Wasn't Shelby's adjutant, John Newman Edwards, responsible for those flowery official reports? The writing style just doesn't seem to match Shelby the warrior.

I wonder what would have been the outcome if Marmaduke had been the brigade commander and Shelby the division commander? Could it be that Marmaduke's reputation was made by the prowess of Shelby? Seems that was the case with Basil Duke as the man behind the reputation that John Hunt Morgan attained.

Garland's misfortune at Arkansas Post has placed him in my "might have been" category of unused, under used or mis-used Confederate Generals. Mansfield Lovell is another one of those, but we better save him for another thread.

Garland seemed like he had the right stuff to be an effective infantry commander. As a tie-in to the Van Dorn Exodus thread, here is a message from Hindman to Van Dorn that indicates what Hindman thought of Garland. Apparently, Van Dorn had a similar regard for Garland, and was anxious to have him and his well trained and well armed regiment with him in Mississippi.

Paraphrased from the Alexander Papers

August 5, 1862 Hindman to Van Dorn
Your order to have Garland move to Port Gibson [Mississippi] I have suspended. He has one of the few armed regiments and is one of the few good officers I have. I have assigned him to command of a brigade which would be worthless without him.

From the web, here is a brief bio of Garland:

Robert R. Garland was appointed by the Confederate Government to take command of the newly created Sixth Texas Infantry Regiment. Garland was a native Virginian who entered the regular army on December 30, 1847, as a second lieutenant in the Seventh Infantry Regiment. By the time Virginia seceded in 1861, he had risen to the rank of Captain and was stationed at Fort Fillmore, New Mexico. Garland was confirmed Colonel on December 12, 1861.

Wish I could add some tid bits about Churchill, but Taylor's description of unlucky may have to do. I believe that's how one of Lee's favorites, General Henry Heth, was described by Douglas Southall Freeman.

I must say thatI have read some less than glowing opinions about Churchill as a military officer. And, it was not because of bad luck. But maybe a Churchill expert can give us a better insight.