Richard B . Garnett Richard Brooke Garnett ( November 21 , 1817 – July 3 , 1863 ) was a career United States Army officer and a Confederate general in the American Civil War . He was killed during Pickett ' s Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg . Early life . Garnett was born on the " Rose Hill " estate in Essex County , Virginia , the son of William Henry Garnett and Anna Maria Brooke , both of primarily English ancestry . He had a twin brother , William , who died in Norfolk in 1855 . He was the cousin of Robert Selden Garnett , also a Confederate general , who holds the dubious distinction of being the first general officer killed during the Civil War . Both of the cousins graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1841 , with Richard standing 29th out of 52 cadets , two spots below Robert . Garnett was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 6th U . S . Infantry and he served in a variety of posts in Florida , fighting the Seminoles , and then in the West , where he commanded Fort Laramie , rode with the Utah Expedition , and was a noted Indian fighter . During the Mexican - American War , he served in staff positions in New Orleans , and was promoted to first lieutenant on February 16 , 1847 . He learned of the outbreak of the Civil War while serving in California as a captain , the rank to which he had been promoted on May 9 , 1855 . Despite believing strongly that the Union should not be dissolved , he returned to Virginia to fight for his native state and the Confederacy . Civil War . Garnett resigned his commission in the U . S . Army on May 17 , 1861 , and entered the Confederate States Army . His first assignment in Virginia was as a major of artillery in May , and then as lieutenant colonel of Cobb ' s Georgia Legion on August 31 . He was promoted to brigadier general on November 14 , 1861 , and commanded the 1st Brigade of the Valley District of the Confederate Army of the Potomac , which was the brigade originally formed by Thomas J . " Stonewall " Jackson , the Stonewall Brigade ; Jackson was now in overall command in the Shenandoah Valley . During Jackson ' s Valley Campaign of 1862 , Garnett ' s military career took a downward turn at the First Battle of Kernstown in March . Jackson marched his army to intercept a portion of the Union Army under Maj . Gen . Nathaniel P . Banks . On March 23 , Jackson ' s cavalry commander , Col . Turner Ashby , brought faulty intelligence that the retreating Union division of Brig . Gen . James Shields had four regiment s in the rear outside Winchester , Virginia . Since that force was of comparable size to Jackson ' s , he ordered Garnett and the Stonewall Brigade to attack . Unfortunately , Shields had a full infantry division on hand , almost 9 , 000 men , twice the size of Jackson ' s force . The attack went badly and Garnett , finding his brigade low on ammunition and surrounded by forces attacking from three sides , ordered a retreat . Jackson was infuriated and accused Garnett of disobeying orders , meaning that he should not have retreated without obtaining permission from Jackson first . Jackson , well known as a strict disciplinarian , arrested Garnett for " neglect of duty " on April 1 and relieved him of command . Garnett ' s court - martial started in August 1862 , with only Jackson and his aide giving testimony . However the trial was suspended due to the start of Gen . Robert E . Lee ' s Northern Virginia Campaign and the Second Battle of Bull Run that September . Lee ordered Jackson to release Garnett from arrest and he was assigned to command the injured George Pickett ' s brigade in Lt . Gen . James Longstreet ' s First Corps in the Army of Northern Virginia . Garnett commanded the brigade credibly at the Battle of Antietam in September , after which he assumed permanent command of the brigade on November 26 when Pickett was promoted to divisional command , and at the Battle of Fredericksburg that December . He did not participate in the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863 because Longstreet ' s Corps was assigned duties in Suffolk , Virginia . Stonewall Jackson was gravely wounded at Chancellorsville and died soon after from pneumonia . Upon Jackson ' s death , Garnett returned to Richmond where the general ' s body lay in state . Despite his professional disagreement with Jackson , Garnett held no ill will against him and was observed crying beside the casket . He then served as a pall bearer along with Longstreet , Richard S . Ewell , and others . Gettysburg and death . During the Gettysburg Campaign , Garnett ' s brigade continued in the division of George Pickett and , due to the order of march , did not reach the battlefield from Chambersburg , Pennsylvania , until late on the afternoon of July 2 , 1863 , missing the first two days of the Battle of Gettysburg . Pickett ' s division was assigned by Gen . Lee to lead a great assault on the Union ' s center on Cemetery Ridge on July 3 . Garnett ' s brigade was in the front rank of Pickett ' s division , on the left , next to Brig . Gen . James L . Kemper ' s brigade . Garnett was in no shape to lead an infantry charge ; he was suffering from fever and an injured leg when his horse kicked him and could not walk . But Garnett yearned to settle the record of his military dishonor from Kernstown , which the aborted court - martial could not . Despite protestations from other officers , Garnett insisted on leading his soldiers into battle on horseback , becoming a conspicuous target for Union riflemen . Prior to starting out toward the Union defenses on Cemetery Hill , 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 personally 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 , 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 . Garnett , Armistead , and Kemper were three of the 17 Confederate general - officer casualties during the three - day battle . In memoriam . In 1872 , remains of Confederate dead were brought from Gettysburg and reinterred to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond , Virginia . The Hollywood Memorial Association erected a cenotaph in Garnett ' s honor in 1991 , making the assumption that his remains were in this group . Years after the war , Garnett ' s sword was located in a Baltimore pawnshop and was purchased by former Confederate Brig . Gen . George H . Steuart . In popular media . Garnett was portrayed by American actor Andrew Prine in the 1993 film " Gettysburg " , based on Michael Shaara ' s novel , " The Killer Angels " . In the movie , Garnett is killed a cannon shot . He reprised this role in 2003 in film ' s prequel " Gods and Generals " , although uncredited and without any dialog . Disputed photograph . The photograph of Richard Garnett in this article is one of only two known and it may in fact be of his cousin Robert S . Garnett instead . A letter to the editor of " America ' s Civil War " magazine claims that the Library of Congress possesses a photograph of Richard B . Garnett that has been mislabeled as " Franklin Gardner , CSA , Born N . Y . C . "