Generals in Gray: Bragg

Braxton Bragg

While Bragg waited, federal reinforcements commanded by Grant slipped in and then attacked, routing Bragg's army in a bold charge up Missionary Ridge. With the Army of Tennessee retreating into Georgia and no satisfactory explanation for the embarrassing loss, Bragg resigned his command. Understandably, most of his contemporaries disliked Bragg. He was a superb military organizer but stern, humorless, petty and vindictive. Historians generally have given him low marks, but he remained a favorite of President Davis throughout the war. After the loss of Chattanooga, Bragg was called to serve under Davis in Richmond, then assigned to Joe Johnston's command in North Carolina in the last days of the Confederacy. After the war he served as civilian chief engineer in Alabama and later moved to Texas. On September 27, 1876, he dropped dead while walking down the street in Galveston.
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Braxton Bragg was born on March 22, 1817, in Warrenton, North Carolina. He graduated from West Point in 1837 and served in the army for two decades, earning a reputation as a fine artillery officer (with a contentious disposition) during the Mexican war. He resigned in 1856 and became a Louisiana planter. When the war began, Bragg spent the first year training troops and defending the Gulf Coast at Mobile, Alabama. In 1862 Bragg was promoted to major general, and he and his troops joined the Army of Tennessee, centered at Corinth. When President Davis removed Beauregard after Shiloh, Bragg was placed in command. He launched an ambitious but fruitless offensive campaign from Mississippi through Tennessee and into Kentucky, lost a battle at Perryville, and fell back into Tennessee. He fought a fierce battle at Murfreesboro in January 1863 and then withdrew into Georgia. There, aided by Longstreet with two divisions of reinforcements from Virginia, he won a tough victory at Chickamauga. The federals commanded by Rosecrans fled to Chattanooga, and Bragg took a siege position in the mountains above the city.

© 2003 David C. Hanson, HIS 269 - Civil War and Reconstruction, Virginia W. Community College

Braxton Bragg
	While Bragg waited, federal reinforcements commanded by Grant slipped in and then attacked, routing Bragg's army in a bold charge up Missionary Ridge. With the Army of Tennessee retreating into Georgia and no satisfactory explanation for the embarrassing loss, Bragg resigned his command. Understandably, most of his contemporaries disliked Bragg. He was a superb military organizer but stern, humorless, petty and vindictive. Historians generally have given him low marks, but he remained a favorite of President Davis throughout the war. After the loss of Chattanooga, Bragg was called to serve under Davis in Richmond, then assigned to Joe Johnston's command in North Carolina in the last days of the Confederacy. After the war he served as civilian chief engineer in Alabama and later moved to Texas. On September 27, 1876, he dropped dead while walking down the street in Galveston. Generals >
Braxton Bragg was born on March 22, 1817, in Warrenton, North Carolina. He graduated from West Point in 1837 and served in the army for two decades, earning a reputation as a fine artillery officer (with a contentious disposition) during the Mexican war. He resigned in 1856 and became a Louisiana planter. When the war began, Bragg spent the first year training troops and defending the Gulf Coast at Mobile, Alabama. In 1862 Bragg was promoted to major general, and he and his troops joined the Army of Tennessee, centered at Corinth. When President Davis removed Beauregard after Shiloh, Bragg was placed in command. He launched an ambitious but fruitless offensive campaign from Mississippi through Tennessee and into Kentucky, lost a battle at Perryville, and fell back into Tennessee. He fought a fierce battle at Murfreesboro in January 1863 and then withdrew into Georgia. There, aided by Longstreet with two divisions of reinforcements from Virginia, he won a tough victory at Chickamauga. The federals commanded by Rosecrans fled to Chattanooga, and Bragg took a siege position in the mountains above the city.
© 2003 David C. Hanson, HIS 269 - Civil War and Reconstruction, Virginia W. Community College