BRAXTON BRAGG Civil War Dated 1862 VERY RARE PSA/DNA Confederate CSA AUTOGRAPH

BRAXTON BRAGG Civil War Dated manuscript date 1862 VERY RARE PSA/DNA Confederate CSA AUTOGRAPH. Respectfully referred for the action of the War Dept [Confederate/CSA War Department] - It will be observed that the parties, applicants for discharge visually have adhered no evidence to show that they are not naturalized Citizens of the Confederate States. Their own averment that they are nor should not be taken as Conclusion, especially in the case of Watson. [Signed, full name] Braxton Bragg.

Genl [General] Cmdn'g [Commanding]. This was penned seven [7] days after taking command of the Western Department from P. At this time Bragg was trying gain sympathy/support in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Of the Confederate States Army. Who was assigned to duty at Richmond.

Under direction of the President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis. And charged with the conduct of military operations of the armies of the Confederate States. From February 24, 1864 until January 13, 1865, when he was charged with command and defense of Wilmington, North Carolina.

He previously had command of an army in the Western Theater. Bragg, a native of Warrenton, North Carolina. Was educated at West Point. And then received three brevet.

Army in 1856 to become a sugar plantation. During the Civil War, Bragg trained soldiers in the Gulf Coast. 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. 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. In June, he was outmaneuvered in the Tullahoma Campaign.

Throughout these campaigns, Bragg fought almost as bitterly against some of his uncooperative subordinates as he did against the enemy, and they made multiple attempts to have him replaced as army commander. The defeat at Chattanooga was the last straw, and Bragg was recalled in early 1864 to Richmond. Where he became the military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Bragg is generally considered among the worst generals of the Civil War. Although his commands often outnumbered those he fought against, most of the battles in which he engaged ended in defeats. The only exception was Chickamauga, which was largely due to the timely arrival of Lieutenant General James Longstreet. Some historians fault Bragg as a commander for impatience and poor treatment of others. Some however point towards the failures of Bragg's subordinates, especially Leonidas Polk.

A close ally of Davis and known enemy of Bragg, as the more significant factors in the many Confederate defeats at which Bragg commanded. Braxton Bragg was born in Warrenton, North Carolina.

Grady McWhiney, the principal biographer of Bragg's early life and career, states that despite these rumors, the Bragg family was law-abiding. Although considered by his neighbors to be from the lower class, Thomas Bragg was a carpenter and contractor who became wealthy enough to send Braxton to the Warrenton Male Academy, one of the best schools in the state.

He was descended from Thomas Bragg (1579 1665), who was born in England. And settled in the Colony of Virginia. In the thousands of letters that Bragg wrote during his lifetime, he spoke fondly of his father, but never mentioned his mother.

Initially as an assistant commissary officer and regimental adjutant, seeing no actual combat. He soon began to suffer from a series of illnesses that he blamed on the tropical climate. He sought a medical transfer and was briefly assigned to recruiting duty in Philadelphia, but in October 1840 he was ordered back to Florida.

He became a company commander in the 3rd Artillery and commanded Fort Marion, near St. In this assignment, he stayed relatively healthy, but tended toward overwork, laboring administratively to improve the living conditions of his men. He launched a series of argumentative letters with senior Army officials, including the adjutant general and Army paymaster, that established his reputation as disputatious.

In the more serious of the two incidents, one of his soldiers exploded a 12-pound artillery shell underneath his cot. Although the cot was destroyed, somehow Bragg himself emerged without a scratch. Bragg had suspicions about the identity of the perpetrator, but had insufficient evidence to bring charges.

(both of whom were lieutenants who reported to Bragg) and William T. Bragg continued his controversial writing, this time a series of nine articles published 184445 in the Southern Literary Messenger.

The series, "Notes on Our Army, " published anonymously (as "A Subaltern"), included specific attacks on the policies of general in chief Winfield Scott. Whom he called a vain, petty, conniving man.

There were also numerous attacks on Army administrative policies and officers. He included thoughtful recommendations on a proposed structure for the Army general staff, which were echoed in reorganizations that occurred in the early 20th century, but were ignored at the time. [His actions] established Bragg's distinction as the most cantankerous man in the army. He had been court-martialed and convicted; he had been censored by the Secretary of War, the Adjutant General, and the Commander of the Eastern division. No other junior officer could boast of so many high-ranking enemies.

Bragg's articles came to the attention of Representative James G. And political opponent of Scott's. While Bragg was on leave in Washington, D. In March 1844, Clinton called him to testify before his House Committee on Public Expenditures. Scott ordered him not to testify, in defiance of the Congressional subpoena.

