Robert Selden Garnett was born December 16, 1819, in Essex County, Virginia. A cousin of Confederate General Richard Garnett, he has the distinction of being the first general from either side killed in the Civil War.
Garnett graduated from West Point in 1841, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Infantry. He had a variety of assignments in Buffalo, New York, West Point, and Virginia before serving in the Mexican War under General Zachary Taylor. After the war Garnett was posted in Florida, where he took part in the Seminole Wars. Afterward, he continued to move around the country in a variety of assignments, serving first in California, then Washington, DC, and then Texas, where he was promoted to captain.
Captain Garnett left Texas for West Point once again, where he served as Commandant of Cadets. Garnett was then promoted to major and sent to Washington Territory with the 9th U.S. Cavalry. There Garnett took part in various Indian wars. During this period Garnett designed and supervised the construction of Fort Simcoe in Washington Territory. In 1858, Garnett’s wife and young son died. He requested a leave of absence and returned east to bury them.
Garnett was traveling in Europe when Virginia seceded from the Union in April, 1861. Garnett returned to Virginia and resigned his commission. He then became Adjutant General of the Virginia troops, serving under Robert E. Lee. In June of that year, Garnett was made brigadier general of the Provisional Army of the Confederacy.
On June 3, 1861, Union forces emerged victorious from the Battle of Phillippi and seized part of northwestern Virginia. Lee assigned Garnett to reorganize the Confederate forces in the area. Garnett deployed his men to defend the supply lines along the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike, but a series of small battles forced the Confederates to withdraw away from Union General George McClellan’s forces.
On the night of July 11, after a Union victory at the Battle of Rich Mountain, Garnett withdrew his 4,500 men to escape to northern Virginia, but faulty intelligence led Garnett to believe his escape route was blocked by Union troops. Garnett turned toward the northeast with 20,000 Union troops in hot pursuit.
On July 13, both sides engaged in the Battle of Corrick’s Ford. The Confederates were forced to retreat. Garnett remained with his rear guard when a Yankee bullet struck him in the back, killing him.
When the remaining Confederates retreated, an old friend on the Union side recovered Garnett’s body. Due to his service in the Mexican War, a Union honor guard transported Garnett’s body under a flag of truce to relatives in Baltimore, where he was buried. Garnett was later reinterred in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, next to his wife and son.