{⋆★⋆} MG Gardner, Franklin

Franklin Gardner​

Born: January 29, 1823

Birthplace: New York City, New York

Father: Lt. Colonel Charles Kitchell Gardner 1787 – 1869

(Buried: Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.)​

Mother: Anne Eliza McLean 1801 – 1880

(Buried: Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.)​

Wife: Marie Celeste Mathilde Mouton 1831 – 1915

(Buried: Saint John Cemetery, Lafayette, Louisiana)​

Education:

1843: Graduated from West Point Military Academy (17th​ in class)​

Occupation before War:

1843 –1845: Brevet 2nd​ Lt. United States Army, 7th​ Infantry Regiment​

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1845 – 1847: 2nd​ Lt. United States Army, 7th​ Infantry Regiment​

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1846: Brevetted 1st​ Lt. for Gallantry at Battle of Monterey, Mexico​

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1847: Brevetted Captain for Gallantry at Battle of Cerro Gordo, Mexico​

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1847 – 1855: 1st​ Lt. United States Army, 7th​ Infantry Regiment​

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1855 – 1861: Captain United States Army, 10th​ Infantry Regiment​

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1861: Dropped from United States Army on May 7th​​

Civil War Career:

1861: Lt. Colonel of Confederate Army Infantry​

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1861: Captain and Assistant Adjutant General on Early's Staff​

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1862: Served with a Confederate Cavalry Regiment​

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1862: Volunteer Aide to Braxton Bragg at Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee​

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1862: Brigadier General of Confederate Army Cavalry​

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1862: Served in the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky​

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1862 – 1865: Major General of Confederate Army​

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Commander of Fortifications at Port Hudson​

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1863: Captured during the Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana​

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1863 – 1864: Prisoner of War held by the Union Army​

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1864: Exchanged in the Prisoner of War exchange in August​

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1864 – 1865: Commander of District of Mississippi & Eastern Louisiana​

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1865: Surrendered his department at Meridian, Mississippi, May 11th​​

Occupation after War:

1865 – 1873: Farmer in what today is Lafayette, Louisiana​

Died: April 29, 1873

Place of Death: Lafayette, Louisiana

Age at time of Death: 50 years old

Cause of Death: Not Known

Burial Place: Saint John Cemetery, Lafayette, Louisiana

 

[gentlemanrob]

Happy weekend (January 29th) Birthday Major General Franklin Gardner! Salutes remembering General Gardner on his birthday weekend.

 

[bayouace]

Commander at Port Hudson where his roughly 6,000 out-gunned men held off nearly 30,000 troops under Banks in the longest land siege in U.S. military history. The surrender of Vicksburg caused him to surrender, as well.

 

[lupaglupa]

I assume it was because of his wife that he chose to side with the South.

 

[Sheltowee]

I assume it was because of his wife that he chose to side with the South.

And his mother was a Louisianan, as well.

Received his USMA appointment through the state of Iowa?

 

[bayouace]

I assume it was because of his wife that he chose to side with the South.

All true. His family moved to Iowa, and there he was appointed to West Point. His mother was from a Louisiana plantation family. His father-in-law was serving in Congress when Gardner met his wife-to-be. She was a sister of Gen. Alfred Mouton of Battle of Mansfield note.

 

[lupaglupa]

So more than just the wife. I'm always interested in the stories of people who had to chose sides. Not that everyone didn't, but those who made a less obvious choice.