Behind The Battles | Braxton Bragg

Braxton Bragg was a Confederate general known for his role in key Civil War battles like Perryville, Stones River, and Chickamauga. A West Point graduate and Mexican-American War veteran, Bragg’s career was marked by early success and later controversy, often clashing with his own officers. This video covers the highs and lows of one of the Civil War’s most debated commanders.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
The bloodiest war on American soil. States versus States, Brothers
versus brothers. Join hosts Bang and Dang as they take
you battle by battle through the most divisive time in
American history. Welcome to Battles of the American Civil War.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Welcome back to Battles of the American Civil War. Behind
the battles which rolls Bang and Dang. And we heard
this guy a lot last week from Rosecrans's episode, so
figured might as well do him today. He faced off
against William Rosecrans majority of Rosecrans's time, So that was
in the Army of the mississ And which was the

(01:01):
later named the Army of the Tennessee in the Western Tea.
He was also a army officer in the Second Seminole
War and the Mexican American War. Never talked about Braxton Bragg.
He said got a fort name after him for no reason.
He eventually removed from the army and became a special
advisor to Jefferson Davis because he was so terrible out
in the field. I don't know how he became a
special advisor. That tells you everything you need to know

(01:22):
about the Confederates. But he was born in Warrantine, North Carolina,
one of six sons of Thomas and Margaret Croslin Bragg.
One of his older brothers, Thomas he would later become
the Confederate Attorney General. And interestingly that's why, and interestingly
enough Braxton. He was also a cousin of Edward Bragg,
who ended up fighting for the Union as a general

(01:42):
during the Civil War. As well, Braxton got a family
brothers versus brothers, cousins and cousins, this.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Time blood blood. Well. Growing up, Oh, Braxton, he didn't
have it easy, as not most people did back then.
He was often the target of at ridicule dude, some
pretty dark and un substantiated rumors. What was those rumors? Well,
according to local gossip, his muda had been convicted in
prison for murdering African American freeman. Oh and some even

(02:10):
claim Braxton had been born in prison himself. Oh, a
prison baby. What do they call those? Baby? There's no
solid there's no solid evidence though, to support any of that.
Grady McWhiney, the main biographer of Bragg's early life, he
hap besizes that brag his family was actually law Biden,
despite the whispers that followed them. They're good people. They

(02:32):
ain't command any of those acts. Even so, in the
eyes of their neighbors, the Brags were seen as lower
class murderers.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
White trash. But old Thomas Bragg, his father, he was
determined to rise above that label. He was a carpenter
and a contractor by trade, and he managed to build
enough wealth to send young Braxon to the Warrington Male
Academy and time is one of the top schools in
the state. Look at you. There's also a deep historical
lineage in the Bragg family. Braxon, He's a descendant of

(02:59):
Captain Christopher Newport. He invented cigarettes. He was one of
the early leaders of Jamestown Colony in Virginia, and he disappeared.
He also descended from Newport's son in law, Thomas Bragg,
who was born in England in fifteen seventy nine, who
later said settled in colonial Virginia.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
You don't hear too much about the Jamestown settlers.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Nothing to hear. Over the course of his life, Brackson
he would go on to write thousands of letters right
and while he often wrote fondly of his father, curiously
though he never once mentioned his mama. Oh maybe he
was born in Brision.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
When old Braxton was just ten years old and his
daddy made a big decision. He wanted a military career
for his son, so he got to work on making
that happen. The goal you asked, well, it's easy, get
a nomination to the United States Military Academy at West Point.
It's like, you gotta do easy. Well, now that the
Brack family had some political connections, they did, and this

(03:55):
is where they came into play. We're gonna use that
to our vantage son, Axen's oldest brother, Johnny, He's just
been elected to the state legislator. Wow with a new influence,
and John managed to gain the support of North Carolina's
United States Senator at the time, which his name was
Willie P. Magnum. Thanks to Magnum, Braxton was accepted into

(04:16):
West Point at the young age of sixteen.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Once he got there, he was an impressive company. His
classmates would go on to become major figures in the
Civil War on both sides. Over for the Union ended
up being Joseph Hooker and John Sedgwick Nice and on
the other side we got John C. Pemberton, Jubile Early
and William Walker. That class really packed a punch. Well, actually, yeah,
he was everybody but Bragg. Academically, Bragg held his own,

