Father: Sterling Gardner, Jr.
Mother: Priscilla Neal Beall
09/14/1850 - Owned seven slaves, District No. 68, Pike Co., GA
1850-1851 - Attended, Medical College of the State of South Carolina, Charleston, SC (from: Upson Co., SC; preceptor: Dr. James Anderson)
11/12/1850 - Student, The Parishes of St. Phillip and St. Michaels, District of Charleston, SC (lived with the Robert Small family and other students; indexed in the 1850 U. S. Census as Robert Gardner)
1851-1852 - Attended, , Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA
1852 - M.D. degree, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA (from: Thomaston, Upson Co., GA; preceptor: Dr. James Anderson; thesis: "The Physical Diagnosis of Thoracic Diseases")
07/21/1854 - Married, Susannah Brown Gorham, Upson, GA (1834-1906)
08/15/1860 - Practiced medicine, Barnesville, Pike Co., GA (lived with wife, Susan B., and three children; indexed in the 1860 U. S. Census as Robert B. Gardner)
10/08/1861 - Appointed Asst. Surgeon from GA, Provisional Army of the Confederate States
10/08/1861 - Assigned as Asst. Surgeon, 3rd GA Battalion Infantry
11/01/1861 - Asst. Surgeon, 3rd GA Battalion Infantry, Goldsboro, [?GA or ?NC]
12/00/1861 - Asst. Surgeon, 3rd GA Battalion Infantry, Greeneville, Greene Co., TN
12/01/1861-12/28/1861 - Received commutation of rations while quartered in Private Hospital, Greeneville, TN
01/16/1862 - In a letter written to Honorable R . P. Trexler, Richmond, VA, "Dear Sir, Coming from a village near that in which you reside and believing that you will as far as it may be in your power cheerfully forward the interests of a fellow Georgian engaged in the public service at some sacrifice to important interests at home, I take the liberty of addressing you a few lines in my own behalf. In the month of October last I was commissioned Assistant Surgeon in the 3rd Ga Battalion commanded by Lt. Col. Stovall. Recently I have been informed by the Secretary of War that a Battalion is entitled to a Surgeon or Asst. Surgeon at the discretion of the President. The battalion in which I am serving is composed of seven companies numbering in the aggregate over five hundred men but little less than some of the regiments and yet the latter entitled to both Surgeon and Asst. Surgeon. It will be readily seen that the discrimination is altogether in favor of a regiment. The labors that devolve upon me in so large a Battalion are unavoidably burdensome; and whilst I am willing to continue to perform them to the best of my feeble abilities, yet I would be more than gratified if the President could be induced to raise my rank from that of Assistant to full Surgeon. You can oblige me greatly by laying this before the President. Will you be kind enough to correspond with me on the subject and inform me what details are necessary on my part to secure the promotion. Most respectfully Your's R. B. Gardner Asst. Surgeon 3rd Ga. Battalion, Greenville [Greeneville], Tenn."
02/12/1862 - Asst. Surgeon, 3rd GA Battalion Infantry
04/30/1862 - Asst. Surgeon, 3rd GA Battalion Infantry, Cumberland Gap
07/03/1862 - Asst. Surgeon, 3rd GA Battalion Infantry
10/14/1862 - Appointed Surgeon, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, to rank from 08/08/1862
10/14/1862 - Ordered to report to the 3rd GA Battalion Infantry as Surgeon
12/31/1862 - Senior Surgeon, 3rd GA Battalion Infantry
04/04/1863 - Confirmed as Surgeon from Georgia by the Confederate States Senate
05/16/1863 - Passed Confederate Army Board of Medical Examination for the position of Surgeon, Shelbyville, KY
05/25/1863 - Transferred to Gen. W. J. Hardee's Corps, Army of Tennessee
06/30/1863 - Surgeon, 1st GA Infantry
07/21/1863 - Surgeon, Headquarters, Army of Tennessee
10/31/1863 - Surgeon, 37th GA Infantry
02/00/1864 - Surgeon, 37th GA Infantry
04/01/1864 - Surgeon, 37th GA Infantry
04/21/1864 - Surgeon, 37th GA Infantry, Dalton, GA
05/31/1864 - Surgeon, 37th GA Infantry
08/07/1864 - Absent, sick, as Surgeon, 37th GA Infantry
08/27/1864 - Absent, sick, as Surgeon, 37th GA Infantry, Gen. R. C. Tyler's Brigade, Gen. W. B. Bate's Division, Atlanta, GA
09/06/1864 - Unfit for field service, relieved from duty with the 37th GA Infantry, and ordered to report to Surgeon S. H. Stout [S.O. 98/2 Army of Tennessee - Gen. J. B. Hood]
09/06/1864 - Assigned to duty at the Ocmulgee Hospital, Macon, Bibb Co., GA
09/23/1864 - Surgeon, C. S. Military Prison Hospital, Macon, GA
10/05/1864 - Surgeon, C. S. Military Prison Hospital, Macon, GA
11/02/1864 - Surgeon, C. S. Military Prison Hospital, Macon, GA
02/051865 - Surgeon-in-charge, Prison Hospital, Macon, GA
03/08/1865 - Surgeon, C. S. Military Prison Hospital, Macon, GA
04/10/1865 - Surgeon, C. S. Military Prison Hospital, Macon, GA
04/16/1865 - Surgeon, Ft. Valley, GA
07/13/1870 - Farmer, Civil District No. 18, Giles Co., TN (living with his wife, Susan B., and eight children; indexed in the 1870 U. S. Census as Robert B. Gardner))
06/19/1880 - Lived in 6th Civil District, Giles Co., TN (lived with wife, Susan B., and eight children; indexed in the 1880 U. S. Census as Robert B. Gardner)
10/09/1882 - "Died at his home, nine miles from Pulaski, Giles [Co., TN] on las Monday, the 9th inst., of enlargement of the liver" (buried: Chestnut Cemetery, Pulaski, TN; Find A Grave #44581840)
04/10/1906 - Wife, Susannah, died (buried: Chestnut Cemetery, Pulaski, TN; Find A Grave #44581850))

