Kenner Garrard was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Background
Garrard was born on September 21, 1827 in Bourbon County, Kentucky while his mother was on a short visit from the family home in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father, Jeptha Dudley Garrard, was a lawyer of high standing, and his great-grandfather, James Garrard, militia officer of the Revolution, was twice elected governor of Kentucky. His mother was Sarah Bella Ludlow (1802-1882), whose father, Israel Ludlow, was early a landed proprietor of Cincinnati.
Education
Young Garrard entered Harvard University with the class of 1848, but left in his sophomore year to enter West Point from the state of Ohio. He graduated in 1851, eighth in his class.
Career
After graduating in 1851, Garrard received assignment to the 4th Artillery, but a year later he transferred to the 16t Dragoons, and after much frontier service, was captured, April. 23, 1861, by Texas troops not yet affiliated with the Confederacy. After parole, and short service in the office of the commissary-general and as instructor and commandant of cadets at West Point, he was exchanged, and immediately received appointment as colonel, 146th New York Volunteers. He participated with his regiment in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg; and for gallant services at Gettysburg where he commanded a brigade after the death of its commander, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel in the regular army. Shortly after, on July 23, 1863, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers. He took part in the Rapidan campaign - participating in combats at Rappahannock Station and at Mine Run; was in charge of the cavalry bureau at Washington; and early in 1864, was transferred to the Army of the Cumberland to command the 2nd Cavalry Division in the operations of Sherman's army. He received the brevet of colonel, July 22, 1864, for meritorious services in the expedition against Covington, Georgia. In December of the same year he was assigned to the 2nd Division, XVI Army Corps, which he commanded until the end of the war. He took part in the battles before Nashville - receiving the brevet of major-general of volunteers for conspicuous gallantry, and of brigadier-general in the regular army for gallant and meritorious services. He also had an important part in the operations against Mobile, personally leading a storming column in the capture of Blakeley, Georgia, April 3-9, and participated in the movement against Montgomery, Alabama, April 13-27, 1865. On March 13, 1865, he was brevetted major-general in the regular army for gallant and meritorious services throughout the war. He commanded the District of Mobile until mustered out of the volunteer service, August 24, 1865; and was assistant inspector-general, Department of the Missouri, until he resigned from the army, November 9, 1866. Returning to Cincinnati, Garrard devoted much time to the management of his large real-estate interests, and, declining to enter politics, to the promotion of the welfare of the city. His sudden death, the result of intestinal complications, was a shock to the community in which for thirteen years he had exerted an influence for good. He was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Membership
Director of the Cincinnati Music Festival, member of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio