The collection is open for research.
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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], F. E. Garnett Letter, Ms1987-056, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The collection was acquired by Special Collections prior to 1987.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the F. E. Garnett Letter was completed in October 2013.
Gabriel Colvin Wharton was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, on July 23, 1824. After graduating from Virginia Military Institute in 1847, Wharton became a civil engineer, working in Arizona and elsewhere. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Wharton was appointed a major within the 45th Virginia Infantry. Soon after, he was promoted to colonel, commanding the 51st Virginia Infantry. In July 1863, Wharton was promoted to brigadier general, commanding a brigade guarding southwestern Virginia railroads and participating in the battles of New Market and Cold Harbor, among others. Wharton married Nannie Radford in 1863; following the war, the couple made their home in Radford, Virginia.
Wharton resumed his civil engineering career and was instrumental in building a railroad in the New River Valley. In 1871, he began the first of several terms in the Virginia General Assembly. From 1874-1877, he served on the Board of Visitors for Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, including a term as Rector from 1875-1877. Gabriel Wharton died in Radford in 1906.
There is a Franklin Edmond Garnett (1826-1913) buried in Crooked Run Baptist Church Cemetery, Rapidan, Virginia.
Source: "Franklin Edmond Garnett" entry, Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26208842/franklin-edmund-garnett, accessed Dec. 12, 2022.
The collection contains one letter by F. E. Garnett of Rapid Ann Station (later Rapidan, Virginia) to General Gabriel Wharton dated August 30, 1878, inquirying about Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College for the potential education of his nephews.
For other correspondence to Wharton, see Gabriel C. Wharton Correspondence, Ms2009-012.
The guide to the F. E. Garnett Letter by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).