Hugh A. Garland

Hugh A. Garland (June 1, 1805 – October 14, 1854) was an American slaveholder, lawyer and politician. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates. He was a staunch supporter of slavery in the United States, and he led the defense for Dred Scott's owner, John F. A. Sanford, in the notorious case of Dred Scott v. Sandford, but died two years before the case was argued in court.

Early life

Garland was born to Alexander Spotswood Garland and Lucinda Rose on June 1, 1805 in Nelson County, Virginia.^[1] He is the brother of Landon Garland, the uncle of Confederate Army General Samuel Garland, Jr., and the great-nephew of United States Founding Father and fourth President of the United States James Madison.

He was educated at Hampden Sydney College, where he taught briefly. During his time at Hampden-Sydney College he delivered an address to the literary societies about the importance of classical education.^[2] Garland then studied law at the University of Virginia.

Career

Garland practiced the law in Boydton, Virginia, where his brother Landon Garland was a professor at Randolph Macon College. During that time, Garland's wife, Anne Burwell Garland, ran a female seminary. The house where they lived and operated the school is still extant.^[3]

In 1833, Garland was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. Later he served as clerk of the United States House of Representatives, partly because of his staunch support of President Andrew Jackson's anti-bank policies while Garland was in the Virginia legislature. In 1839 he published a defense of the Democratic Party in the Democratic Review.^[4]

In September 1840, Garland addressed a meeting of Democrats in Groton, Connecticut, and attacked abolitionists. After this he was known as the champion of the "Northern Man with Southern feelings." In 1845 he delivered an oration commemorating Andrew Jackson in Petersburg, Virginia, where he was practicing law.^[5]

Garland is remembered for a two-volume biography of John Randolph of Roanoke.^[6] Changing fortunes following law practice in Petersburg, Virginia, led to a move to St. Louis, where he was a lawyer for Dred Scott's owner.^[7] The Garlands owned Elizabeth Keckley, the half-sister of Mrs. Garland, who later became close to Mary Todd Lincoln, and wrote a memoir about her time in slavery.^[8]

Death and legacy

Garland died unexpectedly in St. Louis on October 14, 1854, at age 49.

Garland's son, Hugh Alfred Garland, Jr., was a colonel in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He died in 1864.^[9][10]

References