Brigadier General Richard Brooke Garnett reported for duty on December 7, 1861 as commander of the Stonewall Brigade, part of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's Division, while they campaigned in the Shenandoah Valley. Garnett's short tenure had a stormy beginning. Succeeding Jackson, in command of the Stonewall Brigade after Jackson's promotion, everything he did was measured against "Old Jack's" ability. Resentment in the ranks over an "outsider" taking command of the Stonewall Brigade hampered Garnett's initial efforts. Most unsettling of all, Jackson did not like him.

Garnett was seven years older than his new commander and a product of Virginia tidewater aristocracy. He finished West Point five years ahead of Jackson (of forty graduates in his class alive in 1861, twenty-one became generals). Garnett had seen twenty years of frontier duty that included fighting both Indians and land squatters.

Such a life left him a bachelor in spite of his handsomeness. Of medium height, with light blue eyes, blonde hair, and clean-shaven, Garnett seemed "quite military in appearance and gentlemanly." Jackson expected Garnett to be a stern taskmaster for troops who sometimes needed much control. The valley commander was unaware of an appraisal of Garnett by one of his friends: "He is as sensitive and proud as he is fearless and sweet-spirited."

Perhaps it was the aristocratic background, or handing over a prized brigade to an unknown. Jackson was not impressed with Garnett's background; according to one source, Jackson considered Garnett a political appointee with little military experience. Moreover, in quick time, the commander would discover that Garnett was not the stern and demanding brigadier that Jackson liked at the head of brigades.

After Garnett's Stonewall Brigade was driven back at the battle of Kernstown in March of 1862. Jackson felt that a command change had to be made. The move was probably the most controversial personnel action in Jackson's Civil War career. His outward mood in the days after Kernstown had been, if not cheerful, at least positive. Yet Jackson seethed over the climax of the engagement south of Winchester. Back in January, he had warned the War Department that Richard Garnett was "unable to meet emergencies" of any kind and could "not be expected to make proper dispositions of his command under fire." Kernstown had proven Jackson right. Garnett had broken off the battle vithout orders; his retirement had forced the entire Southern army to withdraw from he field; his excuses were superficial; an able officer had no need to make excuses.

On April 1st, 1862 Jackson relieved the brigadier general and preferred charges. "I regard Gen. Garnett as so incompetent a Brigade commander," Jackson had stated earlier, "that, instead of building up a Brigade, a good one, if turned over to him, it could actually deteriorate under his command." Garnett reacted to his dismissal with cold fury. He demanded an immediate trial. To friends he was uncharacteristically intemperate in his remarks. Mrs. William N. Pendleton in Lexington told her husband: "Gen. Garnett, I am afraid, has the tendency of his family to free speech. He uses no measured language about Jackson's Winchester Folly and says nothing but the timidity of the enemy prevented a total tefeat." The case dragged on for months, much to Garnett's distress, because Jackson never was in one place long enough for a court-martial to convene.

The announcement of Garnett's dismissal, coming as it did without any warning, ripped through the valley army like a tornado. Usually modest and unassuming, Dick Garnett had acquired an affection from his soldiers second only to that which they felt for Jackson. Perhaps Garnett at Kernstown had committed an "unfortunate blunder," as one officer termed it. Every person was entitled to a mistake and a second chance. Jackson obviously did not subscribe to such mortal thinking.

Confederates fighting there after under Jackson would experience other engagements as desperate as Kernstown, but the general was ensuring early in this campaign that no one there after would even think of retreat without being ordered to do so. Strict discipline was imperative to success, the youthful soldiers and officers must learn. Obedience to commands would be instant and unbroken. Anything less were grounds for expulsion with attendant humiliation. The Almighty might have instilled in men the tendency to give way in the face of hopelessness; yet it was clear from this point forward that Jackson expected true servants of God to rise above such human weakness.

The five regimental colonels in the Stonewall Brigade felt Garnetts actions at Kernstown to have been justified. Deep resentment coursed through the ranks of Jackson's old brigade. Major Frank Jones of the 2nd Virginia was especially outspoken, told his wife that "our Brigade is astounded at the order & had it not been that our Cause was too sacred to jeopardize there would have been considerable commotion made amongst us."

For a good while, the brigade refused to cheer Jackson when he rode through their encampment. Not one of the regimental commanders made any effort to conceal his anger. Sandie Pendleton of the staff summed up the situation in a letter to his mother. "The brigade is in a very loud humour at [Garnett's arrest] for he was a pleasant man and exceedingly popular.... I am sorry for him for he can get no trial and is virtually ruined for the war. The arrest was, however, necessary, and I now see why Napoleon considered a blunder worse than a fault. Genl. G's fault was a blunder."

Finally Lee, short of trained officers as usual, assigned Garnett to Pickett's brigade for the Sharpsburg campaign, after Pickett had been wounded at Gaines' Mill, and the charges against him were pigeonholed in the light of his unfailing diligence.

Just a few months later the great general Stonewall was mortaly wounded at Chanceloresville. At the funeral in Richmond in walked General Richard Garnett. He proceeded to the casket and looked silently at the dead warrior. Tears filled Garnett's eyes. He turned to the two aides and said: "You know of the unfortunate breach between General Jackson and myself. I can never forget it, nor cease to regret it. But I wish here to assure you that no one can lament his death more sincerely than I do. I believe that he did me a great injustice, but I believe also that he acted from the purest motives. He is dead. Who can fill his place!" Pendleton invited Garnett to be one of the pallbearers. The brigadier accepted gratefully. Less than two months later, Dick Garnett would be killed in battle.

But his spirit had been crushed by the reproaches of his severe commander and stirred by a deep sense of injustice, and he believed Jackson guilty of deliberate falsehoods. When Pickett returned to duty and became a major general in September 1862, Garnett retained the brigade permanently as a part of Pickett's division. Pickett's widow, and biographer felt that "the sensitive mind of the brave general never recovered from what he regarded as a stigma upon his military career." That was the reason, she felt, and probably Pickett had the same belief, why Garnett insisted on leading the brigade at Gettysburg at a time when he was scarcely strong enough, a debilitating illness, to sit on his horse. Nothing in his animated conduct suggested his physical weakness. He gave his orders with and rode the lines with apparent enthusiasm. The only hint that he wore his heavy blue overcoats on the hot summer day.

Walter Harrison, inspector general of Pickett's division, thought Garnett's whole purpose was to expose himself, even unnecessarily, "to wipe out effectively, by some great distinction in action, what he felt was an unmerited slur on his military reputation." Eppa Hunton said of him simply, "He was one of the noblest and bravest men I ever knew."