(04:44):
but he wasn't exactly known for burning the midnight oil.
But he had a sharp memory and that helped him
stand out. In fact, he racked up fewer disciplinary demeriants
than most of his classmates, which at West Point was
no small feat. Right when he graduated in eighteen thirty seven,
he ranked fifth out of a class of fifty.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
Damn, that's the highest, Yeah, isn't it. Who's eyes? There's
several ones that we've done so far. Yeah, I think
McClellan was one. Even Rose Grans was like four or five.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Fucking mcclo Stonewall number one or no Stonewall, somebody was
really low. I forget who it was. Coursething was like
thirty three. Now that same here he graduated, he was
commissioned as a second lieutenant in the third US Artillery.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
Oh he's got get artillery. Huh. Brack's first real assignment
came there in the Second Seminole War down in Florida.
He started off as Assistant Commissary Officer and Regimental adjutant
sounds official, but he didn't actually see any combat what
did he see? And you ask, well, it was the
inside of a sick bed. The tropical climate didn't agree

(05:45):
with them very much, and he came down with a
string of illnesses that he blamed squarely on the Florida
heat and humidity.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
He requests that a medical transfer and was briefly reassigned
a recruiting duty in Philly, But in October of eighteen forty,
the army sent him right back to Florida. This time
he was made a company commander and the third Why
would you do that when he can't even hack it? Right?
He was a third US artillery and then given command
of Fort Marion near Saint Augustine. To his credit, Bragg
didn't stay healthier and in its new role it's probably

(06:13):
inside on them, right, But he also had a tendency
to overwork himself, diving into administrative duties to improve living
conditions for his men. He wasn't the kind of officer
to just sit back and let things run themselves, and
that obsessive work ethic it led to let's say, some
tense communication with army leadership.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
You're working to arn wow. Bragg began firing off a
series of argument of letters to senior officials, including the
Jutant General an army paymaster. This back and forth built
his reputation as quote disputatious, a guy who could find
something to argue about with just about anyone.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
Who's that sound like? Wow.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
Now, if you've heard anything about Bragg before, it's probably
this story here. It's one of those legendary, possibly made
up tales that still circulate today, thanks in part to
Ulyss's grant.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Well, here's how it goes. Bragg he was serving in
both company commander. He was serving as both company commander
and quartermaster at a remote frontier post. In his role
as commander, he'd submitted a requisition for supplies, but then
as quartermaster, he reviewed the request and denied it. Not
one to give up, Commander Bragg resubmitted their requisition with
extra justification, and Quartermaster Bragg he denied it again. Eventually,

(07:26):
Bragg referred the matter to the post commandant, who famously said,
my god, mister Bragg, you have quarreled with every officer
in the army, and now you were quarreling with yourself.
Does he know I don't understand. Is he doing this
on purpose? That's hilarious? Fuck he's like he was drunk
when he wrote it, and then he's looking at as

(07:47):
the quartermaster's stupid.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
Wow. Well, grant, he includes his story and his memoirs,
but even he admitted that he wasn't sure if it
was true, and nobody else ever came forward to confirm it. Still,
it's just too good not to tell, as we just did.
Goodness gracious, but not all Bragg's issues were a bureaucratic
or self imposed. Eighteen forty seven, two alleged assassination attempts

(08:12):
on his life by his own troops, mutiny, and one
of the incidents definitely the more serious one someone placed
a twelve pound artillery show under his cot and detonated it. Oh,
the cot was obliterated, but oh Bragg, he came out
completely unarmed.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
How what the hell? Well, he had his suspicions about
who was behind it, but there wasn't enough evidence to
press the charges. Later on, a deserter named Samuel Church
he came forward and claimed responsibility for the attack.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
Makes sense right.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
In eighteen forty three, the Third Artillery they moved to
Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina, and while he was there,
Bragg served alongside three officers who would later become prominent
Union generals. Those were George Thomas, John Reynolds, and William T. Sherman.
Was interestingly, Thomas and Rentals were lieutenants under Bragg's command.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
Oh wow?

