Brevet Brig. General Jeptha Garrard (USA)

Brevet Brig. General Jeptha Garrard Born: April 21, 1836 Marriage: Ann Knapp Died: December 16, 1915 at age 79 Buried: Cincinnati, Hamilton , Ohio, USA

Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General. When the Civil War began, he was commissioned as a Captain with the 6th Independent Company, Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. The regiment was attached to the 3rd New York Volunteer Cavalry in 1862. He was promoted to the rank of Major before participating in General George Foster's raid near Wilmington, North Carolina. He was dispatched to Mount Olive to destroy a Confederate controlled railroad. He was successful in burning down the station, tearing up track, and consequently ambushed a mail train as well. He was then appointed to command the 1st Regiment U. S. Colored Cavalry as a Colonel. His new regiment became a part of the XXV Corps under Major General Weitzel. He received a promotion to Brevet Brigadier General of U. S. Volunteers on March 13, 1865.

Decades after the war, he experimented with flying machines with his brothers on their land in Frontenac, Minnesota. He was the great-grandson of the second Governor of Kentucky, James Garrard (for whom Garrard County is named for), the younger brother of both Union Brigadier/Brevet Major General Kenner Garrard and Brevet Brigadier General Israel Garrard, and a cousin of Union Brigadier General Theophilus Toulmin Garrard. (bio by: Kevin Guy)