Receipt for the amount of $800.00 for a "Negro Slave named John", made out to Doct. Thomas S. Garnett, dated Richmond, VA - May 18th, 1858.
Thomas Stuart GARNETT--- a graduate in medicine from the University of
Virginia in 1843--- became a first Lieutenant and adjutant in the First
Virginia Regiment. He volunteered for duty in the war with Mexico and
following that conflict he practised medicine in his native county until the
Civil War commenced in 1861. Although he was a physician by profession, Thomas
Stuart GARNETT chose to enter the army of the Confederacy as a line officer
rather than as a part of the medical brigade.
During the War the Governor of Virginia appointed him Lieutenant Colonel of
the 48th Virginia Infantry. He served with distinction in West Virginia and
was severely wounded while leading his regiment as Commander in the battle of
Cedar Mountain near Culpeper, County in 1862. He later served in Stonewall
Jackson's corps taking part in all the distinguished engagements of that
corps.
He was several times honourably mentioned in dispatches and general orders for
"gallant and meritorious conduct". He commanded a brigade that took part in
the Fredericksburg campaign and as a result of this engagement he was
subsequently promoted to Brigadier General.
Tragically, Thomas Stuart GARNETT was killed in the Battle of Chancellorsville
on May 4, 1863 just a few hours before his new commission as Brigadier General
had reached him. He was only 38 years and 15 days old and died of wounds
received on the previous day while in command of the 2nd Brigade of the
Stonewall Division of Confederate Army under General Robert E. Lee.
His body was laid in state in the capitol at Richmond and "every honor a
loving people could bestow was paid him".
Thomas Stuart GARNETT is mentioned in Walker's Memorial Volume of the Virginia
Military Institute, and his name is on the bronze tablet on the Rotunda
Building of the University of Virginia. His picture, dressed in the uniform
of a brigadier general of the Confederate Army, is displayed on the wall of
the courtroom of Montross, Westmorland County, Virginia.