Colonel Robert Rice Garland, 6th Texas Infantry
Garland is one of the most infamous figures in the history of Granbury's Texas Brigade. He is held responsible for the surrender at Arkansas Post, an event which heavily affected the brigade for the remainder of the year. However, his role in the brigade's history is often sidelined and forgotten after this incident. This I wish to somewhat correct.
Garland was born in Lovington, Nelson County, Virginia, May 11th of 1821. He joined the army on December 30th, 1847, and rose to the rank of Captain in the 7th U.S. Infantry Regiment. When war broke out, he was initially stationed in Fort Fillmore, New Mexico Territory, but resigned to join the Confederacy, initially serving as inspector general of the Department of Texas at his former rank of Captain. On December 12th, 1861, he received a promotion from Davis to Colonel and put in command of the 6th Texas Infantry (Lundberg 33-34).
Colonel Garland soon became respected and despised for his martinet habits and intense drilling. While this did dampen his reputation amongst the men, it meant that the regiment became "one of the better drilled and disciplined regiments in Texas" (Lundberg 35). In May of 1862, his regiment was ordered to Arkansas, and in July he was given a brigade consisting of the 6th Texas Infantry, 24th and 25th Texas Dismounted Cavalry Regiments (Lundberg 83). On September 19th, his command was assigned to Arkansas Post, where he was joined by Colonel Deshler's Brigade (10th Infantry, 15th, 17th and 18th DIsmounted Cavalry) and Colonel Dunnington's Brigade (19th and 24th Arkansas Infantry), plus independent cavalry companies and artillery batteries, under the combined command of Brigadier Thomas Churchill.
When the assault on Fort Hindman began at 1pm on the 11th of January, 1863, Garland's Brigade held the center of the line, with the fort (under Colonel Dunnington) to his right and Deshler's men to his left. His men held out under bombardment and attack for 3 hours. At 4pm, Porter's gunboats force Dunnington's surrender. After this point, the infamous incident occured.
According to Lundberg, at this time, a cry went out, saying that Churchill had surrendered and that the men should wave the white flag. Men from the 24th Texas on the left of the line began raising whatever white garments they had on hand, without orders from Garland. Garland dithered in confusion about whether the order was real or a false alarm, but this allowed federal infantry to exploit the situation and move into the trench. As this occurred, General Sherman rode up to the works and "demanded to know who commanded 'at this point'". Garland, commander of the brigade in this sector, showed himself, and was made to surrender the rest of his command (Lundberg 93).
This all led eventually to the end of hostilities and the surrender of the garrison. It took time to convince Deshler (who was out of touch with the situation to his right, a sign of the breakdown of communication in the Confederate command) to surrender his command. However, it was essentially over. 4791 Confederates were now in Federal hands.
Much blame has been put upon Garland for the surrender. Ed Bearss posited that Garland holds responsibility for the situation unraveling, that he should have recognized the surrender had started on his left, when Churchill's headquarters was to his right and should have started there; and that his dithering at the moment all but doomed the battle. However, Lundberg deems this criticism "while accurate as far as it goes, is probably not completely fair to Garland", as "the chaos of battle battles" makes it "almost impossible to make snap decisions of such magnitude" (Lundberg 96-97). Most of the commanders in this battle, besides Churchill and Deshler, and recent experiences in command, whereas, despite Lundberg's assertion, there is no evidence Garland had received military education before joining the army.
Garland and his men remained in federal encampment before being exchanged at City Point in early May. On May 9th, Garland and his brigade (still a separate entity) boarded trains from Petersburg to Tennessee, joining the Army of the Tennessee. When his and Deshler's Brigades were consolidated, his regiment was consolidated with the 10th Infantry and 15th Cavalry, and despite being the senior colonel, Colonel Mills was given the command, while Garland was placed on detachment pending court martial for his actions at Arkansas Post.
On July 14th, Garland request a court of inquiry on his actions at Arkansas Post, feeling slighted by Churchill's insinuations that he had been responsible. Churchill, wanting to appease the Virginian, held an informal brigade court which determined, in the words of Sam Foster, "All the investigation could not ascertain who gave the order to raise the white Flag on the Fort, at Ark. Post. They came very near finding
where it started but not
who started it.
Nor will it ever be known in this world" (Brown,
One of Cleburne's Own, 49; emphasis in original). It should be noted this account comes from a captain in the 24th Texas, whom Lundberg places as the originator of the debacle.
Garland desired to return to his command. According to a letter to his wife on August 16th, Roger Mills claims Garland applied to take command of his consolidated regiment from the junior Mills, but that Churchill preferred Mills in command, and wrote as such to Bragg . The men in the ranks held a similar view (though less warm to Mills' leadership than the Colonel would prefer). However, it seems that Deshler, the new commander of the brigade, wanted Garland in command of the regiment, hence why Mills was so fearful of Garland's moves (Lundberg 140).
Garland then served in supernumerary posts for the following campaigns. With Colonel Mills' wounding at Chattanooga, there was an opening to return Garland to command his old consolidated regiment. This would leave then commander Hiram Granbury as junior Colonel and force him to return to regiment command, something his superiors did not want. Thus, he remained as Provost Marshall of Dalton until Granbury was promoted in February.
After the 10th Texas was unconsolidated with the 6th&15th Texas, Colonel Garland was placed in command once again. He took part in the early stages of the Atlanta Campaign, though little is written of his actions over the campaign until the events of June 6th. However, he would have been in command of the 6th&15th Texas at Pickett's Mill, playing a conspicuous role there on the right flank.
On June 6th, Colonel Garland had Colonel Francis Wilkes of the 24th&25th Texas arrested. Colonel Wilkes pushed for charges against Garland for the action. The exact motives seem to be lost to time, though given Garland being scapegoated at Arkansas Post and Wilkes being the commander of the 24th Texas in the debacle may have been the cause. Whatever the cause, General Johnston had both officers sent to Atlanta in punishment.
What role Garland had in these days is uncertain, as Lundberg makes no further mention of his role in the remainder of the brigade's history. Tshaonline puts him as being in command of the regiment during the engagements around Bald Hill (he was not, the regiment was commanded by Captain Rhoads Fisher) and commanded the brigade at points during the campaign, before his wounding on August 25th (no evidence for this either). However, all I have on the rest of his life are these small blurbs from tshaonline, and so, I have to rely on this.
After being wounded on August 25th, he was on leave in Alabama, where he surrendered June 3rd of 1865. He moved to Washington D.C. after the war, dying of Tuberculosis (contracted from his time in prison) at his sister's home in Lynchburg, Virginia, June 13th, 1870.
Sources:
John R. Lundberg,
Granbury's Texas Brigade, Diehard Western Confederate
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/garland-robert-rice
Robert Rice Garland :CSA1stNat: Born: May 11, 1821 Birthplace: Lovington, Nelson County, Virginia Father: James Parker Garland 1780 – 1854 (Buried: Mount Zion Cemetery, Akron, Alabama) Mother: Kautrach H. Stone 1788 – 1827 Wife: Elizabeth Phillips Wolfe 1831 - Children: Althea Garland...
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