Bragg was arrested and sent to Fort Monroe, Virginia. Where he was court-martialed for disobedience to orders and disrespect toward his superior officers. Bragg conducted his own defense and attempted to turn the trial into a condemnation of Scott. He was found guilty, but an official reprimand from the Secretary of War and suspension at half pay for two months were relatively mild punishments, and Bragg was not deterred from future criticisms of his superiors.

A Little More Grape, Capt. On March 1, 1845, Bragg and his artillery company were ordered to join Gen. In the defense of Texas. He won promotions for bravery and distinguished conduct in the MexicanAmerican War.

For the Battle of Fort Brown. For the Battle of Monterrey. (September 1846), and to lieutenant colonel. For the Battle of Buena Vista. Bragg was also promoted to captain within the regular army.

He became widely admired (professionally, not personally) in Taylor's army for the discipline and drill of his men and the newly tried tactics of light artillery that proved decisive in most of his engagements against the Mexican Army. But it was Buena Vista that brought him national fame. His timely placement of artillery into a gap in the line helped repulse a numerically superior Mexican attack.

He fought in support of Col. Jefferson Davis and the Mississippi Rifles. Which earned him the admiration of the future U. Secretary of War and president of the Confederacy. An anecdote circulated about Gen.

Taylor commanding, A little more of the grape. Bragg, which caused him to redouble his efforts and save the day. The stories are probably apocryphal and, according to the diary of Ethan Allen Hitchcock.

Taylor's Chief of Staff (and recent son-in-law) Maj. Confirmed that, the stories of the General in connection with Bragg are all false. He never said,'A little more grape, Captain Bragg,' nor did he say,'Major Bliss and I will support you. A northwestern outpost, Fort Bragg, California. Was named in his honor.

With what scorn must Col. Bragg, in his secret heart regard them. Bragg traveled to New York, Washington, Mobile, and New Orleans, and in each place he was honored. On December 31, 1855, Bragg submitted his resignation from the Army, which became effective on January 3, 1856. 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Thibodaux.

Never one to oppose slavery in conceptboth his father and his wife were slaveownershe used 105 enslaved Africans on his property. There is no evidence that he was a cruel slaveowner, but he continued to uphold his reputation as being a stern disciplinarian and an advocate of military efficiency. His methods resulted in almost immediate profitability, despite a large mortgage on the property. He became active in local politics and was elected to the Board of Public Works in 1860. Throughout the 1850s, Bragg had been disturbed by the accelerating sectional crisis.

On December 12, 1860, Governor Thomas O. Appointed him to the state military board, an organization charged with creating a 5,000-man army. He took the assignment, even though he had been opposed to secession. On January 11, 1861, Bragg led a group of 500 volunteers to Baton Rouge. Where they persuaded the commander of the federal arsenal there to surrender.

The state convention on secession. Also established a state army and Moore appointed Bragg its commander, with the rank of major general. He commanded the forces around New Orleans until April 16, but his commission was transferred to be a brigadier general. Of the Confederate States Army on March 7, 1861. He commanded forces in Pensacola, Florida.

Alabama, and the Department of West Florida and was promoted to major general. His tenure was successful and he trained his men to be some of the best disciplined troops in the Confederate Army, such as the 5th Georgia. In December, President Davis asked Bragg to take command of the Trans-Mississippi Department. He was concerned for the prospects of victory west of the Mississippi River and about the poorly supplied and ill-disciplined troops there. He was also experiencing one of his periodic episodes of ill health that would plague him throughout the war.

For years he had suffered from rheumatism, dyspepsia, nerves, and severe migraine headaches, ailments that undoubtedly contributed to his disagreeable personal style. The command went to Earl Van Dorn. Bragg proposed to Davis that he change his strategy of attempting to defend every square mile of Confederate territory, recommending that his troops were of less value on the Gulf Coast than they would be farther to the north, concentrated with other forces for an attack against the Union Army in Tennessee. Bragg transported about 10,000 men to Corinth, Mississippi.

In February 1862 and was charged with improving the poor discipline of the Confederate troops already assembled under General Albert Sidney Johnston. Map of the Battle of Shiloh, morning of April 6, 1862. Bragg commanded a corps (and was also chief of staff) under Johnston at the Battle of Shiloh.

In the initial surprise Confederate advance, Bragg's corps was ordered to attack in a line that was almost 3 miles (4.8 km) long, but he soon began directing activities of the units that found themselves around the center of the battlefield. His men became bogged down against a Union salient called the Hornet's Nest, which he attacked for hours with piecemeal frontal assaults. After Johnston was killed in the battle, General P.

