Edward Bragg's Law Book Found-- Part 2: Raised Two Companies and Commanded the Iron Brigade

When news of the outbreak of the Civil War reached Wisconsin, Edward Bragg was defending a woman in a murder trial in Oshkosh, Wisconsin,   Once court was adjourned, he returned to Fond du Lac and raised an entire company of men for immediate service at the battlefront.

The training took place at Camp Hamilton in Fond du Lac, located where Playmore Park now sits on East Division and North Seymour streets.

Bragg stayed behind when the men left to tie up loose ends of his law practice, but then raised another company in June for the 6th Regiment Wisconsin  Volunteer Infantry and was elected its captain.   The regiment spent most of the war as the part of the famed  Iron Brigade  in the Army of the Potomac.

Joan Brusoe, a volunteer at the library,  recalls her great-grandfather's story of walking from Green Bay  to Fond du Lac at age 10 1/2  to join Bragg .  She says he became the drummer boy, but got dysentery at the Battle of Vicksburg.

Possessing a commanding presence, Bragg eventually rose to the command of the Iron Brigade, known for their Black Hats, from June 1864 to February 1865.  Known as one of the best brigades in the Union Army,  the unit suffered the highest percentage of casualties.

--Old Secesh

Edward Bragg's Family-- Part 2: His Daughter Bertha Married Brig. Gen. George P. Scriven

A third daughter, Bertha Bragg Scriven, married an Army officer., George P. Scriven (1854-1940).

From Find-A-Grave

BIRTH:  23 July 1963

DEATH:  3 February 1914,  Washington, D.C.

BURIAL:  Arlington National Cemetery.

From the February 4, 1914, Washington Post

Mrs. Bertha Bragg Scriven wife of  the Chief Signal Officer of the Army, Brigadier General George P. Scriven, died at 9 o'clock yesterday morning at her home, 2009 N. Street Northwest.  Although ill for some months,  her death was not expected as her condition was not considered serious.

Mrs. Scriven was the daughter of the late General Edward S. Bragg, Commander of the Iron brigade of Civil War fame.  She was fifty years old and is survived by her mother, who resides in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, by her husband and two daughters.

Funeral services will be held tomorrow afternoon at two o'clock at St. John's Episcopal Church.  The Rev. Roland Cotton Smith will officiate and internment  will be in Arlington National Cemetery.

--Old Secesh

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 5: Too Ill for Gettysburg

Colonel Edward Bragg became seriously ill after the Chancellorsville, possibly because of  the poor weather conditions during the battle, combined with an injury he received from being kicked by Major  John Hauser's horse.  He remained in his tent while attempting to recuperate, but in early June he was sent to a hospital in Washington, D.C..

While sick, he missed the entire Gettysburg Campaign, leaving the regiment under the command of Lt. Colonel Rufus Dawes.  Both Dawes and the regiment performed heroically on the First Day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Rufus Dawes was the great grandson of William Dawes who warned the Massachusetts  Minutemen of the approach of the British prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord.  He was one of several  men spreading the word, but Paul Revere is the one best-known for doing it.

Bragg attempted to rejoin his regiment in the days after Gettysburg but was too ill and had to return to medical care.

--Old Secesh

Edward S. Bragg-- Part 4: Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville

The Iron Brigade did not participate in the Peninsula Campaign, but was posted across from Fredericksburg, Virginia.

After Gen. John Pope took command of the Army of the Potomac, the Iron Brigade ended up fighting Confederates at the Second Battle of Bull Run, also called the Battle of Gainesville.  The brigade was outnumbered three to one but managed to hold their ground.  The brigade was held in reserve the second day of the battle, but fought in the third day.  They ended up forming the Union Army's rear guard as it fell back.

There were two major offensives against the Confederates at Fredericksburg in the winter of 1862 and 1863, but the brigade was not engaged in serious fighting in either.   On March 10, 1863, Edward Bragg was promoted to full colonel.  He also met President Lincoln.