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Had all three would later play pivotal roles in the
war on the opposite side of Bragg.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yeah, they'd beat the shit out of him.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Well, I won't know them.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
Just because he wasn't writing angry letters anymore didn't mean
he stayed quiet, though, because between eighteen forty four and
eighteen forty five, Bragg anonymously published a series of nine
articles in the Southern Literary Messenger under the pen name
A Subaltern. The series titled Notes on Our Army. It
pulled no punches. He went after army policies and leaders,

(09:30):
especially General Winfield Scott, whom he described as a vain, petty,
conniving man. Not exactly subtle, i'd say, But it wasn't
all personal texts. Bragg also offered thoughtful ideas for restructuring
the army's general staff, ideas at the time they were ignored,
but would eventually come to life in early two thousand
century two would eventually come to life in the early

(09:55):
twentieth century. So even in his pre war years, Brags
and Bragg was already shape in military policy, dodging assassination attempts,
managing to argue with pretty much everyone, including apparently himself.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
And now remember those anonymous articles Bragg had published, Well,
they didn't just make waves within military circles. They ended
up grabbing the attention of someone pretty influential on Capitol Hill.
And that's where James Clinton comes in, who was a
New York Democrat and, as happened, a political rival of Scott.
So he's like, yeah, I can use this. Clinton saw
Bragg's criticisms as useful ammunition. So in March of eighteen

(10:31):
forty four, while Bragg was on leave in Washington, Clinton
called him to testify before the House Committee on Public Expeddentures.
How did he know it was him, He read on
her pen name.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
Oh wow, here's where things get daisy. General Scott caught
win of the subpoena and flat out ordered Bragg not
to testify, even though it was a direct summons from Congress.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Oh I have to what do you do. You gotta
listen to Congress or do you listen to your commanding officer.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
I'd rather listen to commanding officer, because Congress can't do anything.
Do you defied the order and showed up anyway? Oh shit?
The result, he's arrested. Yeah, we can't do that much.
Bragg was sent to Fort Monroe, Virginia, and put on
trial in a court martial. The charges you asked, Well,
it's easy, disobeying orders, disrespecting his superior officers. Never wanted
to back down from a fight, Bragg chose to represent himself,

(11:19):
and rather than just defend his actions, he tried to
flip the script, using the trial as a platform to
go after Scott and his leadership. Why not, a man,
it's there, let's put it all in the open month.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
In the end, it didn't even matter, in the words
of uh Lincoln Park, because the court found him guilty,
but the punishment was surprisingly light. He received an official
reprimand from the Secretary of War and suspended from duty
with half pay for just two months. Okay, and if
the army thought that would shut him up, well they
clearly didn't know Old Brax and Bragg.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
Oh wow.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
The whole ordeal didn't deter him one bit from continuing
to criticize the superiors in the years ahead.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
Son of a bitch. You know this motherfucker'slipping.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
Get rid of them.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
Right in the summer of eighteen forty five, soon as
we were hearing run billions of secession, everybody was like, Bragg,
we're still sixteen years away, son of a bitch. In
the summer of eighteen forty five, Bragg and his artillery
company were called up to join General Zachary Taylor down
in Texas.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
Caught up to go down.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
Ooh the mission, you asked, Well, it's very simple, defend
the territory for possible Mexican innovation.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yep, pretty simple.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
And this would turn out to be a defining moment
in Bragg's military career. During the Mexican American War, Bragg
racked up promotions for bravery and what was officially called
distinguished conduct.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Very distinguished gentleman.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
Here in a brevet promotion to captain for his role
in the Battle of Fort Brown in May of eighteen
forty six, and then a promotion to major first part
in the Battle of Monterey that very September, and then
to lieutenant colonel for his actions at the Battle of
b Univista in February of eighteen forty seven. Moving on up.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Oh, those were brevet promotions with your honorary advancements in rank.
But Bragg also got promoted to captain in the regular
army June of eighteen forty six.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
That's shit.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
What really made him stand out, though, wasn't just the titles.
It was reputation. He became widely admired in Taylor's Army fantastic,
both for the discipline of his men and for the
use of his new light artillery tactics. Oh these weren't
just flashy maneuvers either. They played a decisive role in
the US Army's success on the battlefield.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
What do you do well? It was in Bunivista that
made Bras and Bragg a household name. Critical moment Bragg
placed his artillery and a gap in the line just
in time to help repel a much larger Mexican force.
He was fighting alongside Colonel Jefferson Davis and the Mississippi Rifles.
You heard that right, Oh, p shit, Jefferson Davis. Davis

