Brigadier-General Ellison Capers, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 5, South Carolina
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

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[589] Company A, Third South Carolina infantry. From the bombardment of Fort Sumter to the battles around Richmond in 1862, Captain Garlington was not absent even once from the post of duty. Such attention to his command, such devotion to the sacred cause in which he was engaged, could not fail to produce their legitimate results. It was no mean compliment, therefore, when upon a reorganization of the regiment he was elected lieutenantcolonel. In this command, one of the most efficient in material, drill and discipline, he bore the reputation of an officer of rare and extraordinary promise. At the battle of Savage Station, June 29, 1862, he fell mortally wounded and died on the field. In the charge in which he lost his life, it is said that he was conspicuously prominent, moving hither and thither, animating and encouraging his men. And when his vitals had been pierced by a minie ball, he announced with the coolest intrepidity his condition to those around him, and then urged them forward with the words: ‘Charge, boys, charge! Forward, my brave men!’ When night came on and General Sumner had withdrawn across White Oak swamp, Colonel Garlington's comrades found him lying straight upon his back, with his hands folded upon his breast, and his sword standing with the point in the ground by his side. How cool and self-possessed must have been his mind at that time. His attitude and features bespoke no thought of fear or even pain, so calm was he in that awful death hour when left alone with his God. Colonel Garlington was a man of high promise, both in the profession which he had chosen and in that which was thrust upon him by the event of the war. That he was efficient in the school of the soldier and in all the high qualities of the officer, those of his gallant command who survive will testify. That he was possessed of the truest courage the circumstances of his death abundantly prove. Had he been permitted to consummate the life that was opening up before him, he must, with abilities that fitted him for the field and the forum, have taken a position in his State among the most honored of her sons. His two brothers, Creswell and Stobo, of Laurens, and two sisters, Mrs. John L. Young, of Union, and Mrs. R. W. Simpson, of Pendleton, S. C., are left to mourn his loss. Of the four brothers, who at once and together answered their country's call, only the two above named remain. John, the youngest, after