As the first general officer killed in the Civil War, the death of Brig. Gen. Robert S. Garnett at Corrick’s Ford on July 13, 1861 has remained a subject of discussion for over 160 years. As veterans of the conflict aged, a controversy emerged not only over who fired the fatal shot, but also regarding many other details of what transpired that day. Decades later, some of these veterans took to the pages of the National Tribune to share their fading recollections and dispute published accounts.
One such account was written by Lt. Robert Finley Conover (1840-1919), who sought to dispel what he saw as numerous inaccuracies caused by Henry W. Benham. Capt. Benham was a staff officer for George McClellan and took charge of the pursuit of Gernett’s army after it retreated from Laurel Hill (something that Conover also disputed). Conover served as a private in Company B, 7th Indiana Infantry (3 months) and later in the 134th Indiana. He is buried in Marion National Cemetery in Grant County, Indiana.
The following appeared in the National Tribune on June 6, 1901.
DEATH OF GEN. GARNETT.
A 7th Ind. Veteran Writes of the Battle of Carrick’s Ford.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE:—In a recent issue of your paper you publish an article on the death of Gen. Garnett. There has been a persistent and continued attempt upon the part of Gen. Benham and his friends to either entirely ignore the 7th Ind., as in this instance, or else misrepresent the facts, and upon all occasions to belittle its achievements.
The facts are that Gen. Benham was at the time an Aid on Gen. McClellan’s staff, and while a portion of Gen. Morris’s Brigade, composed of the 7th and 9th Ind., the 14th Ohio, with two pieces of the Cleveland Light Artillery, was following Gen. Garnett’s retreating army from Laurel Hill, he (Gen. Benham) attempted to take command. This resulted in a quarrel between Col. Dumont, of the 7th Ind., and Benham, Col. Dumont, as a ranking officer, refusing to take orders from the aforesaid Gen. Benham. Col. Dumont took command of the entire forces and under his command the battle of Carrick’s Ford was fought. Gen. Benham never afterwards lost an opportunity to cast aspersions upon the 7th Ind. or its Colonel.
This accounts for the misstatements published in your paper, as well as the many other attempts to rob the 7th Ind. of its hard-earned laurels. The 7th was always in the front of battle when there was fighting to do, and always bravely did its duty. So much in defense of my regiment and its gallant Colonel.
The true history of Gen. Garnett’s death is as follows: As stated above, Col. Dumont, of the 7th Ind., took command of this, the advance column, of Gen. Morris’s Brigade, placing the 7th in the advance, with the 14th Ohio next, and the 9th Ind. in the rear with the artillery. We pressed Gen. Garnett so closely that he was compelled to throw away almost everything in the way of camp equipage. Finally we came up with his army at Carrick’s Ford, on the Cheat River, while they were attempting to get their wagon train across the river. Garnett’s whole army occupied a position on the bluffs on the opposite bank of the river. Their artillery, on the bluffs, immediately across the river, opened fire on our advance, and the 14th Ohio and the 9th Ind. charged up to the river and opened fire from behind a rail fence, while our artillery immediately opened on the Confederate artillery’s position. The 7th Ind. charged across the river, capturing the baggage train and two pieces of artillery. At this time only about one-half of this regiment was across the river, owing to the difficulty of getting around the wagons, with which the ford was jammed.
Our charge drove the Confederates in utter rout from their position. Gen. Garnett, in attempting to rally his forces, jumped up on a log, calling to his men to rally around him. A young boy of the 1st Ga. got up beside him, and while they were standing there a scattering volley was fired by the boys of our regiment, and Gen. Garnett and the boy both fell dead at the same instant. I was less than 50 yards from Gen. Garnett when he was killed, in plain view of it all, and saw the whole affair, and was at the spot where he lay as soon as I could reach there by running.
This is the fact about his death. There were no other troops on that side of the river at the time, for all of the 7th had not yet got across. They could not get there, as the ford was so blockaded by the wagon train that only one man at a time could get through the jam.
Another inaccuracy in Gen. Benham’s statement is: “While examining the dead at this position, Serg’t-Maj. Gordon, of the 9th Ind., came up to him, asking if he knew Garnett, saying an officer had just been killed at the next ford who had stars on his shoulders.” There were no dead at any other ford or position, for there had been no other fight. Only at Carrick’s Ford had there been any fighting, and only at that ford were there any dead.
If Gen. Benham crossed any ford and saw Gen. Garnett’s dead body, he crossed at Carrick’s Ford. Neither he did find the Gen. Garnett lying within 20 yards of the ford, for it was at least 100 yards; neither could he have been shot from the other side of the river, for there were high bluffs on the side the Confederates occupied, with the ground sloping rapidly back from the river, while on the other side of the river the banks were low, with level bottomlands reaching far back from the river.
Again, if Gen. Benham saw no other signs of strife near where Gen. Garnett lay, then he was either blind or was not there, for there was where the battle of Carrick’s Ford was fought and won, resulting in the utter rout and destruction of Gen. Garnett’s army, the first army that was entirely destroyed during the war; and while it was not a great battle, yet there were plenty of signs of battle, such as captured cannon, wagons, broken and bent muskets, all the discarded paraphernalia of a routed army, together with a few dead and wounded soldiers.
Gen. Benham well knew that the 7th Ind. killed Gen. Garnett, but because of dislike of Col. Dumont he has seen fit to write so much that is untrue and misleading. He well knew that Serg’t Burlingame, of Lawrenceburg, Ind., a member of the 7th Ind., was accredited the honor of having killed Gen. Garnett, and for this he was made a Lieutenant.
I do not wish to detract anything from the 9th Ind. or 14th Ohio, for no braver regiments were mustered; but I simply give the facts as they occurred and as I know them, for I was there and saw the things of which I write, and took part in them; neither do I wish to do Gen. Benham an injustice, but to point out his inaccuracies and give the reasons for his discrimination against the 7th Ind. and its Colonel.
No braver man ever marched in his country’s armies than Col. Ebenezer Dumont. He served through the Mexican war and through the civil war, being made Brigadier-General for his gallantry at this battle of Carrick’s Ford. It may also be mentioned that the troops engaged in this fight camped on or near the battlefield, and did not cross any other ford that day after the death of Gen. Garnett. I wish to pay my tribute of respect to a brave man, though an enemy, and I believe every comrade of the 7th will bear me out in saying no braver man, in either army, nor no more gallant officer, ever led men into battle than Gen. Garnett.Whoever wrote the article for McClure’s Magazine knew nothing whatever about this matter, and if the information on the other matters of which he writes is as accurate (?) he is certainly a valuable historian. I write this by request of many members of the old 7th Ind.—ROBERT F. CONOVER, Co. B, 7th Ind., Rushville, Ind.
Spirit of '61 