GARESCHÉ, JULIUS PETER

Union soldier; b. near Havana, Cuba, April 26, 1821; d. Murfreesboro, Tenn., Dec. 31, 1862. He was the son of a Huguenot father, Vital Marie, and a Catholic mother, Louisa (Bouday) Garesché; he and the family resided chiefly in Delaware. After attending Georgetown College (later University), Washington, D.C., from 1833 to 1837, during which time he became a Catholic, he was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy, and he graduated 16th in his class in 1841. Garesché was first commissioned second lieutenant in the Fourth U.S. Artillery. He served in various frontier posts and in the war with Mexico before becoming brevet captain (assistant adjutant general) on Nov. 9, 1855. In 1862 as a lieutenant-colonel, he was assigned to the staff of Gen. William S. Rosecrans, Commander of the Army of the Cumberland, and became his chief of staff. He was killed early in the Battle of Stones River, Tenn., while riding beside Rosecrans. As a resident of Washington, D.C., Garesché helped to establish the St. Vincent de Paul Society in St. Matthew's parish, the first such unit in that city. He contributed to the New York Freeman's Journal and to Brownson's Quarterly Review. In September 1851 he was vested with the Order, Knight of St. Sylvester, by Pius IX.

Bibliography: U.S. War Dept., The War of Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 70 v. in 128 (Washington 1880–1901). g. w. cullum, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, 1802–1890 (3rd ed. rev. Boston 1891–). l. gareschÉ Biography of Lieut. Col. Julius P. Garesché (Philadelphia 1887). w. m. lamers, The Edge of Glory: A Biography of General William S. Rosecrans (New York 1961).

[j. w. coleman]