behind AotW

Franklin Gaillard, standing between his wife Catherine Cordes “Tattie” Porcher (1832-1856; m. 1853) and niece Catherine Marianne Gaillard (1835-1869). Front row: Franklin’s sisters, Lydia Henrietta (1831-1913), Elizabeth Octavia “Betsy” (1825-1908) and Marianne Gendron “Nan” (1833-1912).

A newspaper editor in Columbia, SC before the war, Gaillard was Major of the 2nd South Carolina Infantry on the Maryland Campaign of 1862 and took command of the regiment at Sharpsburg after Colonel Kennedy was wounded in action near the Dunker Church on the morning of 17 September.

He saw further combat at Fredericksburg, where he was wounded, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg – by then Lieutenant Colonel and in command – through Chickamauga and Knoxville into the Fall of 1863. He was killed in battle in the Wilderness of Virginia on 6 May 1864. He was 35 years old.

The photograph above is from descendent and author Frye Gaillard published in Alabama Living Magazine, 2 July 2015. I’ve not yet found a wartime picture of Franklin Gaillard.