Samuel Garland junior

Samuel Garland junior

Samuel Garland junior (born December 16, 1830 in Lynchburg , Virginia , † September 14, 1862 at South Mountain, Maryland ) was a Brigadier General of the Confederate States of America in the Civil War .

Life

Samuel Garland was born in Lynchburg, Virginia. His father, Samuel Garland Sr., was a well-known lawyer and died when his son was five years old. Garland graduated third in his class from the Virginia Military Institute and then went to the University of Virginia to complete his law degree at age 20. He married and had a son, also named Samuel. Garland exercised his office as a lawyer in Lynchburg and helped to set up a kind of vigilante group, the "Lynchburg Home Guard". He was elected their captain. He continued to work as a lawyer until his home state left the Union in the spring of 1861. His unit soon allied with others to form the 11th Virginia Infantry, in which Garland was then regimental colonel. Shortly afterwards, however, tragic events caught up with him, because on June 12th his wife died and only three months later his son died in infancy.

He experienced his first actions in the Civil War with the First Battle of Bull Run , Dranesville and Williamsburg, where he was wounded. After his promotion to Brigadier General , he excelled in the Seven Day Battle and the Second Battle of the Bull Run . He earned a reputation for being fearless in the face of enemy fire, which some interpreted as a hoped-for wish to die. When the Army of Northern Virginia began the Maryland campaign, Garlands Brigade was tasked with the defense of Fox's Gap, one of the passes over South Mountain. On September 14, 1862, Union forces began an attack during the Battle of South Mountain in an attempt to seize the tactically important passes. While defending the pass, Garland was fatally wounded on a stone wall that demarcated one of the fields of a farmer named Daniel Wise and died minutes later. His body was escorted by an honor guard until it was transported home and buried next to his wife and son in his hometown on September 19.

aftermath

In Garland's honor, the Samuel Garland Confederate Veterans Camp was named after his name, as was the Garland-Rodes Camp of the Confederate Veteran's Sons. In 1993, a memorial stone dedicated to him was erected on the spot where he fell.

Web links

• Samuel Garland Jr. in the database of Find a Grave (English)