in 1861, Garesché declined a commission as brigadier general of volunteers. He was, however, breveted as a staff major on May 14, 1861 and was given the permanent rank of major on August 3, 1861. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and assistant adjutant general on July 17, 1862 and was made chief of staff to Major General William S. Rosecrans. Rosecrans' biographer (WM Lamers, The Edge of Glory, LSU Press, pbk Ed, 1999, p. 193) says of Garesché: "He seemed without earthly ambition, half mystic, half saint; he denied himself reasonable comforts to help the poor...the Confederates considered him the 'most gallant gentleman in the army.'" In this capacity he participated in the operations of the Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Stones River on December 31, 1862. Riding with General Rosecrans toward the Round Forest, Garesché was decapitated by a cannonball. The battle was his first combat during the Civil War. General William B. Hazen soon afterward happened upon the lifeless body and removed Garesché's West Point ring and personal Bible. Colonel Garesché was interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C. See also Hispanics in the American Civil War References Cullum's Register of Graduates of the United States Military Academy Garesché, Louis, Biography of Lieut.-Col. Julius P. Garesché (Philadelphia, 1887); Shea, History of Georgetown College (New York, 1891); Cyclopaedia of American Biography Attribution 1821 births 1862 deaths Union Army colonels United States Military Academy alumni American military personnel of the Mexican–American War Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.) Cuban emigrants to the United States Union military personnel killed in the American Civil War United States Army officers Georgetown College (Georgetown University) alumni