Hudson Garland represented Amherst County in the Virginia General Assembly for one term (December 3, 1804 – February 1, 1805) and served as a captain in the war of 1812.

This James Garland received a private education and began reading law, and married Sarah Burch in the newly created Nelson County on September 22, 1814.

Garland was elected the city's prosecutor and clerk of court in 1841, and served 18 years until removed by Gen. John Schofield during Congressional Reconstruction.

[7] In the Presidential election of 1860, he supported Stephen A. Douglas, and when that Democratic candidate lost to Republican Abraham Lincoln, Garland in January 1861 presided over a meeting of conservative citizens who wanted to preserve the Union.

[9] After leaving the court (as the Commonwealth's oldest presiding judge), James Garland died in Lynchburg on August 8, 1885, aged 94.