BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO

"History of the Upper Ohio Valley" Vol. II, 1890.

Presented by Linda Fluharty from hard copies provided
by Mary Staley & Phyllis Slater.


Page 580.


JOHN GARRETT enlisted in Company H, Sixty-first Ohio regiment, at the outbreak
of the war of the rebellion, and was elected captain of his company. Captain
Garrett served with much valor and efficiency during three years and three
months, not having been absent from his regiment for a single day during that
time. He was first in the army of the Potomac, but was afterward transferred
to the army of the Cumberland. That he was at the "front" will be readily seen
from the fact that he was in the thick of the fight at the battle of Gettysburg,
was also a participant in the second battle of Bull Run and many other very
important actions, as well as in innumerable minor engagements and skirmishes.
Captain Garrett was at the siege of Atlanta and was at one time distinguished
by having the command of his regiment. With the army of the Potomac he was in
the battles of Freeman's Ford, Cedar Creek, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville;
in the army of the Cumberland, first fight on Raccoon Mountains, helped to
take Lookout Mountain, fought from Snake Creek Gap to Atlanta, and at Peach
Creek, where the Sixty-first lost a little more than half of their numbers
and all field officers captured. Captain Garrett took command of the regiment
and commanded it until the close of the war, and went through with Sherman
to Savannah. Then went through the Carolinas and was in the last fight that
Sherman had at Bentonsville, N. C. As has been before mentioned he was with
his regiment every day during his long service, and this despite the fact that
he was three times wounded. Having returned from the war he quietly settled
down and began working at his trade of a blacksmith, being a shining example
of that great body of men who could fight so well and then quietly disperse
to their homes and resume their wonted occupations. A fine example of an
American citizen and soldier.