred therein.

   Samuel Garland, Jr. was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1830. After graduating from the Virginia Military Institute in 1849, he obtained a law degree from the University of Virginia, setting up practice in Lynchburg. Garland was commissioned colonel of the 11^th Virginia Infantry in April 1861. His regiment was involved at First Manassas, and at Dranesville, and he was wounded at Williamsburg. Promotion to brigadier general came on May 23, 1862, with Garland being assigned a brigade in D.H. Hill’s division. The battles of Seven Pines and the Seven Days followed. Hill’s command was back with the Army of Northern Virginia as it made its way to Maryland. Hill’s division was tasked with guarding Fox’s and Turner’s Gaps at South Mountain, protecting the rest of Lee’s army engaged with the capturing of Harpers Ferry.[1]

   At Fox’s Gap, Garland was checking on his hard-pressed left flank when he was struck in the left hip. Garland told Colonel Ruffin “Col. I am a dead man, send for Col. McRae to take command.” Garland was placed in a blanket by four men and taken off the field, dying on the porch of the South Mountain Inn about fifteen minutes after his wounding.[2] Garland’s remains were first taken to Richmond, arriving on Thursday, September 18.[3] They were then transported to Lynchburg where he was buried at the Presbyterian Cemetery on September 24, 1862.[4]

   William E. Starke was born in Brunswick County, Virginia, in 1814. Prior to the war, he operated a stage line then moved to Mobile, followed by New Orleans, working as a cotton broker. When the war came, he returned to Virginia, serving as an aide to Brig. Gen. Robert S. Garnett. Later, Starke was commissioned as colonel of the 60^th Virginia Infantry, fighting during the Seven Days battles. His commission as brigadier general came on August 6, 1862, and he commanded a brigade in Jackson’s division. He led the brigade at Cedar Mountain, Groveton, and Second Manassas (where he held division command).

   During the Maryland Campaign, Starke was placed under arrest by Jackson. Some “Foreign” troops were accused of vandalizing a store in Frederick. Starke commanded the Louisiana brigade, containing the famed Louisiana Tigers. Ordered to return to Frederick with his brigade so the culprits could be identified, Starke refused unless the other brigades in the division also returned. Jackson placed Starke under arrest but allowed him to remain in command. He helped with the investment of Harpers Ferry, and at Sharpsburg, was rushed to the Confederate left to shore up the line.[5] Starke, commanding a demi-brigade, rushed out of the west woods into a clover field, countering the Federal advance. His brigades were caught in a crossfire. As Starke attempted to help get the brigade of Alabama and Virginia troops moving toward the Federals, he was struck by three bullets. Sources differ on whether he was killed instantly or died about an hour later.[6] Starke’s remains were taken to Richmond, arriving on Sunday, September 21, 1862. His funeral was held in St. Paul’s Church on September 24, and he was buried in Hollywood Cemetery.[7]

   Geroge B. Anderson was born near Hillsboro, North Carolina, in 1831. A graduate of both the University of North Carolina and the United States Military Academy. When North Carolina left the Union, Anderson resigned from the United States Army. He was commissioned colonel of the 4^th North Carolina State Troops. At Seven Pines, Anderson commanded W.S. Featherston’s brigade and was promoted to brigadier general shortly thereafter. Anderson’s brigade was assigned to D.H. Hill’s division during the Seven Days battles, where he was wounded. They missed Cedar Mountain and Second Manassas, but were back with the Army of Northern Virgina for the Maryland Campaign.[8]

   Anderson was heavily involved at the battle of Fox’s Gap, but survived unwounded. At Sharpsburg, his brigade was posted in the Sunken Lane (now Bloody Lane) during the middle portion of the fight. As the struggle for the Sunken Lane heightened, Anderson was struck in the foot, near the ankle joint.  Under fire, he was hauled out of the Sunken Road and taken to the Piper Farm, where his wound was examined and declared to be not dangerous. He was later borne via a stretcher further to the rear, under fire, placed in an ambulance, and taken to Shepherdstown where he found refuge in the Boteler home.  As the Confederate Army pulled back, Anderson was placed in a wagon and made his way to Staunton, catching a train through Richmond and on to Raleigh. It took him over a week to make the journey. Not long thereafter, it was discovered that the ball was still lodged in his ankle. Infection set in, and although the limb was amputated, Anderson died of his wounds on October 16, 1862, and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh.[9]

Lawrence O’ Branch was born near Enfield, Halifax County, North Carolina, in 1820. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton College) in 1838, and later studied law. Prior to the war, he was the president of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad and served in the United State House of Representatives. He declined to serve as Secretary of the Treasury in the Buchanan administration. At the start of the war, he served as quartermaster of the state of North Carolina, colonel of the 33^rd North Carolina Troops. Branch was promoted to brigadier general on November 16, 1861. He commanded the Confederate forces at the battle of New Bern in March 1862 – a Confederate defeat, and a brigade at Hanover Court House in May 1862, also a Confederate defeat. Following Hanover, his brigade was placed in A.P. Hill’s Light Division. Branch led his brigade through the Seven Days, Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, and Chantilly.[10]

