07/03/2026
The 8th remembers our General at Gettysburg Richard Brooke Garnett who lost his life leading his brigade during Pickett’s Charge. Prior to starting out toward the Union defenses on Cemetery Ridge, Garnett conversed with Brig. Gen. Lewis Armistead, another of Pickett’s brigade commanders, about the proposed charge. Garnett reportedly said: “This is a desperate thing to attempt” to which Armistead added his prediction that “the slaughter will be terrible.
Garnett got within 20 yards of the “Angle” on Cemetery Ridge before he was killed, a bullet striking him in the head as he waved his hat to urge his men forward. His courier, Private Robert H. Irvine of the 19th Virginia, witnessed his death. Irvine’s horse was hit and fell on Garnett, so the private pulled Garnett’s body from underneath the animal and retrieved the general’s watch, which he gave to the brigade adjutant. There are conflicting stories about whether Garnett’s horse, a bay gelding named Red Eye, returned to the Confederate lines. Although Garnett was wearing a new uniform, somehow his body was never identified and he was buried by Union soldiers in a mass grave. Robert K. Krick presumes that his remains were later transferred to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.
