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{{Civil War Confederate Bio
| image =Braxtonbragg.jpg
| rank =General, CSA
| born =March 22, 1817
| birthplace =Warrenton, North Carolina
| died =September 27, 1876
| deathplace =Galveston, Texas
| battles =[[Battle of Shiloh|Shiloh]]<br/>[[Battle of Berryville|Perryville]]<br/>[[Battle of Chickamauga|Chickamauga]]<br/>[[Battle of Chattanooga|Chattanooga]]
}}
'''Braxton Bragg''' (born March 22, 1817, died September 27, 1876) was a [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[general]] during the [[American Civil War]].
'''Braxton Bragg''' (born March 22, 1817, died September 27, 1876) was a [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[general]] during the [[American Civil War]].
==Military education and service==
==Military education and service==
Braxton Bragg was born in Warrenton, [[North Carolina]]. He joined [[United States Military Academy|West Point]], graduating fifth in a class of 50 in 1837. Bragg was commissioned a second lieutenant in the [[US Army]], serving in the 3rd Artillery. In the Second Seminole War, his unit was deployed to [[Florida]] as infantry, with Bragg commanding the army post at St. Augustine. Bragg served with distinction in the [[Mexican War]], gaining a promotion to captain and brevet promotions to lieutenant colonel. His effort at the battle of Buena Vista saved [[Jefferson Davis]]' regiment, earnig Bragg Davis' friendship.
Braxton Bragg was born in Warrenton, [[North Carolina]]. He joined [[United States Military Academy|West Point]], graduating fifth in a class of 50 in 1837. Bragg was commissioned a second lieutenant in the [[US Army]], serving in the 3rd Artillery. In the Second Seminole War, his unit was deployed to [[Florida]] as infantry, with Bragg commanding the army post at St. Augustine. Bragg served with distinction in the [[Mexican War]], gaining a promotion to captain and brevet promotions to lieutenant colonel. His effort at the battle of Buena Vista saved [[Jefferson Davis]]' regiment, earnig Bragg Davis' friendship.
Bragg resigned from the Army in 1856 and became a planter in [[Louisiana]].
==Civil War==
==Civil War==
===Pensacola to Shiloh===
===Pensacola to Shiloh===
Bragg was a colonel in the Louisiana militia at the outbreak of the civil war. In February 1961, he was promoted to major general and became the highest-ranking officer in the state forces. By early march, he was commissioned a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army instead. Bragg was sent to Pensacola, Florida, and became commander of the District of West Florida. He was promoted to major general on September 12, 1861, and his command was upgraded to include Alabama. He spent most of his time drilling his troops, making them some of the best-trained in the Confederacy.
When [[Albert S. Johnston]] prepared to repel the Union incursions on the [[Tennessee River]] in early 1862, Bragg and two divisions of his troops were ordered to Corinth, [[Mississippi]] as reinforcements, where Bragg was engaged in instilling some discipline into the forces already assembled. He took part in the [[Battle of Shiloh]] on April 6-7, 1962, commanding the first wave of Confederate troops. When Johnston died at Shiloh and [[P. G. T. Beauregard]], the second-in-command, took a leave of absence for medical reasons a few weeks later, Bragg was promoted to full general and placed in command of the army in June 1862, which became famous as the Army of Tennessee.
===Kentucky Campaign===
===Kentucky Campaign===
Kentucky had been a border state with strong pro-Confederate sentiments. At the outbreak of hostilities it had tried to remain neutral, but the neutrality had been violated by Confederate general Leonidas Polk's occupation of Columbus, quickly followed by [[Ulysses S. Grant]]'s Union occupation of Paducah. Kentucky's pro-Union legislature had used Polk's actions as a pretext to end neutrality and declare allegiance to the Union. Yet when Confederate raider John Hunt Morgan returned from Kentucky after a July 1962 raid, he reported pro-Confederate enthusiasm.
Bragg decided to invade Kentucky with his army for several reasons. On the one hand, he hoped to recruit thousands of Kentuckians. For this purpose, his army would carry along an arsenal of spare muskets. On the other hand, he might catch his Union opponent Don Carlos Buell, commander of the Department of the Ohio, south of the Ohio river, cut his lines of supply, and force a battle under favourable circumstances.
In preparation, Bragg moved his army from Tupelo, Mississippi to Chattanooga, [[Tennessee]], transporting his infantry by rail. He left behind two detachments under Sterling Price and Earl Van Dorn tasked with opposing Union efforts in east Mississippi, but without unified command. For his Kentucky campaign, he secured the cooperation of Kirby Smith, who would lead a second column of Confederate troops from Knoxville through Cumberland Gap, one of the few passes through the Cumberland Mountains.
President Davis had urged Bragg and Smith to cooperate, and Bragg ranked Smith, but there was no unified command structure; Smith would report directly to Davis and would only fall under Bragg's command when Bragg's and Smith's forces combined.
When Bragg advanced in August 1862 he enjoyed initial success, capturing 4,000 Union soldiers at Mumfordville and cutting Buell's line of supply; yet when Buell's army arrived in the vicinity, Bragg's supply situation turned out to be even worse. Meanwhile Smith had deviated from the plan and, instead of joining Bragg, had advanced deep into central Kentucky. Thus, Bragg moved from Mumfordville towards Smith in central Kentucky, with Buell in pursuit.
By early October Bragg was close to Smith's army and Kentucky's capital of Frankfort, where Richard Harris was to be installed as Confederate governor of Kentucky. The inauguration took place at Frankfort on October 4. Bragg decided to attend and left his own army under the command of Leonidas Polk.
By October 7, the Union forces were close to the Confederate army at Perryville, south of Frankfort. Buell's army outnumbered the Confederates more than two to one but included many green recruits.
Bragg had been deceived by a Union detachment which he took for Buell's main effort. He therefore ordered Polk to attack what Bragg assumed to be a small Union force at Perryville and then hurry to Frankfort to unite Bragg's army with Smith's for a combined effort against Buell. On October 8, Polk failed to attack until Bragg himself arrived, took command and started the Battle of Perryville. Bragg misjudged the Union position and was unaware of the location of several nearby Union corps, but Union passivity allowed Bragg to concentrate his entire army against a single corps, resulting in a tactical victory.
Smith urged Bragg to renew the fight with their combined armies. But by then Bragg's hope for Kentucky recruits had proved idle, his supply situation became worse, and he had received reports of the defeats of his detachments under Price and Van Dorn at Corinth and of the failure of [[Robert E. Lee]]'s [[Maryland]] campaign at Antietam. Therefore Bragg believed that an isolated victory would provide few benefits, while a defeat or even too long a stay in Kentucky might endanger his entire army. Thus, he retreated towards Knoxville.
This retread sapped Confederate morale and led to dissension among Bragg's subordinates, many of whom (especially those from Kentucky, but also Polk and Hardee) blamed Bragg for the campaign's failure.
===Middle Tennessee===
===Middle Tennessee===
===Presidential advisor===
===Presidential advisor===