 At the start of the Maryland Campaign, Jackson had Hill under arrest, with Branch leading the Light Division. He was active in the capture of Harper’s Ferry and made the seventeen-mile march from Harpers Ferry to Sharpsburg on September 17, arriving late in the day. Most of the members of Branch’s brigade were posted on the hill overlooking Antietam Creek. Late in the day, as Branch was conferring with two other officers, a Federal soldier fired into the group, striking Branch as he was in the process of raising his field glasses to his eyes. Branch was instantly killed. One of Branch’s staff officers, Maj. Joseph Engelhard, escorted the general’s body home. In Richmond, Engelhard was met by four men, including William Blount and William Rodman, both relatives and former staff officers under Branch. When Branch’s remains arrived in Raleigh Thursday evening, military forces met the train and escorted the General's body to the Capitol rotunda, while providing a guard throughout the night. All businesses were closed on Friday morning, and the number of people on hand were said to rival the visit of Henry Clay in 1840. The next morning, funeral services were conducted by Episcopal clergyman Rev. Dr. Mason inside the Capitol. Branch was laid to rest in the Old City Cemetery, Raleigh.[11]

   The Federal generals killed during the campaign were Maj. Gen. Jesse L. Reno; Maj. Gen. Joseph K.F. Mansfield, Maj. Gen. Israel B. Richardson (mortally wounded), and Brig. Gen. Isaac P. Rodman (mortally wounded). They were likewise transported North for burial. Reno is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C.; Mansfield is buried in the Indian Hill Cemetery, Middle, Connecticut; Richardson is buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Pontiac, Michigan; and, Rodman is buried in the Rhode Island Historical Cemetery South Kingstown, Rhode Island.

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[1] Davis, The Confederate Generals, 2:165.

[2] Hartwig, To Antietam Creek, 319; Richmond Times-Dispatch, September 25, 1862.

[3] Richmond Enquirer, September 23, 1862.

[4] Richmond Times-Dispatch, September 25, 1862.

[5] Davis, The Confederate Generals, 5:199.

[6] Sears, Landscape Turned Red, 194; Hartwig, I Dred the Thought of the Place, 64.

[7] Richmond Dispatch, September 23, 1862.

[8] Davis, The Confederate Generals, 1:18-9.

[9] Pawlak, Shepherdstown in the Civil War, 82, 103-4.

[10] Davis, The Confederate Generals, 1:118-9.

[11] Weekly State Journal, October 1, 1862; The Raleigh Register, September 27, 1862, October 1, 1862.

Site Visit Saturday: Fox’s Gap and Brig. Gen. Samuel Garland, Jr.

    Do lawyers make good generals?  Some of them have. Others, not so much. There were a slew of lawyers who became Confederate generals, such as Lawrence Branch, John B. Gordon, Theodore W. Brevard, Jr., Daniel W. Adams, and Alpheus Baker, just to name a few. Included in the bunch was Samuel Garland, Jr.

   Born in Lynchburg, Virginia on December 16, 1830, Samuel Garland, Jr., was the great-grandnephew of United States President James Madison. His father was an attorney (who died when Samuel was ten years old). Samuel was educated in a private school in Nelson County, then at Randolph Macon College, and finally, the Virginia Military Academy, where he graduated in 1849, third in his class. He went on to study law at the University of Virginia, and after John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry organized a militia company. When the war came, that company became a part of the 11^th Virginia Infantry, and Garland was commissioned the regiment’s colonel. Garland and his regiment fought at the battle of Manassas in July 1861, as a part of Brig. Gen. James Longstreet’s brigade. Following the battle of Seven Pines, in which Garland was wounded in the elbow, he was promoted to brigadier general. He commanded a North Carolina brigade composed of the 5^th, 12^th, 13^th, 20^th, and 23^rd Regiments.

 

Garland Marker, Fox's Gap

   With the reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia following the Seven Days campaign, Garland found his brigade in D.H. Hill’s Division, Jackson’s wing. During the Maryland Campaign, while the rest of Jackson’s command invested Harper’s Ferry, D.H. Hill’s command was sent to guard the gaps across South Mountain, protecting the rear of Jackson’s forces capturing the town. At the beginning of the fight, Garland was ordered to take his brigade and defend the National Pike. D.H. Hill wrote after the battle that “The firing had aroused that prompt and gallant soldier, General Garland, and his men were under arms when I reached the pike. I explained the situation briefly to him, directed him to sweep through the woods, reach the road, and hold it at all hazards, as the safety of Lee's large train depended upon its being held. He went off in high spirits and I never saw him again. I never knew a truer, better, braver man. Had he lived, his talents, pluck, energy, and purity of character must have put him in the front rank of his profession, whether in civil or military life.”  During the fighting at Fox’s Gap, Garland was struck in the back by a bullet that passed through his body. His last words were “I am killed. Send for the Senior colonel.”

   Following his death, Garland was interred at the Presbyterian Cemetery in Lynchburg, next to the graves of his wife and son who had passed in June and July 1861 of influenza.

   In September 1993, the Sons of Confederate Veterans erected a commemorative marker near the spot of Samuel Garland’s death. I last visited the site in May 2011.