Hugh A. Garland

Hugh A. Garland (June 1, 1805 – October 14, 1854) was a lawyer and politician. He was born in Nelson County, Virginia, into the prominent Garland family.^[1]

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. Garland then studied law at the University of Virginia and subsequently practiced 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.^[2] In 1833 he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. Later he served as clerk of the United States House of Representatives.

He is remembered for a two-volume biography of John Randolph.^[3] Changing fortunes following practice in Petersburg, Virginia, led to a move to St. Louis, where he was a lawyer for Dred Scott's owner.^[4] The Garlands owned Elizabeth Keckley, who wrote a memoir about her time in slavery. Garland died unexpectedly in St. Louis at age 49.

Garland's son, Hugh Alfred Garland, Jr., was a colonel in the Confederate Army. He died in 1864.^[5]

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