During the Chancellorsville Campaign, the brigade was put in charge of securing a pontoon bridge at Fitz Hughes Crossing of the Rappahannock River. When the bridge engineers came under fire, Bragg was ordered to take his men and cross the river to secure the bank on the other side.  he accomplished this in an hour and captured 200 Confederate in the process.

--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

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

Some More Budlongs from Wisconsin

From Wisconsin Volunteers War of the Rebellion.

DAVID H. BUDLONG--  1ST LT.   Co. C,   33rd Wisconsin Infantry  (He went on to be Lt.Col. of the 135th USCT.)

EBER BUDLONG--  Sergeant   Co. C,   33rd Wisconsin Infantry  (Eber was the name of David Budlong's father so most likely his brother.)

*******************************

Also two other Budlongs are listed:

ALPHEUS T. BUDLONG  Corporal, Co. I,  2nd Wisconsin Infantry  (Part of the famed Iron Brigade.  He was wounded at the Battle of South Mountain.   In 1883, he was receiving a pension from the U.S. government while living in Greene County, Missouri.  His residence was listed as Ash Grove and disability was a g.s.w. left hand, which I tale to be gunshot wound, left hand.  Received $4 dating from March 1879.)

DELOS BUDLONG--     Corporal E,  11th Wisconsin Infantry

Were they brothers? Relatives?

--Old Secesh

Lucius Fairchild-- Part 3: Col. of 2nd Wisconsin

The 2nd Wisconsin fought at the Second Battle of Bull Run,  During action leading up to it, its colonel, Edgar O'Connor, was killed at Gainesville, Virginia, and Fairchild became its colonel.

The 2nd distinguished itself at the Battle of Antietam.

By February 27, 1863, Brigadier General Solomon Meredith commanded the Iron Brigade.  Then came the action already described on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 1863.  At around 10 a.m., the regiment captured the first Confederate general captured during the war, James A. Archer.  Fighting a holding position, the 2nd were attacked on their flank and by the time they withdrew, had lost 77% of its men, including most of its officers.

Lucius Fairchild was shot in the upper arm, captured, tended to and then released.  He lost his arm.

While recovering from the wound, he was promoted to brigadier general by President Lincoln on October 19, 1863.

--Old Secesh

Lucius Fairchild-- Part 2: Colonel of the 2nd Wisconsin, Governor of Wisconsin

The Governor's Guard became Co. K of the 1st Wisconsin in 1861.  They fought against Stonewall Jackson in July 1861 at the Battle of Falling Waters/Battle of Hoke's Run.

Fairchild became a captain in the 16th U.S. Infantry and then a major in the 2nd Wisconsin.  This unit served in a brigade commanded by Gen. W.T. Sherman until the general reorganization of the Army of the Potomac after the Battle of First Bull Run.  Fairchild remained with the 2nd Wisconsin and was promoted to its lieutenant colonel.

The regiment became a part of the famed Iron Brigade.

The 2nd's commander, Col. Edgar O'Connor, was killed at the Battle of Second Bull Run August 28, 1862 and Fairchild was made colonel, a position he held from September 8, 1862, to October 20, 1863.

--Old Secesh

Firestorm At Peshtigo-- Part 12: Lucius Fairfield and the 2nd Wisconsin at Gettysburg

When Lucius Fairfield and the 2nd Wisconsin received orders to fall back to Cemetery Ridge, they did so in good order, firing as they went.

With their fierce fighting, they bought time for the rest of the Union Army to fall back and gave time for the other corps of the Army of the Potomac to get to Gettysburg and prepare a defensive position.

One Confederate officer credited the Iron Brigade's stubborn fight in glowing terms saying that the dead "lay in rows as if mustered on the parade ground."

Only 69  men of the 2nd Wisconsin remained of the 302 who went into battle that day were still available for duty the next day.  Of the Iron Brigade, there were only 600 of the 1,883 left.

And, Lucius Fairfield was right in the thick of the carnage, leading each charge, organizing the line and calmly urging his regiment to stand fast and give greater effort.

--Old Secesh

Firestorm at Peshtigo-- Part 10: Lucius Fairchiled, Wisconsin Governor

Lucius Fairdhild, the governor of Wisconsin at the time of the 1871 Peshtigo fire was known for making quick decisions.

