Last updated: June 4, 2026
Person
Garland H. White
Quick Facts
Significance:
One of only 14 Black Chaplains during the Civil War
Place of Birth:
Hanover County, Virginia
Date of Birth:
1829
Place of Death:
Washington, DC
Date of Death:
July 5, 1894
Place of Burial:
Arlington, VA
Cemetery Name:
Arlington National Cemetery
"This is your mother, Garland, whom you are now talking to, who has spent twenty years of grief about her son."
Chaplain Garland H. White first heard these tender words as he and the 28th United States Colored Infantry (USCI or, more commonly, USCT), reached the end of their march through the city of Richmond following the Confederacy’s surrender in April of 1865.
White was born in Hanover County, Virginia to an enslaved mother in 1829. As a child, he was sold to a leading secessionist in the Senate, Robert Toombs of Georgia. By 1852, White spent large portions of his time in Washington D.C. as a personal servant to Senator Toombs. There he met abolitionist Senator William Seward, who was a neighbor to Toombs’s office in the Capitol. It is believed that this is where he began learning to read and write.
By 1859, Garland White became a certified minister by an African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church conference in Georgia. Within the next year, White escaped to present-day Ontario. There, he joined a settlement of formerly enslaved and free Black individuals in the town of London. In October 1861, he was appointed head of the London A.M.E. Mission by Bishop Green. With the end of enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act by Congress in 1862, White returned to Toledo, Ohio. Working as a pastor to a Black congregation, he hoped to be able to make his services available to the Union. Those took the form of recruiting, initially for the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Infantry (with whom he hoped to gain the title of chaplain). Shortly after, Indiana Governor Oliver Morton asked him to raise a Black regiment there in return for chaplaincy.
Recruiting for the 28th Colored Troops began in November 1863. By March 1864, six of the 10 companies needed for a full regiment had been raised. This meant that White could not be appointed chaplain as he had expected, because it required a fully mustered regiment. Instead, he enlisted as a private, willingly continuing his chaplain work at a private’s pay until the regiment was at full strength. In June, the 28th USCT joined the Ninth Corps as laborers, while White continued his recruitment through Maryland and Virginia. Once the 28th arrived at Prince George Court House, Virginia, it was assigned as one of ten regiments of the corps’s all-Black Fourth Division commanded by Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero.
The soldiers of the 28th would see their first combat at the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864. Before battle, White’s job was to comfort the soldiers who were preparing to stare death directly in its face. During the fighting, it is believed that he worked as a medic or in some support capacity rather than direct combat. Following the battle, newspaper reports began accusing the Black troops of cowardice. White wrote a letter in response firmly denying them, saying, "It is said by a large number of cowards at home that colored troops under General Burnside, who participated in the recent attack on Petersburg acted cowardly. This slanderous language I first saw in the New York Herald of the 6th inst., it being a paper familiar with political corruption… Leave no ground for a set of cowards at home, like Bennett (publisher of the Herald) and other foul-hearted buzzards, to attribute the loss that day to the arms of the colored troops. None of the troops, white or colored, are responsible for the action of the Generals.” Black regiments would eventually be commended for their fighting in the Petersburg Campaign. Overall, USCT troops earned 15 Medals of Honor for their service, mostly for the battle at New Market Heights.
Shortly after the battle, hundreds of men from Maryland and Indiana were incorporated into the regiment. This gave them a full 10 companies. As a result, White had finally achieved his goal of being elected to the status of chaplain. Garland White became one of only 14 Black Chaplains during the entire course of the war.
Following the Confederacy’s retreat from Richmond in April of 1865, the 28th USCT were amongst the first troops to enter the city. White led his column through, greeting the remaining Black citizens who were waiting on them with open arms. He gave a speech on Broad Street proclaiming, “For the first time in that city freedom to all mankind.” Soon after, White was finally reunited with his mother again in Richmond.
Throughout the rest of his years following the war, White was plagued by a deteriorating health condition in his lungs. He wholeheartedly believed it was contracted during the fighting in Petersburg. Before the end of his service, he received a “A Tribute of Regard to Chaplain White,” from Lieutenant Colonel Logan and officers of the regiment. White then returned to Toledo to continue his ministry. Shortly after having two more daughters in Toledo, White’s wife, Georgiana, passed away. As a result, the family relocated to Halifax, North Carolina to serve a new congregation in the majority Black Second District.
In 1874, White ran for Congress as an independent candidate, losing to Black Republican John Adams Hyman. During the 1876 presidential election, he gave public support to Democrat Samuel J. Tilden against Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. The politics of the Reconstruction Era made his support for a Democrat widely unpopular amongst the Black community he was a part of in North Carolina. Soon after, his congregation in Halifax dismissed him as minister.
Less is known about the rest of his life. White continued to move around North Carolina for the next decade, but poor health made it difficult to find consistent work. He applied for a pension due to the lung condition in 1885, but it took five years to finally receive it from the Pension Bureau. He spent his final few years in Washington D.C., receiving a pension that was difficult to live on with his disabling health condition and part time work as a messenger. Garland H. White passed away on July 5, 1894, with his body laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. He is buried with a headstone commemorating his critical contributions and service to the Union Army’s USCT regiments.