Assumed command, and appointed Bragg his second in command. Bragg was dismayed when Beauregard called off a late afternoon assault against the Union's final position, which was strongly defended, calling it their last opportunity for victory.

On the second day of battle, the Union army counterattacked and the Confederates retreated back to Corinth. Bragg received public praise for his conduct in the battle and on April 12, 1862, Jefferson Davis appointed Bragg a full general. The sixth man to achieve that rank and one of only seven in the history of the Confederacy.

His date of rank was April 6, 1862, coinciding with the first day at Shiloh. After the Siege of Corinth. Beauregard departed on sick leave, leaving Bragg in temporary command of the army in Tupelo, Mississippi.

But he failed to inform President Davis of his departure and spent two weeks absent without leave. Davis was looking for someone to replace Beauregard because of his perceived poor performance at Corinth, and the opportunity presented itself when Beauregard left without permission. Bragg was then appointed his successor as commander of the Western Department (known formally as Department Number Two), including the Army of Mississippi.

Operations from the Siege of Corinth. In August 1862, Confederate Maj. From Eastern Tennessee, hoping that he could arouse supporters of the Confederate cause in the border state and draw the Union forces under Maj. Bragg considered various options, including an attempt to retake Corinth, or to advance against Buell's army through Middle Tennessee. He eventually heeded Kirby Smith's calls for reinforcement and decided to relocate his Army of Mississippi to join with him.

He moved 30,000 infantrymen in a tortuous railroad journey from Tupelo through Mobile. While his cavalry and artillery moved by road. Although Bragg was the senior general in the theater, President Davis had established Kirby Smith's Department of East Tennessee as an independent command, reporting directly to Richmond. This decision caused Bragg difficulty during the campaign. Smith and Bragg met in Chattanooga on July 31, 1862, and devised a plan for the campaign: Kirby Smith's Army of Kentucky would first march into Kentucky to dispose of the Union defenders of Cumberland Gap.

On August 9, Smith informed Bragg that he was breaking the agreement and intended to bypass Cumberland Gap, leaving a small holding force to neutralize the Union garrison, and to move north. Unable to command Smith to honor their plan, Bragg focused on a movement to Lexington. He cautioned Smith that Buell could pursue and defeat his smaller army before Bragg's army could join up with them.

He had to decide whether to continue toward a fight with Buell (over Louisville) or rejoin Smith, who had gained control of the center of the state by capturing Richmond. And Lexington, and threatened to move on Cincinnati. Bragg chose to rejoin Smith. He left his army and met Smith in Frankfort.

Where they attended the inauguration of Confederate Governor Richard Hawes. The inauguration ceremony was disrupted by the sound of approaching Union cannon fire and the organizers canceled the inaugural ball scheduled for that evening. On October 8, the armies met unexpectedly at the Battle of Perryville. They had skirmished the previous day as they were searching for water sources in the vicinity. Bragg ordered the wing of his army under Maj.

To attack what he thought was an isolated portion of Buell's command, but had difficulty motivating Polk to begin the fight until Bragg arrived in person. Eventually Polk attacked the corps of Maj. On the Union army's left flank and forced it to fall back. By the end of the day, McCook had been driven back about a mile, but reinforcements had arrived to stabilize the line, and Bragg only then began to realize that his limited tactical victory in the bloody battle had been against less than half of Buell's army and the remainder was arriving quickly. Kirby Smith pleaded with Bragg to follow up on his success: For God's sake, General, let us fight Buell here.

" Bragg replied, "I will do it, sir, " but then displaying what one observer called "a perplexity and vacillation which had now become simply appalling to Smith, to Hardee. He ordered his army to retreat through the Cumberland Gap to Knoxville. Bragg referred to his retreat as a withdrawal, the successful culmination of a giant raid. He had multiple reasons for withdrawing. Disheartening news had arrived from northern Mississippi that Earl Van Dorn.

Had been defeated at Corinth. Had failed in his Maryland Campaign. He saw that his army had not much to gain from a further, isolated victory, whereas a defeat might cost not only the bountiful food and supplies yet collected, but also his army.

Upon rejoining the army, he ordered a movement to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Bragg renamed his force as the Army of Tennessee. On November 24 Don Carlos Buell was replaced in command of the Union Army of the Ohio.