(13:33):
came away seriously impressed. That admiration would resurface later on
when Davis became Secretary of War and then president of
the Confederacy.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
We explains why let him advise him as well? Right, Oh,
here's where the legend kicks in. There's an old story,
probably apocryphal, that during the heat of battle, General Taylor
shouted a little more grape Captain Bragg. The idea was
that Taylor was calling for more grape shot to be
fired urgent Bragg to double down. It's a dramatic line,
and it stuck around for generations. Yeah, people just say

(14:01):
that or something, a little more grape Craptain Bragg, crapt
crapt in Bragg.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
According to Major William Bliss, Taylor's chief of staff and
his son in law. Never happened.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
Wow, are they saying that now, just because.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
Some law I didn't like him that and he's just
after the fact.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
Of the Civil War.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
He was always jealous of Bragg.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Maybe William Bliss was supposed to be Billy Bliss right.

Speaker 3 (14:26):
In fact, according to the Diary of Ethan Allen Hitchcock,
Bliss flatly denied it, saying all the stories Lincoln Taylor
and Braggs Battley of Rocks were false. Taylor never said
the grape line. He never said Major Bliss, and I
will support you never said that either. He just pissed
off because, uh, because Taylor took his daughter and had

(14:47):
dinner with Brag.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Right, Like, what did you meet? Somebody daland real soldier
who married Taylor's daughter to every single general we've recovered
was sir under Taylor, one of them. Clearly this guy
did well, that his his son in law. But another
one somebody or uh it was it was Jefferson Davis.

(15:12):
All right, that's crazy. Yeah, and then Bliss was the
other one, right, Jefferson Davis. Yeah, alright, jeez. But still
the myth had already taken hold Bragg. He returned to
the United States a celebrated war hero. Oh yeah, a
military outpost in California, Fort Bragg. It was named in
his honor. Back in his hometown of Warrenton, citizens presented

(15:33):
him with a ceremonial sword. And that's where things get
a little ironic, don't you think?

Speaker 3 (15:38):
I guess he does deserve that Fort Bragg?

Speaker 2 (15:40):
Right? That was before right, Well, you see, the Bragg
family had once been looked down on those towns elite.
But now that braxm was famous, those same people were
lining up to celebrate them.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
All right, they were See what have you done for me? Now? Right?
Congressman David Outlaw, Notice, notice the shift, And he wrote,
Colonel Bragg, having no things to them, one for himself,
A brilliant reputation is now the object of the most
fulsome adulation. He went on to say that those who

(16:10):
once sneered at the Brags were now desperate to honor them.
It's like fucking Rudolph. And then he wondered, with some satisfaction,
how Bragg must secretly regard them all right, He's like
he's motherfuckers, fuck these guys. Bragg took a bit of
victory lap after the war, traveling in New York, Washington,
mobile Albaabba and Nolans. Everywhere he went, mobil blah blah blah.

(16:37):
Everywhere he went. He was honored, but the glory didn't
last forever.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well that's cuz December thirty first, eighteen fifty five, he
submitted his resignation from the army. It was officially accepted
just a few days later, January third of eighteen fifty six.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
Oh that's weird. Usually didn't accept it.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
He served ten years. Now, after years of military service,
he and his wife they bought a sugar pane day
sixteen hundred acres north of Thibodeaux, Louisiana, Okay. Bragg had
never opposed slavery. Clearly, his father owned enslaved people and
so did his wife, so when they acquired the plantation,
Bragg used the labor of one hundred and five enslaved
Afro Americans to run the operation cool. He brought his

(17:17):
strict efficiency obsessed mindset from the army straight into the
plantation management.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
Amen, you gotta have a well owed machine run this shit.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
And it worked financially at least, despite taking on a
large mortgage by the property, the plantation quickly became profitable.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
Amen, I mean it's sugar all right, Brag. He also
involved in local politics. By the year of eighteen sixty,
he'd been elected to the Louisiana Board of Public Works.
But underneath all of this was a growing unease. All
through the eighteen fifties, Brag was deeply troubled by the
growing sectional crisis dividing the country that he loved. Interestingly enough,

