Braxton Bragg

From Turtledove

Braxton Bragg
Historical Figure
Timeline:	OTL
Nationality:	United States (Confederate States, 1861-1865)
Race:	White
Date of Birth:	1817
Date of Death:	1876
Cause of Death:	Natural Causes
Occupation:	Planter, Soldier, General
Affiliations:	Confederate States Army
Timeline:	Fort Pilow (set in OTL)
Timeline:	Southern Victory
Appearance(s):	How Few Remain (referenced)

Braxton Bragg (1817-1876) was a career United States Army officer, and then a General in the Confederate States Army, where he served as a principal commander in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.

Prior to the Civil War, Bragg had fought the Seminole, and served in the Mexican War. After some years as a planter, Bragg became a Brigadier General of the C.S. Army. His record of service in the West was primarily a string of defeats. His invasion of Kentucky, for example, ultimately failed as he did not press his advantage. He was finally pulled from the field in 1864, and become Jefferson Davis's military advisor.

Bragg's death came abruptly in 1876, when he fell over dead while walking down the street.

Braxton Bragg in Fort Pillow

Braxton Bragg commanded the Confederate Army of Tennessee at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, the only victory of his military career as an independent commander, and he later lost the strategic advantage of the victory at the siege of Chattanooga the following November. Bragg was sacked by his friend and ally, President Jefferson Davis, and was widely despised throughout the Confederate Army. He was particularly hated by Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Braxton Bragg in Southern Victory

In 1862, Braxton Bragg led a Confederate army into Kentucky early in the War of Secession, conquering the state and joining it into the Confederate States, where it would remain until 1917 (the year of Bragg's hundredth birthday).