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

More On Oliver Dart, Jr.-- Part 4: The Wound

As the 14th Connecticut neared the railroad depot in Fredericksburg, they came under a galling artillery barrage from the Confederates and they took cover behind a high board fence which soon began to be battered.

Company D, Oliver Dart's unit, was down to 25 men by Fredericksburg, had  a shell burst in front of them and a 2-by-3-inch piece of the shell crashed into the ground, throwing dirt and gravel into the eyes of John Symon (Dart's brother-in-law) before crashing through the fence and striking Oliver in the face and right shoulder.

Corporal Charles Lyman later recalled that "the shell  fragment  would have ripped through Oliver's head had the fence not redirected it."  Sergeant Benjamin Hirst (Oliver's good friend), wrote  a letter to his wife, saying,  "Poor Oliver Dart... he looked as if his whole face  was shot away."

Dart was laid on the ground, unconscious, with Symonds next to him, blinded.  Four men, Sergeant George Brigham, Sergeant Hirst, Corporal Elbert Hyde and Private Kilbourne Newell helped the wounded men back to  the divisional field hospital at the Rowe House  along the Rappahonnock River

Here's Your Quiz on the Battle of Fredericksburg-- Part 1

This past Saturday, the McHenry County Civil War Round Table discussion group met at Panera Bread in Crystal Lake to talk about the Battle of Fredericksburg and to start off the meeting, I gave them a quiz.

1.  What were the dates of the battle?

2.  What river played a major role in the battle?

3.  How many Grand Divisions did Union General Burnside have and who commanded them?

4.  Who said, "My God, General Reynolds, did they think my division could whip Lee's whole Army?"



ANSWERS BELOW

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



1.  Dates will vary, but anything between December 11 to15.

2.  Rappahannock River

3.  Burnside had three Grand Divisions, commanded by William B. Franklin, Edwin V. Sumner and Joseph Hooker.

4.  Major General George G. Meade.

There Are Four More Questions.  --Old Secesh

Mort Kunstler Civil War Calendar-- December "My Friend, the Enemy"

The last monthly calendar for 2015 is "My Friend, the Enemy."  It shows a Confedrate and a Union soldier standing on stones along the river, talking and the Union soldier enjoying a smoke from his pipe and the Confederate having a cup of coffee.  There are other soldiers way off in the background and a town, probably Fredericksburg, in the background.

"RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER, VA., December 25, 1862.  Fraternization was ever-present in the Civil War.  This was not remarkable.  Johnny Rebs and Billy yanks spoke the same language, had the same backgrounds and cultures, possessed the same likes and dislikes.

"While it was easy to hate the enemy in abstract, sometimes individual feelings overcame sectional animosity.  A regular reason for fraternization was the federals' wish for tobacco and the Confederates' desire for coffee.

"This swapping of hard-to-get items is shown here as two enemy soldiers meet in the Rappahannock River.  |They had declared a truce by long-distance shouting.  Now they stand in no-man's land and silently enjoy luxuries for a few moments.

"Winston Churchill once dubbed the American Civil War "the last war between gentlemen."

--Old Secesh

Second Battle of Rappahannock Station-- Part 3

Meade attacked here because he was pressured to do so by Lincoln who was upset that so little was accomplished after the victory at the Battle of Gettysburg.

He divided his force and sent General John Sedgwick to attack Rappahannock Station and General William H. French against Kelly's Ford.  Lee sent Gen. Robert Rode's force to Kelly's Ford, but they were overwhelmed..

Meanwhile, Sedgwick's force skirmished with that of Confederate Gen. Early before launching a brutal nighttime bayonet charge which easily overran the Confederate bridgehead and 1600 were captured.

--Old Secesh

Second Battle of Rappahannock Station-- Part 1

I keep coming across this battle as I go through the list of North Carolina Confederates buried at Arlington National Cemetery and have never heard of it before.  I have heard of the Rappahannock River, though, and know a lot of action took place around it.  I now know that this one is called the Second Battle of Rappahannock Station, with an earlier one taking place in 1862.

After the Battle of Gettysburg, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia returned to Virginia and sparred with Union forces in northern Virginia until withdrawing south of the Rappahannock River for the winter, but he left a pontoon bridge across the river at Rappahannock Station.

At the north end of it he formed a bridgehead with the construction of redoubts and connecting trenches occupied by elements of his army.  they could be covered by batteries on the south side of the river.

On November 7, 1863, this bridgehead came under Union attack. This resulted in the North Carolinians being taken prisoners and dying. Eventually, they were buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

More to Come.  --Old Secesh