Lee's Officers

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ROYSTER, Iowa Michigan

Sgt., Co.E, 9th N.C. Inf. 2nd Lieut., Co.G, 37th N.C. Inf.: 5th June 1863. He wrote to his mother: “I suppose you saw in the ‘Progress’ newspaper a notice of my appointment to this regiment. It was quite unexpected. I had made a request to Capt. Nicholson of this reg’t to recommend me to the Co. but did not expect any good result. When I read the appointment in the newspaper I was under arrest in my old company. In a day or two came a note from Col. Barbour of the 37th asking Col. Baker to send me to him as I had been appointed in his regiment. Col. Baker released me from arrest and sent me on with many expressions of goodwill, and wished for my future success…..Everybody told me that my feet would be blistered, but I have been marching nearly a week and have experienced no inconvenience…” Mortally wounded at Gettysburg on 3rd July 1863; died on 15th July. “As he lay at the base of Cemetery Hill, a chaplain of a Maine Regiment heard him cry out, calling ‘Dr. come here.’ The minister went to Royster and found him ‘fearfully wounded…’ The chaplain told Royster that he was not a doctor, ‘but a minister of Christ.’ Royster’s reply was, ‘You are the doctor that I need, none other will do me any good now.’ Royster gave the chaplain his parents’ address and asked him to write them of his death. The chaplain took Royster to one of the field hospitals, and ‘nursed him tenderly.’ There were high hopes for Royster’s recovery, until on July 15 ‘a sudden…hemorrhage carried him off.’….[his] body was buried ‘without a coffin’ in the ‘corner of woods on the south side of Henry Beitler’s tenant house.’ A leather belt with ‘I.M. Royster’ carved on it and a small notebook were interred with his body, and a headboard with his carved initials was placed on the grave. As promised, the chaplain wrote to Royster’s father, giving him directions so he could find the grave.” “In 1870 a notice was published, requesting that all the Confederate soldiers buried on private property be removed so the land could be put back into cultivation. Royster’s father wrote to a local physician….Iowa Royster’s remains were found, along with the lettered belt, and sent back to Raleigh. He was first interred in the soldiers’ section of Oakwood, with remarks being made by Professor Phillips of the University of North Carolina. Later, Royster was reinterred in a family plot there in Oakwood.” [Hardy, The Thirty-seventh North Carolina Troops, pp.143-145, 156-157, 259.] A retouched photo of him can be seen at http://www.geocities.com/gaston_blues/Royster.html