He had served with great distinction during the Civil War in the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry of the famous Iron Brigade.  At the Battle of Antietam he was so sick that he had to be helped onto his horse, but he led his regiment into battle on "The Bloodiest Day of America."  His regiment suffered over 50 percent casualties.

At Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, Colonel Fairchild led his regiment as the Iron Brigade faced nine times their number in Herbst's Woods.  When ordered to hold the woods "to the last extremity" to give the Union forces time to bring up reinforcements, they stood their ground.

--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

26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment-- Part 2

In 1863, the 26th was attached to the Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Lee.  It was the largest and best-trained regiment present in General Pettigrew's brigade which was attached to A.P. Hill's Second Corps.

On the first day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863, the 26th was engaged at McPherson's Ridge and suffered heavy casualties fighting the Iron Brigade's 24th Michigan (which suffered the most casualties of any Union regiment at the battle).  Colonel Henry King Burgwyn and their lieutenant colonel were killed. Altogether, the 26th suffered 588 (86 killed and 502 wounded) casualties of the 800 men it brought into battle.  But they forced the 24th Michigan to retire.

Another 120-136 men from the 26th would become casualties on the third day during Pickett's Charge.

--Old Secesh

Civil War Sites in Wisconsin-- Part 2: Veterans Museum

Continued from June 2, 2014.

From the Nov. 1, 2013, Chicago Sun-Times by Gary Knowles.

WISCONSIN VETERANS MUSEUM in Madison.  Exhibitions of Wisconsin's Iron brigade (US Highway 12 through Illinois is named The Iron Brigade Road.)  They have artifacts, displays and drawings.
Visitors who have relatives that served in Wisconsin units can buy a detailed Certificate of service document.

Admission free.  Tuesday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m..  Sundays April-Sept noon to 4 p.m.  Capitol square at 30 Mifflin Street.

CIVIL WAR MUSEUM in Kenosha.  Focuses on the contributions of soldiers from the upper Midwest: Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota and Michigan.  Not too far from me, but I've never been.  I think this museum is based on the Civil War collection that was once housed at Carthage College in the city of Kenosha.

Sun.-Mon.: Noon to 5.  Tues.-Sat 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Closed Mondays from September to February and holidays.  $7 admission.  Located at 5400 First Avenue.

I Really Should Go to the Kenosha Museum.  --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

Wisconsin's Camp Bragg in Oshkosh B'Gosh

From Iron Brigade: Wisconsin's Black Hat Brigade site.

The temporary organization and training center for the 21st and 32nd Wisconsin Infantry Regiments. Named in honor of Brigadier General Edward S. Bragg of the "Iron Brigade" 6th Wisconsin Infantry.

The site of the post us now within the Camp Bragg Memorial Park on the northwest corner of Hazel and Cleveland streets in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in Winnebago County.

We have been meaning to go back to the area and this will give me something to look for when we do. Oshkosh is about ten miles or so north of Fond du Lac which I have been posting about the last several entries.

 --Old Secesh

Incident on the Fond du Lac Bridge: Or How Not to Move Across a Bridge-- Part 1

From the Iron Brigade Wisconsin's 'Black Hat' Brigade site. I did not come across what the 3rd Wisconsin had to do with the famed Iron Brigade. US Highway 12 through Illinois is called the Iron Brigade Highway, though. This is also the group that fought the Col. Leventhorpe and his 11th North Carolina so hard during the first day's fighting at Gettysburg.

While doing some research on Camp Hamilton/Wood in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, I came across this interesting account of the arrival of the first volunteers at the new military installation.

Camp Hamilton was named after Col. Charles S. Hamilton, commander of the 3rd Wisconsin, the first unit to train there. It was located on the west side of the city, between Johnson and Division streets and from Lincoln Avenue (then Waupun St.) to Hickory Street where it intersects with Forest Avenue.

The "Green County Volunteers" were the first unit to arrive in Fond du Lac on June 14, 1861.

Talking About Your Grand Entrance. --Old Secesh