(17:51):
he opposed the idea of secession.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
I mean a lot of them did.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
He believed that in a republic, no majority, even the
South had the right to ignore the written Constitution, but
that belief would soon be put to.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
As funny how they always say this before the war happened,
and then as soon as the war happens, like I'm
joining the.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
South, Right, that's because of their states people didn't have
in North Carolina. He was in Louisiana.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
He was in North Carolina where he was born, right,
but where he lives now, that's his bread and butter
as a country inch closer to Civil War. Oh, Bragg,
he's still technically retired from the US Army, but he
found himself back in uniform at this time on a
very different side. Before their first shots were even fired,
Bragg was serving as a colonel in the Louisiana Militia.

(18:35):
Then December twelfth, eighteen sixty, Governor Thomas Moore he appointed
him to the state's military Board. What was their mission, Well,
it was to build a five thousand man army for Louisiana.
Bragg he took the job, even though notably he had
posed a session despite his personal misgivings. He threw his
lot in with the Confederates. They weren't the Confederacy, yeah, right,
But like I said, they're they're loyal to their states.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
If he lived in Ohio, he would have joined up
in Ohio militia. But you can't have sugar farms with
the Afro American Inlinio. Just weeks later, on eleventh of
January eighteen sixty one, oh Braxton he led five hundred
volunteers to Bouton Rouge, where they convinced the federal commander
at the arsenal there to surrender peacefully. No shots were
even fired, just a strategic show of force. Soon thereafter,

(19:24):
the Louisiana Succession Convention created a formal state Army, and
on the twentieth of February, Governor Moore he named Bragg
it's commander, promoting him to the rank of major General.
Bragg he is now in charge of military operations all
around New Orleans, which is a crucial Confederate port city
for now not long right, didn't last very long.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
But his role continued to evolve quickly. March seventh, eighteen
sixty one, his State commission was transferred over to the
Confederate States Army and he was given the rank of
brigadier general. That didn't last long either, because just six
months later, September twelve, he was promoted yet again, this
time to major general. Oh okay, so he was a
major general in the Louisiana Military, then got demoted to
brigadier general, and then got promoted back to major general.

(20:07):
From there, Bragg he was sent to command Confederate forces
in Pensacola, as well as parts of Alabama and the
Apartment of West Florida. And this was a rare period
where his leadership drew widespread praise. Rare. He brought order, discipline,
and structure to the chaos of early Confederate mobilization. Under
his command, regiments like the fifth Georgia and the sixth
Florida the air in reputations, are some of the best
drilled and most disciplined troops in the whole Confederate Army.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
Oh shit, look at that. In December of that very year,
President Jefferson Davis offered Brag at Bigger Row. He said,
I want you to command the entire trans Mississippi Department.
But Bragg, he said no. He wasn't optimistic about the
situation west of the Mississippi River. Supplies were short troops
for poorly trained and discipline wasn't even there.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Non existent to go there and whip them in shape.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Top of that, Bragg's health was once again failing them.
For years, he had struggle with a range of chronic
conditions rheumatism, dyspepsia, frayed nerves, and debilitating migraines. Ooh, these
issues would come and go, but they always seemed to
surface at the worst times, and they certainly didn't help

(21:14):
his famously prickly personality. So the trans Mississippi Command went
instead to Earl Van Dorn Van Dorn, but old Bragg,
he didn't just say no and walk away. He made
a strategic pitch to Davis.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Instead of trying to defend every int Confederate territory in
approach that was spreading the army too thin, Why not
concentrate some forces where they could actually win. Specifically, Bragg
argued that his men were more valuable up north than
sit an Idol along the Golf coast. Yeah that Davis agreed.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
February of eighteen sixty two, Bragg moved about ten thousand
troops to Corinth, Mississippi. His new assignment was to shape
up the Confederate forces already gathered under General Albert Sidney
Johnston and to bring his trademark discipline to a chaotic
and poorly organized army. It was the beginning of a
much larger campaign and a turning point in Bag's wartime career.