Michael Angelo and Bob Krick provided input to this biography.

This biographical sketch is from:
Hambrecht, F.T. & Koste, J.L., Biographical
register of physicians who served the
Confederacy in a medical capacity.
08/08/2015. Updated 05/14/2019.
Unpublished database.

The following was added by Mary Bob McClain, the creator of this memorial:

"I know that my redeemer liveth."
Masonic emblem. C.S.A.
-----------------
son: Walter Gorham Gardner 1855 -1916
shared by [email protected]
==================
Apparently, Dr Gardner had a sense of humor. He left this "Will" behind in his abandoned tent after the Confederate Army retreated from Cumberland Gap. It was found in Dr Gardner's abandoned tent on the evening of June 18, 1862 and reported by Surgeon Benjamin F Stevenson, 22nd Kentucky Infantry US in a letter to his wife:

For a Yankee Surgeon
My Last Will and Testament

Whereas, in the fortunes of war it may soon be necessary for me to bid adieu to the climate, scenery, and crystal fountains of Cumberland Gap: Therefore, to the first Yankee Surgeon who plants his foot on the threshold of my deserted quarters I will, devise and bequeath:

Item Ist. All my interests and rights to said premises, together with all and singular the tenaments, hereditaments, and appurtenances, therunto belonging.

Item IId. I furthermore desire and direct that the said Yankee Surgeon shall have free and unmolested control and use of all old clothes, bottles, blankets, and medicines, left on the aforesaid premises.

Item IIId. Knowing that the above mentioned Yankee Surgeon has for some time past subsisted on half rations, badly prepared, I further desire and direct that he may have unrestrained control and be sole proprietor of a small cooking stove a few paces hence on the hill side, where the testator has often eaten and enjoyed well cooked biscuit, beef, bacon, mutton, tarts, &c., regretting, however, that the usages of war will not permit me to leave him a supply of these articles.

Item IVth. I hereby revoke all previous testaments. In witness whereof, I hereunto set my hand and affix my seal.

[Witnessed by] W. J. Carmichael and Henry J. Burton

https://archive.org/stream/lettersfromarmy00stev_0#page/88/mode/2up - page 88