Confederate Brig. Gen. Robert Selden Garnett (1819–1861) was a veteran of the Mexican War and regular U.S. Army officer until he resigned his commission to join Virginia’s Provisional Army in April 1861. When he was mortally wounded directing his men across Corrick’s Ford on July 13, 1861, he became the first general officer to die in combat in the Civil War.
Spirit of '61 