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KEITT, Lawrence Massillon

Born in Orangeburg, S.C., on 4th October 1824, the second son of George and Mary Magdalene (Wannamaker) Keitt. After the death of his mother, he was raised by his Aunt Salina who always considered him more of a son than a nephew. Educated at Asbury Academy, Mount Zion College & S.C. College. Admitted to the bar in 1845; lawyer in Orangeburg. Was elected to the lower house of the state general assembly, where he served until elected to the U.S. Congress in 1853. Was a crony of “Bully” Brooks and was censured for his part in the latter’s attack on Sumner; he resigned his seat but was triumphantly re-elected. “Keitt became engaged to Susanna Sparks in January of 1856, but she broke off the engagement that July. Due to a several year break in the surviving letters from Lawrence to Sue we don't know when they got back together. Sue's ambition was to move to Europe where she could study art and travel extensively. Keitt several times offered to make an trip of indefinite length to Europe if she would agree to marry him. Eventually she gave him and they were married, probably in May of 1859. Keitt, in spite of his former promise, decided to return to Washington for the opening of Congress in December of 1859. Sue was very bitter about leaving Europe, and expressed great dissatisfaction with life in the nation's capital. Slowly she began to take an interest in politics and by March of 1860 was pushing her husband for vice-president.” Member of the S.C. secession convention. He was present at a wedding reception in Washington D.C. when news of his state’s secession was received: President Buchanan heard the commotion and asked if the house was on fire: the hostess went to the door and met Keitt ”who bore a telegram and an air of great excitement; the telegram informed him of secession and he was shouting ‘Thank God! Oh, thank God! South Carolina has seceded! Here’s the telegram – I feel like a boy let out of school!’ “ Was “a very active member” of the C.S. Provisional Congress in Montgomery, Ala. On 27th June 1861 Mary Chesnut noted in her diary: “I am in Richmond….Mr Lawrence Keitt joined us en route. With him were his wife and baby. We don’t think alike, but Mr Keitt is always original and entertaining. Already he pronounced Jeff Davis a failure, and his cabinet a farce. ‘Prophetic?,’ I suggested, since he gave his opinion before the administration had fairly got under way. ‘A foregone conclusion,’ he replied. He was fierce in his fault-finding as to Mr Chesnut’s vote for Jeff Davis. He says Mr Chesnut over-persuaded the Judge, and those two turned the tide, at least with the South Carolina delegation. We wrangled, as we always do. He says Howell Cobb’s common sense might have saved us. He was a Cobb man.” On 5th January 1862 she wrote: “I saw Mr. Keitt as I came up, and we had a long talk. I leaned over the bannister and he looked up. I like him. He is quick as a flash. No one gets the better of him, and though he covers himself with words, the longest and the finest, like a garment, still there is the strongest common sense always at the bottom of it all. Whenever I leave Mr. Keitt I have something to tell as good and as self evident as a proverb; something original and new that I had never thought of before.” Colonel, 20th S.C. Inf.: 11th January 1862. “In late May, 1864 his unit was ordered to report to Richmond. On the night of May 24th he boarded a train at James Island, near Charleston, headed for Florence. Before leaving he wrote Susie hoping she could meet him there and closed with the words that if she couldn't see him there "Heaven knows when we will meet again." It is not known whether or not he saw her. He arrived in Richmond on the night of the 29th and the next morning wrote his wife how he was thinking of her during the entire ride. It was the same train route they had taken five years earlier on their honeymoon trip to Europe. He added that he had just spoken to President Jefferson Davis who had granted his desire for his regiment to be assigned to Kershaw's Brigade of Kershaw's Division.” Mortally wounded at Cold Harbor on 2nd June 1864; died on 4th June. “When the left of the regiment started to waver under heavy fire, Keitt went to urge them on. A bullet struck him in the chest lodging in his liver. The 20th South Carolina broke and overran Kershaw's veterans forcing everyone back. Carried to the rear, he was greeted by a friend, S.D. Shannon. Shannon said, Keitt smiled and said, "Such is the fate of war." His friend and regimental surgeon Alexander S. Salley next met him. The physician informed Keitt that he had about a 50% chance of survival. He found Keitt in great pain so administered whiskey and morphine. Dr. Salley had him sent to the Berrick House, about three miles to the rear. Salley noted that he bore the trip well and seemed to feel better. Despite a good night's sleep, Dr. Salley thought the next morning that Keitt "was failing." Internal bleeding was the main concern. Dr. Theodore Pryor arrived and concurred with Salley that the wounds were mortal. Keitt disagreed, noting the vigor of his physical system. "Alex, I don't believe this thing will kill me." Realizing the severity of his condition, Keitt asked to see W.W. Duncan, the regiment's chaplain. He explained to Dr. Pryor "that doctrinally his views on the subject of religion were sound, but unfortunately his practice had not been in conformity with his opinions. In Reverend Duncan's absence, James McDowell, chaplain of the Palmetto Sharpshooters, visited him. He found Keitt on a couch "very much weakened and prostrated." McDowell advised Keitt to turn his attention to his savior. Dr. Salley asked if he had any last words. Keitt remained silent for a moment and then said, with a tear from his right eye, "My two children and my wife." Dr. Salley did not think he spoke again.” [Wyckoff, Lawrence Massillon Keitt, @ http://members.tripod.com/~PittmanS/rebel.html ] A photo of his home can be seen at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/H.../keitthome.gif

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CARTER, Thomas H.

