Franklin Kitchell Gardner[1] (January 29, 1823 – April 29, 1873) was a Confederate major general in the American Civil War, noted for his service at the Siege of Port Hudson on the Mississippi River.

His achievement at holding out for 47 days and inflicting severe losses on the enemy before surrendering has been praised by military historians.

Siding with his wife's family, and his mother's, he returned to their home in Louisiana, where he joined the Confederate States Army.

[3] Initially commissioned a lieutenant colonel of Infantry, Gardner was soon reassigned as captain and adjutant-general to Brigadier General Early.

In March 1862 Gardner was assigned a brigade of cavalry in the Army of Mississippi and served in the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862.

Gardner immediately undertook an improvement to the defenses of Port Hudson, replacing a partially constructed system of lunettes with 4 miles (6.4 km) of earthworks extending from the Mississippi River on the southwestern corner of the fort, to the easternmost portion of the knoll on which Port Hudson stood.

Earthworks were not constructed completely around the northern side of the fortifications, as the steep embankments were considered sufficient defense.

In addition to the earthworks, Gardner instructed his men to create a series of abatis defenses, consisting of cut timbers sharpened at the ends and pointed in the direction of attackers.

On May 22, 1863, Gardner received a command from Johnston, who was odds with Pemberton and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, to evacuate Port Hudson and proceed to Jackson, Mississippi.

Gardner's command of Port Hudson is considered by many military historians as an example of an outstanding defense of a fortification besieged by a much larger army.

Major General Richard Taylor, who commanded the Confederacy's Western District of Louisiana during the Siege of Port Hudson, considered Gardner a victim of the faulty Confederate military policy of immobilizing a large fighting force within a stationary fortification.

As Gardner's meager supply of ammunition was nearly exhausted, many of his guns were wrecked, and his food stock was dangerously low, the news of the surrender of Vicksburg decided the fate of Port Hudson [too].

In January 1865 troops under his command opposed Union Brigadier General Grierson's raid against the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.