Speaker 3 (22:01):
And then it goes yeah. When the Battle Shiloh erupted
on the sixth of April eighteen sixty two, Brag he
was right in the thick of it. He was serving
under General Albert Sidney Johnston as both a core commander
and Johnston's chief of staff. The battle began with a
surprise Confederate attack on Union Forces camp near Pittsburgh, Land
And which is Intendnessee. Bragg's corps ordered to advance in

(22:24):
their line nearly three miles long, damn. But as the
fighting intensified, he ended up shifting his focus to the
center of the battlefield, taking command of units that had
gathered there in the chaos.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Don't I guess, still early in the war, but we've
learned you don't attack the center, man, all right.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
And this is where his man ran into serious, serious trouble.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
They found themselves hammered away at a strong Union defensive
position known as the hornets Nes. Brag launch repeated frontal
assaults piecemeal and direct, but the Union line held firm
for hours. The attacks became a costly grind with a
little bit of payoff little. Then came a major shift
in leadership General Johnson. He was killed during the fighting,
and then the command passed the PGT Beaureguard and then Beaureguard.

(23:09):
He named Bragg his second in command. Okay, clearly he
saw something in this guy.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
Right Later on that afternoon, Confederate forces closed in on
what many believed was a final chance to break the
Union line. Beauregard made a controversial call. He halted the attack.
Bragg was He was furious, pissed, throwing his hat down.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
I threw my hand all chew flew. We could have
broke the line.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
Oh we could have. Yeah. He believed this was their
real shot at victory and was deeply dismayed to see
the opportunity slip away. That very next day, Union forces
launched a power fol counter attack. The old rebel Lion
couldn't hold. The army forced to retreat back to current Mississippi.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
Well. Despite the retreat, Bragg came out of the battle
with his reputation enhanced. He was publicly praised for his leadership.
Just a few days later, April twelfth, Old Jefferson David.
He proted him to a four general that made Bragg
only the sixth man to reset rank in the entire
Confederacy and wanted just seven in total over the course
of the whole war. His date of rank was set

(24:10):
to April six, which was the first day of the
Battle of shiloh Okay. After the grueling Siege of Corinth,
Boreguard took a leave of absence sit in illness, and
he left Bragg tepprimarily in command of the army, which
is now stationed in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah, we don't know that right, But here's where things
get very messy. Beaureguard failed to inform Jefferson Davis that
he was stepping away oh two full weeks. He was
effectively a wall. Davis, already disappointed with boguards performance. Darren
Seat saw this as the last raw with Beaureguard or
the picture. Davis moved quickly because on the seventeenth of

(24:44):
June eighteen sixty two, efficiently appointed Bragg as commander of
the Weston Department also known as the Department Number two,
that included command of the army in mississipp.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
Where Bragg originally didn't want to go.

Speaker 3 (24:55):
Bragg was non charge of one of the most important
theaters in the Confederate War effort, and with that promotion,
his story was about to get a whole lot more
complicated and starts to definitely, definitely go downhill.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
By the summer of eighteen sixty two, oh Braxton had
taken fol command of the Confederate Western Department anim was
about to launch one of the most ambitious campaigns of
his career. It all started in August when Confederate Major
General Edmund Kirby Smith he decided to take a bold
move invade Kentucky from eastern Tennessee. His hope stir up
pro Confederate sentiment in the border state and force Union

(25:28):
General Don Carlos Buell to poll his army north of
the Ohio River, which we've heard a thousand times, this
is what them and turned Kentucky into a Union state.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
Yep. Bragg he had a few options on the table himself.
He considered trying to retake Current or marching through middle
Tennessee to strike bull head on, but in the end
it didn't really matter. He backed Kirby Smith's plan and
agreed to reinforce the campaign. So Bragg began a massive
relocation of his Army of Mississippi. We had about thirty
thousand men. He did that by rail. He moved them

(26:00):
from Tupelo. This is by rail through Mobile and then
through Montgomery and then finally up the Chattanooga. Meanwhile, his
cavalry and artillery made the grueling trip over land.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
All Now, even though Bragg was a senior general in
the region, there was a catch. Old Jefferson Davis had
made Kirby Smith's Department of East Tennessee an independent command
that reported directly to Richmond, and that set up. It
was a bureaucratic headache that caused major problems from Bragg
during the campaign and did. The two generals met in
Chattanooga July thirty first, eighteen sixty two and came up

