Find-A-Grave: Edward Stuyvesant Bragg-- Part 1

BIRTH:   20 February 1827, Unadilla, New York

DEATH:  20 June 1912 (aged 85) Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

BURIAL: Rienzi Cemetery, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

Civil War Union brigadier general,  U.S. Congressman, diplomat.

At te outbreak of the Civil War, he was a Wisconsin district attorney when commissioned a captain in the 6th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment in July 1861.

He participated in numerous battles and was promoted to colonel and commanded his regiment.  The 6th Wisconsin was part of the famed Iron Brigade.  He led  assaults on Petersburg and made a heroic advance at Fitzhugh's Crossing, where his troops crossed the Rappahannock under enemy fire and captured the Confederate works.

For this action, he was brevetted to brigadier general of U.S. volunteers in June 1864.

--Old Secesh

Edward S. Bragg-- Part 6: Re-enlisting and the Battle of the Wilderness

At the Battle of Gettysburg, the 6th Wisconsin had 340 effectives on the field and lost 30 killed,  116 wounded and 22 missing.  Most of them all were on the first day.

Colonel Bragg returned to the 6th Wisconsin about August 28, 1863,  During the Bristoe Campaign and the Battle of Mine Run, the Iron Brigade participated in a series of  maneuvers but weren't engaged in any serious fighting.

In January 1864, the 6th Wisconsin's enlistment was over.  Those who re-enlisted were given Veteran Status and they, along with Bragg traveled by train home on furlough and were feted in Milwaukee.

Returning to Virginia, the 6th was then involved in Gen. Grant's Overland Campaign, starting with the Battle of Wilderness on May 5, 1864, during which Edward S. Bragg was nearly captured trying to ascertain where other Union regiments were located.

On May 6, the Iron Brigade was involved in an attack on the Confederate left flank that was initially successful until Confederate reinforcements counterattacked and forced them to fall back.

--Old Secesh

Edward S. Bragg-- Part 3: To D.C. and Rising to Rank of Lt.-Colonel

The 6th Wisconsin was organized at Camp Randall in Madison, Wisconsin (present-day Camp Randall Stadium, home of the Wisconsin Badgers).  They mustered into service July 16, 1861, under Colonel Lysander Cutler.  

They were ordered to proceed to Washington, D.C., and once there became a part of General Rufus King's brigade.  They were soon joined by the 2nd Wisconsin, 7th Wisconsin and 19th Indiana regiments in what would become known as the Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac.

From that point to the end of the war, Bragg  participated in nearly every battle of the Iron Brigade.

Bragg and his 6th Wisconsin spent the  Fall of 1861 to Spring 1862 on  picket duty near Washington, D.C., building  fortifications to protect the city and drilling in preparation for combat.  During this time, Bragg was promoted to major in September 17, 1861 and then to lieutenant colonel on June 21, 1862, after Lt.-Col. Benjamin Sweet was given command of the new 21st Wisconsin Infantry regiment.

--Old Secesh

About Colonels Edward S. Bragg and Charles F. Fisher and Their 6ths

I just realized that right now, I am writing about two colonels from famous regiments in my Saw the Elephant: Civil War and Running the Blockade: Civil War Navy blogs.

Charles F. Fisher was the commander of the 6th North Carolina Infantry Regiment and was killed leading his men at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) in 1861.  The 6th regiment went on to great glory during the war and fought at most of the major battles in the Eastern Theater of conflict.

I am writing about him in my Running the Blockade blog, even though the 6th NC was infantry because Fort Fisher was named after him.

Edward S. Bragg was the commander of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, which went on to become a part of the famed Iron Brigade and fought the war in the Eastern Theater.  

Both regiments fought at the sane battles for much of the war.  Both had particularly high casualties at the Battle of Gettysburg.

A Coincidence?  --Old Secesh

Edward Bragg-- Part 2: Lawyer to Captain

Continued from May 27.

Edward Bragg settled in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and became a lawyer there.  He quickly rose to prominence and associated himself with the Democratic party.  In 1853, he was elected district attorney of the town and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Charleston, S.C., in 1860 and nominated Stephen A. Douglas for president.

When word  of the attack on Fort Sumter reached Fond du Lac, he addressed an assembly there and an entire company of men were raised for three months' service.   As Bragg was going about arranging his affairs, another call went out, this time  for three years' service.

He recruited another company and was elected its captain.  The company became known as "Bragg's Rifles" and would become Company E of the 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

--Old Secesh

Who Is Edward S. Bragg?

From same source as yesterday's post.

Edward S. Bragg volunteered for the Union Army  at the onset of the Civil War with no prior military knowledge and reached the rank of brigadier general by 1864.

Bragg would command the 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment that was joined  with the 2nd Wisconsin,  7th Wisconsin and 19th Indiana which became known as the "Iron Brigade."  (U.S. Highway 12 which goes about a half mile from where I live here in Illinois, is named the "Iron Brigade Highway.")

The brigade came by its name because they were tough fighters and  participated in several bloody battles during the war.

He retired from the Army in 1865 and later served Wisconsin as a state senator and in Congress.

Renaming Fort Bragg As Fort Bragg Sounds Like a Good Choice to Me.  --Old Secesh

Elmer Ellsworth & the U.S. Zouave Cadets-- Part 3: Iron Brigade Connection

Then Elmer Ellsworth went to Rockford, Illinois, and his group of militia made a name for themselves with their precision drill at Camp Sinnissippi in Rockford at an encampment.  This is where the Sinnissippi Park is located today.  The Kenosha Civil War Museum has a broadside advertisement for this.

Ellsworth fell in love while in Rockford with Carrie Stafford, the daughter of a rich and powerful Rockford father, who did not like Ellsworth's prospects and did what he could to prevent a marriage until Ellsworth could prove he could support his daughter.

Next, Ellsworth went to Madison, Wisconsin, and trained the Governor's Guard, some of those men going on to prominent positions in the famed Iron Brigade during the Civil War.  The Iron Brigade originally was made up of the 2nd, 6th and 7th Wisconsin regiments, but was later joined by the 24th Michigan and 19th Indiana regiments.

--Old Secesh

General Edward S. Bragg

From Wikipedia.

Earlier this week I was writing about Camp Bragg on Oshkosh, Wisconsin, named for General Edward S. Bragg (probably no relation to Confederate General Braxton Bragg from North Carolina.) . I'd never heard of him. Born Feb. 20, 1827. Died June 20, 1912.

Member of the US House of Representatives from Wisconsin 1877-1883 and 1885-1887 and foreign diplomat. Born in Unadilla, New York and one of the charter members of Kappa Alpha Society, considered the first collegiate fraternity formed at Union College in Schenectaty, NY.

In 1850, he moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

When the Civil War started, he became a captain in the 6th Wisconsin which became a part of the famous Iron Brigade. Became a Lt. Col June 21, 1862 and colonel of the regiment March 10, 1863. Missed the Battle of Gettysburg because of wounds received at the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Became brigadier general of volunteers June 25, 1864. He is interred at Rienzi Cemetery in Fond du Lac.

--Old Secesh