Born in King William Co., Va., on 13th June 1831. Son of Thomas Nelson Carter & Juliette Gaines. Graduated from V.M.I. in 1849. Studied medicine at U.Va. & U.Pa., graduating from latter in 1852. Then spent a year working at Blockley Hospital, Philadelphia. After that he ran the family farm until the war. Married Susan Elizabeth Roy on 7th November 1855. Captain, King William Artillery: 1st June 1861. At Seven Pines, “up dashed Capt. Thomas H. Carter’s King William Artillery at the gallop, unlimbered and opened fire at the very nick. It was done magnificently, with the precision of the manual and the dash of a field review. Under Carter’s rapid and accurate fire, the Federals on the flank soon broke and retired. As if that were not enough, Carter dashed out into an open field and, at 400 yards, fought a duel with a Federal battery which occupied another redoubt. [D.H.] Hill saw all of this, thrilled with the joy of battle, and to the end of his days averred that war never had witnessed anything finer. Always Carter remained his ideal artillerist.” Major: 12th December 1862. Lt-Colonel: 2nd March 1863. Colonel: 27th February 1864. Chief of Artillery to Jubal Early in 1864. “After the excessive losses of guns in the Valley, there seemed no good reason for retaining there, weaponless, so fine a combat officer as Col. Tom Carter. With Braxton’s and Cutshaw’s Battalions, he accordingly was brought back to the Richmond defenses [between 17th January and 7th March 1865] and was put in charge of the batteries of the Second Corps on that front.” At Appomattox. John B. Gordon stated that Carter “had no superior in ability and fighting qualities in that arm of the service in either army.” Robert Stiles described him as “the ideal artillerist, the idol of the artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia, today an ideal Southern gentleman and the efficient proctor of our State University. He is a cousin of Robert E. Lee, and combines more of the modesty, simplicity, purity, and valor of his great kinsman than any other living man of my acquaintance.” From 1865 until 1873 he farmed the family farm, at Pampatike in King William Co. He and his wife also ran a school for boys. From 1873 to 1889 he was railroad commissioner of Virginia and commissioner for the Southern Railway & Steamship Association. Later in life he was Proctor of U.Va. Died on 2nd June 1908. Buried in Hollywood Cemetery. [Krick, Lee’s Colonels; Macaluso, Morris, Orange & King William Artillery, p.106; Ferguson, Hollywood Cemetery, Her Forgotten Sons: Confederate Field Officers At Rest; p.30; Freeman, Lee’s Lieutenants, I, p.241; III, p.632; Stiles, Four Years Under Marse Robert, p.91; Krick, Staff Officers In Gray, p.93.]

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COLEMAN, Lewis Minor

Born in Hanover Co., Va., on 3 February 1827. Professor of Latin at U.Va., where he had previously graduated. Principal of Hanover Academy. Married Mary Ambler. Captain, Morris Artillery: August 1861. Major: 12 May 1862. Lt-Colonel: 2 June 1862. Mortally wounded at Fredericksburg on 13 December 1862, dying in Caroline Co. on 21 March 1863: “I don’t know how many were the batteries in all that wide stretch of bottom that were turned loose on our devoted section. It was not long before Colonel Coleman came rushing right into the vortex of the storm demanding: ‘What does all this mean, Captain! Who ordered you to open fire?’ ‘General Jackson himself’ I replied. ‘Well, I take the responsibility of ordering you to stop’, he stated. ‘Very well, Colonel’, I responded, ‘those Yankees down there will pretty soon compel us to quit, anyway.’ Just then it was that Colonel Coleman was cut down, receiving a wound that resulted in his death.” “Coleman was of intelligent stock and was eminently related in Hanover County and elsewhere in Tidewater Virginia. He had won his Master’s degree at the University of Virginia when 17 and, after teaching in private academies for twelve years, had gone back to his Almer Mater as Professor of Latin and Literature. As soon as his colleagues would permit, after the secession of Virginia, he left his chair and joined the Confederate army…His fidelity as a Christian had equalled his skill as an artillerist and had matched his distinction as a scholar. The wounds he received at Fredericksburg, while bringing two howitzers into action, were not regarded at the time as serious but they were to prove fatal. Both Lee and Jackson mentioned him in reports; his Colonel, J. Thompson Brown, praised him warmly and issued a special order at the time of his death. Said Brown of Coleman in this order: ‘Patriotic and brave, his only motive was of duty, his only fear was of God, his last earthly fight was a victory over the enemies of his country, his final struggle was a victory over death itself.’” [Freeman, Lee’s Lieutenants, II, p.387; Krick, Lee’s Colonels; Macaluso, Morris, Orange, and King William Artillery, p.83; Poague, Gunner With Stonewall, p.57.]

