Major General Franklin Gardner

Major General Franklin Gardner

       Frank Gardner was born in 1823 in New York City. His father was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and his mother was from a wealthy Louisiana family. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1838 and graduated 17th out of 39 cadets in the Class of 1843. His one note of distinction was his ranking of first in his class in drawing which was considered an important subject at the time because of the need to draw fortifications and maps in wartime. 

       Like his father, Frank married into a wealthy Louisiana family. He married Marie Celeste Mathilde Mouton, the sister of future Confederate Brigadier General Jean Jacques Alfred Alexander Mouton (see my blog http://trrcobb.blogspot.com/2010/12/general-with-long-name-jean-jacques.html). Her father Alexander Mouton would also become the governor of Louisiana. 

       Following graduation from West Point, he entered military service in the infantry. He would see at least four major battles in the Mexican War and was distinguished twice for gallantry. He served under Albert Sidney Johnston during the Morman Expedition with the rank of captain. When the South seceded from the Union, he never bothered to resign, but simply departed his post in Utah for Louisiana. 

       He spent the early part of the Civil War bouncing from post to post. He served as a lieutenant colonel of infantry, a staff officer under Jubal Early, commanded a brigade of cavalry, and even saw action at Shiloh. When Beauregard became commander of the Army of Mississippi, he was promoted to brigadier general commanding all the cavalry of the army. Gardner would see action at Perryville in this capacity. Following Perryville, he promoted to major general and sent to the position he would become most famous for holding: Port Hudson. 

       Although John C. Pemberton and Vicksburg have gained more attention, Port Hudson was just as important as Vicksburg as a fort defending the Mississippi River. While Vicksburg held the northern part of a 200 mile section of the Mississippi, Port Hudson held the southern point. While Pemberton's 33,000 man army was withstanding a siege by Ulysses Grant and his army of 77,000, Frank Gardner was fighting longer odds. His 7,500 men were facing between thirty and forty thousand under Nathaniel Banks. 

A Confederate Columbiad at Port Hudson

       At Port Hudson, Frank Gardner placed his engineering skills to good work. He strengthened the fort and prepared the defenders for hard fighting. When Banks army arrived, Gardner withstood 47 days of siege and inflicted 5,000 casualties on his enemy. Another 5,000 Union soldiers became casualties to disease during this same period. Gardner's total casualties amounted to almost one thousand men. 

        He refused to surrender until July 9, 1863 after he was certain that Vicksburg had fallen and that Joseph Johnston wasn't coming to his aide with reinforcements. His men were half starved, been exposed to constant artillery fire for over forty days, had no medical supplies, and were utterly exhausted. He had accomplished far more than most men would have in the same situation. 

       He remained a prisoner of war until August of 1864 when he was exchanged. Gardner was then sent to command the District of Mississippi and East Louisiana under Richard Taylor. He would see minimal action for the remainder of the war. Following the war, he made a living farming in Lafayette, Louisiana. He would only survive the war by eight years. He died at age fifty of unknown causes. His tombstone lists his middle name as Kitchell, although there are few other sources that show him having a middle name. 

Frank Gardner's grave

       He rests today in Saint John's Cemetery in Lafayette, Louisiana. His wife Mary would outlive him by almost 42 years. He rests in the same cemetery as his brother-in-law Brigadier General Jean Jacques Alfred Alexander Mouton who was killed at the Battle of Mansfield in 1864. 

An image said to be Franklin Gardner, some people believe this is actually a photograph of Confederate Brigadier General Richard Brooke Garnett

(See my blog http://trrcobb.blogspot.com/2011/01/who-is-richard-brooke-garnett.html?showComment=1434653687876#c3561612509051448284)

Civil War ego's: Grant and Banks

Nathaniel Prentiss Banks

       Ever wonder why certain generals of the Civil War were more loved by their men than others? I have a theory. First, let me set the stage.

       When Nathaniel Prentiss Banks ordered his second assault on Port Hudson against Franklin Gardner's entrenched Confederate troops, he suffered over 1500 casualties in a very short time. His wounded lay suffering in the hot July sun and when the Southern troops attempted to go assist these poor men, they were fired on by the Federals on Banks' orders. Gardner sent a flag of truce to Banks asking for a truce that his men may go out and bury Banks' dead, Banks replied that he had no dead on the field. 

       One of Banks' subordinates, General William Dwight had several Confederate officers send him messages asking for a truce to bury the dead and tend the wounded. Dwight replied, "No, sir, it is a strategem of the enemy to get the dead carcasses carried away from their works. No sir. I'll stink the rebels out of the citadel with the dead bodies of these damned volunteers. If I cannot make the cowards take it by storm, as I have ordered them to do." Surprisingly, Dwight wasn't very loved by his troops either. The bodies of his troops lay on the field as the bones were picked clean by vultures until the siege ended. 

Ulysses Grant

       Many present day historians have attempted to re-write history by attempting to show what everyone during Civil War times knew about the man. Grant was nicknamed the "butcher" and apparently for good reason. More importantly, it wasn't the people of the southern states who gave Grant this nickname, but his own people. 

       After Grant's assault at Vicksburg, hundreds of dead and wounded lay between the lines in the Mississippi sun. The cries of the wounded caused Confederate troops to venture out in the night to give these poor men water. Confederate General James Pemberton asked Grant for a truce so Grant could bury his dead and recover the wounded. Pemberton even told Grant the southern troops would do this for Grant if he didn't want to care for his own men. Grant refused citing that it would appear a weakness on his part to call a truce. The Confederate soldiers complained that Grant was attempting to stink them out of Vicksburg because he couldn't take it. Finally, Grant's own medical staff warned Grant that the bodies were bound to cause health and sanitation problems if not buried. Grant then relented. 

       After the bloody assaults at Cold Harbor which inflicted 9000 casualties on Grant's army, he found himself again with hundreds of dead and wounded between the lines. Lee's men had been entrenched and therefore had no bodies between the lines. Hancock asked his commander to ask for a truce to care for the wounded and bury the dead. 

       Grant understood that to ask Lee for a truce was the same as admitting he had been defeated in the climactic battle of his first campaign in the east. Therefore, he wrote Lee saying it has been reported to me there are wounded between the lines of both armies. If it was alright with Lee, anyone along the line could call a truce to attend these men. The wording of the note to Lee made it appear that Grant had been too busy to notice there were wounded men between the lines.

       Lee worried about misunderstandings with anyone along the line calling temporary truces replied to Grant that he would agree to a truce if Grant desired one, but it should be done by the commanders, not individual soldiers. Grant decided to pretend he misunderstood Lee. He wrote Lee saying he understood Lee wanted a flag of truce and would send the men out at noon the next day. 

       Lee was forced to write Grant again apologizing that he had not made himself clear. He stated that for a truce to be made it should be sent from one army commander to another in the proper military way. Grant finally conceded and requested the truce, but by the time he did so it was too late and the wounded lay between the lines another night. 

       It is interesting to note, that while Lee was eventually defeated by Grant, it is Lee who was more respected by his men. Although, some modern historians want us to think Grant was not what history labeled him, one can understand how he earned his nickname. His ego certainly ruled his decision making at times, where a commander who loved his men would have realized his mistake and asked for a truce right away. Of course there were commanders who cared too much for their men. Two such generals were McClellan and Joe Johnston who often refused to fight for fear of losing any men. These type men are poor commanders also. There is a fine line between a general who cares for his men and yet is able to send them to their deaths. Lee is an example of just that type commander.