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
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