Braxton Bragg

General Braxton Bragg
Portrait of Braxton Bragg
Born	(1817-03-22)March 22, 1817 Warrenton, North Carolina
Died	September 27, 1876(1876-09-27) (aged 59) Galveston, Texas
Buried at	Magnolia Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama
Allegiance	United States of America  Confederate States of America
Service/branch	United States Army  Confederate States Army
Years of service	1837–1856 (USA) 1861–1865 (CSA)
Rank	Brevet Lieutenant Colonel General (CSA)
Commands held	Army of Mississippi Army of Tennessee
Battles/wars	Second Seminole War Mexican-American War Siege of Fort Brown Battle of Monterrey Battle of Buena Vista American Civil War Battle of Shiloh Battle of Perryville Battle of Stones River Tullahoma Campaign Battle of Chickamauga Battles for Chattanooga Second Battle of Fort Fisher Battle of Bentonville
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Second Seminole War
Mexican-American War

American Civil War

Braxton Bragg (March 22, 1817 – September 27, 1876) was a career United States Army officer, and then a general in the Confederate States Army—a principal commander in the Western Theater of the American Civil War and later the military advisor to the Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Bragg, a native of North Carolina, was educated at West Point and became an artillery officer. He served in Florida and then received three brevet promotions for distinguished service in the Mexican-American War, most notably the Battle of Buena Vista. He established a reputation as a strict disciplinarian, but also as a junior officer willing to publicly argue with and criticize his superior officers, including those at the highest levels of the Army. After a series of posts in the Indian Territory, he resigned from the U.S. Army in 1856 to become a sugar plantation owner in Louisiana.

During the Civil War, Bragg trained soldiers in the Gulf Coast region. He was a corps commander at the Battle of Shiloh and subsequently was named to command the Army of Mississippi (later known as the Army of Tennessee). He and Edmund Kirby Smith attempted an invasion of Kentucky in 1862, but Bragg retreated following the inconclusive Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, in October. In December, he fought another inconclusive battle at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the Battle of Stones River, but once again withdrew his army. In 1863, he fought a series of battles against Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans and the Union Army of the Cumberland. In June, he was outmaneuvered in the Tullahoma Campaign and retreated into Chattanooga. In September, he was forced to evacuate Chattanooga, but counterattacked Rosecrans and defeated him at the Battle of Chickamauga, the bloodiest battle in the Western Theater, and the only major Confederate victory therein. In November, Bragg's army was routed in turn by Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Battles for Chattanooga.