By January 2, 1863, however, the Union troops remained in place and the battle resumed as Bragg launched an unsuccessful attack by the troops of Maj. Against the well-defended Union left flank. Recognizing his lack of progress, the severe winter weather, the arrival of supplies and reinforcements for Rosecrans, and heeding the recommendations of corps commanders Hardee and Polk, Bragg withdrew his army from the field to Tullahoma, Tennessee. While Washington breathed a sigh of relief after Stones River, dissension came to a head in the Army of Tennessee.

All of Bragg's corps and division commanders expressed a lack of confidence in their chief. Hardee and Leonidas Polk asked Davis to put Johnston in command of the army.

This internecine donnybrook threatened to do more damage to the army than the Yankees had done. Disheartened, Bragg told a friend that it might "be better for the President to send someone to relieve me, " and wrote Davis to the same effect. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era.

Bragg's critics, including William J. Hardee, interpreted the letter as having an implied secondary questionhad Bragg lost the confidence of his senior commanders?

Leonidas Polk did not reply to the implied question, but he wrote directly to his friend, Jefferson Davis, recommending that Bragg be replaced. Davis responded to the complaints by dispatching Gen. To investigate the condition of the army. Davis assumed that Johnston, Bragg's superior, would find the situation wanting and take command of the army in the field, easing Bragg aside. However, Johnston arrived on the scene and found the men of the Army of Tennessee in relatively good condition.

When Davis ordered Johnston to send Bragg to Richmond, Johnston delayed because of Elise Bragg's illness; when her health improved Johnston was unable to assume command because of lingering medical problems from his wound at the Battle of Seven Pines. As Bragg's army fortified Tullahoma, Rosecrans spent the next six months in Murfreesboro, resupplying and retraining his army to resume its advance.

Buckner's attitude was colored by Bragg's unsuccessful invasion of Buckner's native Kentucky in 1862, as well as by the loss of his command through the merger. A positive aspect for Bragg was Hardee's request to be transferred to Mississippi in July, but he was replaced by Lt. A general who had not gotten along with Robert E. The Confederate War Department asked Bragg in early August if he could assume the offensive against Rosecrans if he were given reinforcements from Mississippi.

He evacuated the city on September 8. Initial movements in the Chickamauga Campaign, August 15 September 8, 1863. Longstreet's breakthrough at the Battle of Chickamauga, mid-day September 20. After Rosecrans had consolidated his gains and secured his hold on Chattanooga, he began moving his army into northern Georgia in pursuit of Bragg. Bragg continued to suffer from the conduct of his subordinates, who were not attentive to his orders.

Refused to attack, as ordered, an outnumbered Federal column at McLemore's Cove the Battle of Davis's Cross Roads. On September 13, Bragg ordered Leonidas Polk to attack Maj. S corps, but Polk ignored the orders and demanded more troops, insisting that it was he who was about to be attacked.

On September 29, Bragg suspended both officers from their commands. In early October, an attempted mutiny of Bragg's subordinates resulted in D.

The dissidents, including many of the division and corps commanders, met in secret and prepared a petition to President Jefferson Davis. Although the author of the petition is not known, historians suspect it was Simon Buckner, whose signature was first on the list. James Longstreet wrote to the Secretary of War with the prediction that nothing but the hand of God can save us or help us as long as we have our present commander. With the Army of Tennessee literally on the verge of mutiny, Jefferson Davis reluctantly traveled to Chattanooga to personally assess the situation and to try to stem the tide of dissent in the army. Although Bragg offered to resign to resolve the crisis.

Marked Bragg's final days as an army commander. His weakened left flank (previously manned by Longstreet's troops) fell on November 24 during the Battle of Lookout Mountain. The following day in the Battle of Missionary Ridge. His primary defensive line successfully resisted an attack on its right flank, but the center was overwhelmed in a frontal assault by George Thomas's army. The Army of Tennessee was routed and retreated to Dalton, Georgia.

Who commanded the army in the 1864 Atlanta Campaign. Davis relied heavily upon Bragg's understanding of military affairs and institutions. Although he did not always agree with Bragg, Davis consistently sought his expertise and opinion on a variety of matters. In the process he maintained old enmities and created many new ones.

Judith Lee Hallock, Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat, Volume II. In February 1864, Bragg was summoned to Richmond for consultation with Davis. The orders for his new assignment on February 24 read that he was "charged with the conduct of military operations of the Confederate States", but he was essentially Davis's military adviser or chief of staff without a direct command, a post once held by Robert E. Bragg used his organizational abilities to reduce corruption and improve the supply system.

He took over responsibility for administration of the military prison system and its hospitals. He reshaped the Confederacy's conscription process by streamlining the chain of command and reducing conscripts' avenues of appeal.

