Llewellyn Garrish Estes
Llewellyn Garrish Estes was an American soldier who fought in the Civil War. Estes received the United States' highest award for bravery during combat, the Medal of Honor, for his action at Flint River in Georgia on August 30, 1864. He was honored with the award on August 29, 1894.
Biography
Estes was born in Old Town, Maine on December 27, 1843. He joined the 1st Maine Volunteer Cavalry Regiment as a first sergeant in October 1861, and was commissioned as first lieutenant in March 1862. In May 1863, while serving on the staff of Maj. Gen. H. J. Kilpatrick, he was captured carrying a message to General Joseph Hooker. While part of a group of prisoners being escorted to Richmond, Virginia, they managed to overpower their captors during the night and instead returned with their Confederate prisoners to the Union lines.Estes was promoted to captain in August 1863 and was appointed as assistant adjutant general the next month. Assigned with Kilpatrick's cavalry to Sherman's March to the Sea, he was commended by Generals Sherman and Kilpatrick for his skill in leading small raiding parties in Georgia. Part of the advance party that reached the Atlantic coast, Estes was the first to contact the Union naval forces waiting offshore. By the time he mustered out in September 1865 at the age of 21, he was a major, and had received a brevet promotion to brigadier general.
After contracting pneumonia, he died from heart failure at his home in Washington, D.C. on February 21, 1905, and his remains are interred at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.