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Special Collections, Virginia Tech
Special Collections, University Libraries (0434)©2014 By Virginia Tech. All rights reserved.
Processed by: Special Collections Staff
Collection is open for research.
Permission to publish material from the F. E. Garnett Letter must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: F. E. Garnett Letter, Ms1987-056, Special Collections, 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 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.
The collection contains one letter by F. E. Garnett to General Gabriel Wharton dated August 30, 1878, regarding conditions at Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College.
For other correspondence to Wharton, see Ms2009-012, Gabriel C. Wharton Correspondence. Finding aid available online.