During his tenure in Richmond, he had numerous quarrels with significant figures, including the Secretary of War, the Commissary General, members of Congress, the press, and many of his fellow generals; the exception to the latter was Robert E. Who treated Bragg politely and with deference and who had, Bragg knew, an exceptionally close relationship with the president. In May, while Lee was occupied defending against Ulysses S. In Virginia, Bragg focused on the defense of areas south and west of Richmond.

Meanwhile, Davis was concerned that Joseph Johnston, Bragg's successor at the Army of Tennessee, was defending too timidly against Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. He sent Bragg to Georgia on July 9, charged with investigating the tactical situation, but also evaluating the replacement of Johnston in command. Bragg harbored the hope that he might be chosen to return to command of the army, but was willing to support Davis's choice.

And his responsibility was soon increased at the recommendation of Robert E. Lee to include all of the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia. In November, with William T.

Sherman's March to the Sea. Under way, Davis ordered him to the defenses of Augusta, Georgia. And then to Savannah, Georgia. And in January 1865, the defenses of Wilmington again.

The Confederates were able to successfully repulse the first Union attempt to capture Fort Fisher. Which dominated the seaborne supply line to Wilmington. He assumed that the first failed siege meant that the fort was invulnerable, when in fact bad weather played a large role. Thus, he did not come to the fort's assistance in a timely fashion after it was attacked the second time. The Confederates were forced to evacuate Wilmington, their last remaining seaport on the Atlantic coast.

Bragg's now-fragile military career began to crumble around him. To his disgust, Joseph E.

At about the same time, Bragg lost his position as military adviser to Davis when Robert E. Lee was promoted to be general in chief of all the Confederate armies in February. Who had hated Bragg since the debacle at Perryville, was named Secretary of War. Davis was sympathetic to Bragg's discomfort and discussed transferring him to command the Trans-Mississippi Department, replacing Edmund Kirby Smith. But the politicians from that region were strongly opposed.

Bragg became in effect a corps commander (although his command was less than a division in size) under Johnston for the remainder of the Carolinas Campaign. His men were able to win a minor victory at the Second Battle of Kinston. March 710, and fought unsuccessfully at the Battle of Bentonville. After the fall of Richmond on April 2, Jefferson Davis and remnants of the Confederate government fled to the southwest. Bragg, who had been headquartered at Raleigh, North Carolina.

Caught up with Davis near Abbeville, South Carolina. He attended the final cabinet meeting and was instrumental in convincing Davis that the cause was lost. Bragg and a small party of his staff rode to the west and were captured and paroled in Monticello, Georgia. Bragg and Elise had lost their home in late 1862 when the plantation in Thibodaux was confiscated by the Federal Army. It briefly served as a shelter, the Bragg Home Colony, for freed people under the control of the Freedmen's Bureau.

The couple moved in with his brother, a plantation owner in Lowndesboro, Alabama. But they found the life of seclusion there to be intolerable.

He considered but rejected a position in the Egyptian Army. In August 1871 he was employed by the city of Mobile, Alabama. To improve the river, harbor, and bay, leaving after quarreling with a combination of capitalists. Moving to Texas, he was appointed the chief engineer of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway.

In July 1874, but within a year disagreements with the board of directors over his compensation caused him to resign. He remained in Texas as inspector of railroads. On September 27, 1876, at the age of 59, Bragg was walking down a street with a friend in Galveston, Texas. When he suddenly fell over unconscious. Dragged into a drugstore, he was dead within 10 to 15 minutes.

A physician familiar with his history believe that he "died by the brain" (or of "paralysis of the brain"), suffering from the degeneration of cerebral blood vessels. An inquest ruled that his death was due to fatal syncope.

They were married on June 7, 1849 in the drawing room of Magnolia Manor, the Ellis plantation. The newlyweds relocated to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. They were forced to leave this relatively comfortable assignment in October 1853 when they were transferred to Fort Gibson. Eight months later, they were transferred to Fort Washita.

Bragg traveled to Washington to implore Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to reassign his artillery battery away from frontier duty, but was unsuccessful. McPherson's reference to the bumblers like Bragg and Pemberton. Sums up the judgment of many modern historians. Bragg's shortcomings as an army commander included his unimaginative tactics, mostly his reliance on frontal assault such as the Hornet's Nest at Shiloh.

And Woodworth have stated that, contrary to popular belief, Davis and Bragg were not friends, having bitterly quarreled during the antebellum years. Davis was impressed with Bragg's qualifications for high command early in the war, but was willing to relieve him by 1863.

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