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The stretcher bearer's response to this officer is one of the great quotes of Civil War literature.

COUNTESS [or COUNTISS], John B.

Pvt., Co.H, 21st Ga. Inf.: 2nd July 1861. 3rd Lieut.: October 1861. Promoted 1st Lieut. in October 1862. Shortly before Fredericksburg Countess and some other members of the 21st visited some girls and were seen there by General W. Kirkland. He ordered them to go back to their regiment but Countess refused "and some hot words passed, not found in the Sunday School books. Countiss came down to camp that night much excited, said General Kirkland had insulted him and that he was going to challenge General Kirkland to meet him in mortal combat the next morning...He insisted on sending the challenge, saying he "didn't care what the army regulations said about it, no **** West Pointer could run over him." According to Nisbet, Kirkland was amused at the challenge and agreed to meet Countess, but the next morning the Corps was ordered to Fredericksburg where Kirkland was wounded and the matter was apparently dropped. Promoted Captain in 1863. Courtmartialled and cashiered shortly before Gettysburg for insubordination [he had an argument with one of A.P.Hill's staff]. He went into the battle as a private and was restored to his former rank because of his "gallantry on the field of battle." Was wounded in the head at Winchester on 19th September 1864:- "He was picked up by the litter-bearers, and as they bore him off he recovered consciousness and asked 'What are you doing?' They replied: 'You have been killed and we are going to bury you.'...Our surgeon found that a glancing conical ball had struck his forehead, run under the skin and come out at the back of the head. He...soon recovered." Was captured in Lookout Valley, Ala., in the last winter of the war. Nisbet:- "I must say something more of my lieutenant, John B.Countiss, as he was such a good type of the Southern soldier. He was raised on Sand Mountain, Alabama, where he now resides, a hale and hearty octogenarian. On account of some youthful escapade he went to Memphis. The beginning of the war found him running on the Mississippi river as second mate of a St. Louis and New Orleans packet. He enlisted in my company in 1861 to be with his brothers. He soon became conspicuous for his bravery and was promoted to lieutenant...He was a "Hardshell Baptist" and of course very tenacious of his opinions."

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AUGUST, Thomas Pearson

Born on 21st October 1821. Lawyer in Richmond. State legislator. Lieut. in the Richmond Grays during the Mexican War. “August was an unusual Virginian in background and demeanor. His parents had brought him as a child from the Netherlands West Indies to Fredericksburg, where they lived for a decade before moving to Richmond…Tom August became a protégé of and law clerk for the prominent Richmond barrister James Lyons, in whose office he read law before being called to the bar. According to Judge George L. Christian, August was not only ‘the most versatile, genial and popular man at the bar,’ but beloved and ‘the toast of the town’: ‘He was a lawyer of ability, a delightful speaker, and not only captivated the juries with his brilliant presentations, but his manner was so persuasive, courteous and kind that he was almost irrestistible before any tribunal or any audience. Of course, he had a large following in the city, and could get any office and almost anything else he wanted.’ ” Colonel, 1st Va. Vols.: 1853-60. Colonel, 15th Va. Inf.: 17th May 1861. He appears to have had a drink problem since on 29th July 1861 Captain John S. Walker wrote to his wife: “Our Col. August has been on a big frolic for two weeks, too drunk to discharge his duties. I found him tolerably sober a day or two ago and I gave him an earnest, honest talk which he took kindly and I did hope and pray that I had done him good if not in body, from his promises to amend, but as a hog returns to her wallow so the drunkard returns to his cup, and I fear he is no better.” Wounded at Malvern Hill on 1st July 1862. After recovering, he was assigned to the Bureau of Conscripts and command a camp in N.C. Retired through disability on 31st December 1864. Died in Richmond on 31st July 1869. Buried in Hollywood Cemetery. Thomas Cooper DeLeon described him as “the Charles Lamb of Confederate war-wits; genial, quick and ever gay.” John S. Wise wrote: “Sweet Tom August – courtly to dames, loving to friends, brave in war, brilliant at the bar, gentle and loving to the last – green be the grave that covers thee!” [Wise, The End Of An Era, p.68; Shackelford, George Wythe Randolph and the Confederate Elite, pp.24-25; Ferguson, Hollywood Cemetery, Her Forgotten Soldiers: Confederate Field Officers At Rest, p.15.]

