Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/643

Rh at Malvern Hill. During the Second Manassas campaign he was with Hill's division, holding McDowell in check at Fredericksburg, after which he joined the army in the Maryland campaign. At Fox's gap, on South mountain, his North Carolinians, scarce 1,000 in all, sustained the first attack of Cox's corps of McClellan's army on September 14th. They held their ground with wonderful heroism in the face of a furious attack. With them, where the fight was hottest, stood General Garland, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Colonel Ruffin. It was to him the post of duty. On one side lay McClellan with 30,000 men; on the other was the short road to Harper's Ferry, beleaguered by Jackson. The enemy must be held back a day, or the Federals, under an active commander, could overwhelm the divided Confederates. In this position, early in the fight, he received a mortal wound, from which he died on the field. "Had he lived," wrote Gen. D. H. Hill, "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." Brigadier-General Richard Brooke Garnett, a cousin of Gen. R. S. Garnett, was a native of Virginia and a graduate of the same West Point class in which his cousin was a member. Promoted second lieutenant of the Sixth infantry on graduation, he began his services in the field in the Florida war of 1841-42. He subsequently served in garrison at Jefferson barracks. Mo., and on frontier duty at Fort Towson, Indian Territory, and Fort Smith, Ark., and as aide-de-camp to Brigadier-General Brooke at New Orleans. He was promoted first lieutenant in February, 1847, and continued in service, at San Antonio, Tex., and at Fort Pierre, Dak., where he was promoted captain. He assisted in quelling the Kansas disturbances in 1856-57, was detailed to escort the southern boundary commissioners in 1857, served again in Kansas, and was engaged in the Utah expedition and the subsequent march to California. In the latter territory and in New Mexico he served until he resigned to offer his services to the Confederate States. He was commissioned major, corps of artillery, C. S. A., and in November, 1861, promoted brigadier-general. Jackson, then in the Shenandoah valley with a small force, was reinforced soon afterward, and Garnett went with these forces, and