At the beginning of the Civil war he was a student at the Alabama Military Institute at Tuscaloosa. Notwithstanding his youth he soon entered the Confederate service, becoming a member of the Thirty-first Alabama Regiment. He was conspicuous at the battle of Vicksburg, leading one or two desperate charges; and after the place was surrendered and the Confederate troops marched out with all the honors of war, Gen. Stephen D. Lee addressed a letter to Hon. J. A. Seddons, Confederate Secretary of War, bearing date July 21st, 1863, in which he recommends for promotion Sergeant-Major William Garrard, Thirty-first Alabama Regiment, Stevenson's Division, for "distinguished gallantry in the field at Baker's Creek and during the siege of Vicksburg." The letter adds: "He attracted my attention repeatedly by good conduct and officer-like deportment. He has won promotion on the field."
Shortly afterward William Garrard received from the department his commission as First Lieutenant, Company I, Thirty-first Alabama Regiment. He served as Assistant Adjutant. General to Brigadier-General Pettus, but never left the line and kept with his company throughout. He fought with the army at Missionary Ridge, through the Dalton campaign, and was with Hood in his Tennessee campaign through the Carolinas. In the re-organization of General Johnston's army and the consolidation of regiments he became Captain of Company K, Twenty-third Alabama. He was paroled with Johnston's army at Bentonville, N.C., and rode horseback across the country to his home at Columbus, Ga.
His studies having been interrupted by the war he had not yet finished his education, and he went to Lexington, Ky., where he studied in the law school of Kentucky University. On returning to Columbus he entered into partnership with Col. Raphael J. Moses, the prominent jurist and distinguished orator.
In 1869 he went to Savannah, Ga., where he has been practicing law steadily and successfully refusing all public office and declining to engage in politics except as a citizen and leader. In 1882 Col. Garrard was elected commander of the Savannah Volunteer Guards with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. His election was from the ranks, one of the few times in the history of the guards that this had been done. He was commissioned December 23d of that year and took active command of the corps on the parade of January 19th, 1883, on which occasion he was presented with a handsome sword and belt by the corps.
On July 14th, 1887, he married Mary Robert Lawton, second daughter of William G. and Elizabeth James Lawton. An Atlanta paper says: "Col. Garrard is one of the most elegant and cultured gentlemen in Southern society. He is one of the leading and most brilliant lawyers in Savannah, and he and his charming wife have an elegant home which they make notable for graceful, charming entertaining in that aristocratic city. The name of Garrard both in Georgia and South Carolina is a synonym for all that is attractive and cultured in manhood and womanhood." Their children are Bessie Garrard, born June 13th, 1888, died June 27th, 1889; William Garrard, born September 24th, 1889; Giulielina Lawton Garrard, born June 26th, 1891; Lawton Garrard, born September 29th, 1892, and Emily Lawton Garrard, born August 29th, 1895.
A letter to his niece Helen Mildred Lewis Glenn, on her hasty marriage to Gordon Ellyson in 1912:
Savannah Ga, November 21st 1912
My dear Helen,
Your letter is received today, announcing your marriage to Mr. Ellyson. This comes as a great surprise to me, for I did not know of the engagement. However, my dearest niece, you have my best wishes for your complete happiness, & Mr. Ellyson has my congratulations, for he has captured one of the loveliest of women for wife. My dear, I can very well understand that under the circumstances you decided on immediate marriage, & besides, dearest Helen, in my judgment, whatever you do is right. I appreciate your writing to your oldest admirer promptly, informing him of the important change in your life. Emmie will write you, probably this evening, & will send her love and good wishes. She likes to manage these sort of things herself, you know. I trust in the near future it will be our pleasure to know our new nephew. I know he will like us, if you tell him, he must.
Hoping God's highest blessings may be yours, & with assurances of my devoted love,Uncle Will
Anna Russell des Cognets, Governor Garrard of Kentucky: His Descendants and Relatives. Higginson Book Company: ISBN 0832887080/72. 1898, 1962, 1997; TGE letters, Library of Congress
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