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Today we are looking at a collection of dodgy surgeons:

COX, ?

Surgeon of Poague's Artillery Bn. in May 1864. Poague himself wrote:- "Our Surgeon, Dr Cox, had a capacious bomb proof dug about 100 yards in the rear of our position, where he could attend to the wounded "without being molested" as he put it. One day the rain came down in torrents. It had been remarked that the doctor was never seen outside of his cave and some of the men bet that it would not be long now before he would appear, or else be drowned. Not seeing anything of him a man was sent to investigate and found the place flooded and Cox hanging to the timbers overhead trying to keep his body out of the water. When asked why he didn't get out of such a place, he said: 'It was getting somewhat damp, but better to endure it than expose oneself needlessly.'"

COX, ?

Surgeon, 5th Ala. Inf. Bn. "...a small, thin-visaged man, with a small flat head, and a Roman nose, wearing a little military cap and spectacles, mounted on the frame of a bob-tailed horse, came riding slowly along looking very wise. One of our boys, who was prone to speak without much forethought, called out at random, "How are you Dr. Cox?" And sure enough this was his real name and title. The doctor reined up his nag, straightened himself up assuming all the dignity possible and asked sharply, "Who spoke to me?" An audible titter ran through the ranks, and many laughed outright, at which the doctor got furious and demanded in severe tones to have the man pointed out on the spot who had dared to insult him. Poor old George Boyd, for he was the culprit, seemed to wish the ground would open and take him in. The laughter increased and the outraged doctor called for the officer in command, but I am glad to say that he got little comfort or satisfaction." [Fulton, The War Reminiscences Of William Frierson Fulton, pp.63-64.]

FARLEY, J.C.

Assistant-Surgeon, 1st Ga. Regulars: 13th October 1861. At Sharpsburg, on 16th September 1862, "others were...busy mocking the cowardice of the 1st Georgia's assistant surgeon, J.C. Farley. As he broke to the rear a Georgian piped, "Here is a safe place, doctor." Turning about, Farley dodged in the direction of the "concerned" soldier when another hallooed, "Run here, doctor, here is a good place." Several shell concussions nearly flattened him before he abruptly changed course toward a more "safe" spot. No sooner did he reach the place from which the voice emanated than a third prankster from way down the line beckoned him. Unable to bear the infantrymens' cruel sport any longer, he raced to the protection of the small brook which flowed into the town's reservoir. Farley's antics literally left the infantrymen clutching their sides and roaring with laughter." [The source for this story as one relating to Farley is the article by William H.Andrews in Confederate Veteran, Vol.XVI, p.578. The editor of Andrews' memoirs - "Footprints of a Regiment", in which the same story is told without naming the officer, is unsure of his identity but suggests it might be Assistant Surgeon W.R.Bickers. It appears that Farley may also have served in the 2nd Ga. Inf.]

MONTGOMERY, William T.

Resident of Harford County, Md. Assistant Surgeon or Surgeon, 5th Ala Inf. Bn. On one occasion he and the battalion's other surgeon, one Pearson, got drunk on medicinal whiskey and had a fight - with Montgomery suffering a gash over an eye. "At night when everything was still, lights out and darkness lending its kindly aid, some mischievieous fellow with voice disguised would call out at the top of his voice, 'Who cut a half moon over Dr Montgomery's eye?' Someone in another part of camp would make reply, 'Dr Pearson.' And thus it would go around camp to the delectation of the soldiers. For nights and nights they would go through this performance, to the disgust of the two surgeons and the amusement of those engaged." He was also Surgeon of the 10th Ala Inf. Served on J.J. Archer's staff in the summer of 1863. At Appomattox he was Surgeon of the 48th N.C. Inf. [Fulton, The War Reminiscences Of William Frierson Fulton, pp.94-95.]

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McDANIEL, Henry Dickerson

Born in Monroe, Ga., on 4th September 1836. Graduated from Mercer University in 1856. Resident of Walton Co., Ga., where he began practicing law in 1857. Was the youngest member of the State Convention of 1861: he opposed secession but finally signed the ordinance. 1st Lieut., Co.H, 11th Ga. Inf.: 3rd July 1861. A.Q.M.: 15th July 1861. Briefly served as Lieut. & A.A.A.G. to G.T. Anderson in April 1862, and again from July to August of the same year. Captain: 29th August 1862. Major: 11th August 1862. Wounded at Funkstown on 10th July 1863. Captured at Hagerstown on 12th July 1863. Robert Stiles described him as follows: “While a prisoner at Johnson’s Island, in the spring of ’65 I became much interested in one of my fellow prisoners, a Major McDaniel, of Georgia. He did not at first strike one as an impressive man. Indeed, if I recollect rightly, he had somewhat of an impediment in his speech and was not inclined to talk much, but there was a peculiar pith and point and weight in what he did say, and those who knew him best seemed to regard him as a man of mark and to treat him with the greatest respect. The impression he made upon me was of simplicity and directness, good sense and good character, dignity, gravity, decorum.” Released from Johnson’s Island on 25th July 1865. Married Hester Caroline Felker in December 1865, and had two children. Post-war lawyer, state legislator & senator. Governor of Ga.: 1883-86. Baptist. Died on 25th July 1926. [Krick, Staff Officers In Gray, p.207; Stiles, Four Years Under Marse Robert, p.220-221.] A photo of his home in Monroe, Ga., can be seen at http://www.georgiatrust.org/historic...l_tichenor.htm A portrait of him as Governor can be seen at http://www.sos.state.ga.us/onlinetou..._mcdaniel.html

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FAIRFAX, John Walter

Born at Prospect Hill, Dumfries, Va., on 30th June 1828. Only son of Captain Henry Fairfax, a tobacco shipping agent and major landowner, and his third wife, Elizabeth Lindsay. “Young John attended the Alexandria boarding school of Benjamin Hallowell for four years. He read medicine for a year, and he entered the University of Pennsylvania in the fall of 1847. His education was cut very short when his parents died within a month of each other in October and November 1847." He married Mary Jane Rogers on 27th September 1848, and had five children. In 1852 he purchased Oak Hill, the Loudoun County estate of President James Monroe. The 1860 census shows that he owned 17 slaves and was worth $105,000. Captain & V.A.D.C. to Nathaniel G. Evans in 1861. In August 1861 he took the same position under Longstreet. Captain & A.A.G. & I.G.: April 1862. “At the start of the war, he had the presence of mind to hide away years worth of supplies in different locations, to provide for his family. He also kept the headquarters well supplied with food and drink from his own stocks.” Major & A.A.G. to Longstreet: 7 October 1862. Moxley Sorrel evidently liked him: “Major Fairfax was then in middle age, tall, courtly and rather impressive. He had attached himself at once to Longstreet, and took charge of his mess and small wants, presented him with a superb mount, and did the best he could with his new military duties. He lacked nothing in courage; was brave and would go anywhere. But Fairfax had two distinctions – he was the most pious of churchmen and was a born bon vivant, knowing and liking good things. Whiskey later was hard to get, yet he managed to have always a good supply on hand.” Described by one fellow officer as "fond of his bottle, his Bible and his bath; always at the front when danger pressed, but a fine looking fellow very much given to show." Another officer described him as "clownish and silly". Promoted Lt-Colonel in January 1865. Lt-Colonel, AA&IG, 1st Corps, at Appomattox. “For a time after the war, the Federal government seized both Oak Hill and Leesylvania. Oak Hill was used by the freedman’s bureau. Eventually both estates were returned to Fairfax. He often entertained old comrades and even former enemies. He hosted a reunion of Mosby’s Rangers at Oak Hill. He was forced to sell off Oak Hill in parcels to meet debts. The house itself was sold in 1873. Bellegrove was also sold in parcels. The house was destroyed by fire in December, 1875. Fairfax retired to his relatively modest house at Leesylvania, where he died on March 22, 1908, of heart disease. The chimney of this house is still standing, and the view of the Potomac from the hill where the house stood is breathtaking.” Buried in Union Cemetery, Leesburg. [Sorrel, At The Right Hand Of Longstreet, p.35.]

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GARDNER, Benjamin

Born in Onslow Co., N.C., on 10th June 1814. Son of Thomas Gardner & Rebecca Wallace. Educated in the common schools of Augusta & Macon, Ga. Methodist & Mason. Married Catherine Collins on 14th February 1833. Worked as an apprentice in the printing office of the Macon Telegraph from 1833 to 1838. Then published the Georgia Mirror in Florence, Ga., from 1838 to 1840. Married Eliza Ann Harwell in 1841. In 1841 he established the Southern Whig in Eufala, Ala. J.P., postmaster & state legislator there. In 1852 he moved to Montgomery and became part-owner of the Alabama Journal. Married Mrs. Harriet Louisa Sumner on 1st July 1853. Was admitted to the bar in December 1854. Practiced law until the war, and again afterwards. Captain, Co.I, 15th Ala. Inf.: 18th July 1861. W.C. Oates described how he approached his candidature for the Lt-Colonelcy of the regiment upon its formation:- "Gardner was a big, burly, coarse, rough-looking man in his uniform, with a heavy brow, bushy hair, slightly gray, and a remarkably heavy voice; and when he addressed my company with great emphasis and violent gesture, he actually intimidated the men, especially when he declared that 'If you elect me to command, I will command, and you will obey.'" Oates had more to say about Gardner: "Upon [our] first march several ludicrous scenes occured, one of which was Captain Gardner marching at the head of his company with a great umbrella stretched over him. It had a most unmilitary appearance, but the captain was large and corpulent...unused to the sun, fifty-two years old, and therefore excusable." Resigned on 5th December 1861, citing the death of his wife. Oates wrote: "While at this camp my old friend Captain Ben Gardner, who when he started out...declared in a speech at Farriorville that, while he had always been a Union man, he was then going to fight for secession and separate national existence, and...he would not only fight, but would swear his children forever to be the enemies of the Union, now became disgusted with war and soldiering and resigned. Eloquence on the stump after a good square meal, in which it is so easy for a fellow to talk up his patriotism to wading in blood and dying for his country, is quite a different thing from acting it out in the field; and Captain Ben was not the only man who found it out....He was a lawyer by profession and pretty well known in Alabama politics. Just after the close of the war he claimed to have been an intense Union man and condemned secession. He then claimed to be a Democrat. During the period of reconstruction he became a Republican, and in 1872 was elected Attorney-General on that ticket. He was a candidate for re-election two years thereafter, but was defeated. Several years afterwards he moved to Texas, resided with his son, Howard, and died at the age of 90 years." Married Ann Eliza Starke on 11th January 1863. Died in Palestine, Texas, on 24th November 1902. The author of "When The War Was Over" is somewhat more trusting of Gardner’s political constancy than Oates, and refers to him as an "earnest and consistent Union man" who had been "overawed" in 1861. [Oates, The War Between The Union & The Confederacy; Carter, When The War Was Over: The Failure Of Self-Reconstruction In The South, pp.273-274.]