(26:33):
with a joint strategy.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
Though oh fantasic Smith's Army of Kentucky with March first,
targeting Union defenders at Cumberland Gap. Bragg's forces, you ask, well,
they're exhausted from the long journey. They would rest and
then follow. Once they linked up, Bragg would assume folk
command due to his sceniority. Well, the plan was to
get into Bule's rear, cut off his supply lines, forced

(26:55):
a major battle on favorable terms. After destroying Buell's army,
they'd continue their market deeper into Kentucky, hoping to rally
support and push the old rebel frontier all the way
to the Ohio River. Well, doesn't it, he hoped?

Speaker 2 (27:09):
Well, then Smith he went off script. August ninth, he
informed Bragg he was ditching the plan. Instead, he'd bypassed
Cumberland Gap, leave a small force to hold it, and
then heading north immediately. Bragg unable to override Smith's independent authority,
he had to adapt on the fly. Instead of heading
towards Nashville, he aimed his own army towards Lexington to

(27:30):
link up with Smith instead. He warned Smith that Buell
might catch and defeat him before they can combine forces.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
Though Well, Bragg Leftchattanooga on the twenty seventh of August
just as Smith was arriving in Lexington. Along that very way,
Bragg got sidetracked by the capture of a Union fort
at Munfordville. He's like, I couldn't help him right then,
became a key decision. Should we keep Presentory Louisville for
a showdown with Buell or should we rejoin Smith, who

(27:58):
now controlled central Kentucky after captain in both Richmond and
Lexington and was even threatening Cincinnati. Oh oh, really, Bragg.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
He chose to rejoin Smith, and he personally left his
army and met up with him in Frankfurt. While there
they attended the inauguration of Confederate Governor Richard Halls October fourth.
On ceremony was meant to be meant to be a triumph,
but it was cut short by the distant rumble of
a Union cannon fire. The inaugural ball that night canceled
my bet. Then October eighth, the two armies finally clashed

(28:27):
unexpectedly at the Battle of Perryville, which we did, of course,
the day before, both sides had skirmish while searching for
scarce water sources. Oh Bragg believed he had a small,
isolated portion of Bule's army in front of him, so
he ordered General Leonidas Polk to attack. Polk he was hesitant,
dragging his feet until Bragg showed up in person to
push him in the accents and get jo Ass, going, hell,

(28:48):
you don't want Leonidis damn.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
When Pope finally moved, he struck Major General Alexander McCook's
core on the Union left flank and drove it back
about a mile. But by a day's in Union reinforcements
arrived to stay with the line. Bragg, he realized, which
was too late that he realized that he'd only been
fighting in fraction of Buell's army. The rest was arriving quickly.

(29:10):
Kirby Smith beg Bragg depressed the attack. For God's sake, General,
let us fight Buell here, but Bragg responded, I will
do it, sir, but then he hesitated. Observers describe what
came next as a perplexity and vacillation that left Smith
hearty and Poked stunned. Instead of renewing the attack, Bragg

(29:33):
order to retreat, pulling his army back through the coming
gap to Knoxville.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
I'll do it, sir, retreat.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
I'm gone well.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
He tried to reframe the withdrawal as a victory, calling
the successful end to a massive raid, but the truth
was more complicated. There were multiple reasons behind Bragg's decision.
News had just come in from northern Mississippi that competitive
forces under Van Dorn and Price had been defeated at Corinth,
and at the same time Old Robert E. Lee he
had failed in his Maryland campaign. Yeah, what are you
guys gonna do?

Speaker 3 (29:59):
A Bragg? He calculated that pressing forward might win a
minor victory, but at what cost. His army was far
from home, exposed low on supplies. Even if they were defeated,
they'd lose not just men, but all the food materials
that they had collected in Kentucky, he wrote to his wife,

(30:21):
with the whole southwest. Thus in the enemy's procession, my
crime would have been unpardonable had I kept my noble
little army to be ice bound in the Northern Climb
without tens or shoes, and obliged to forge daily for bread,
et cetera. Right, right, he was like that, we've done
that enough.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
Right Back in Richmond, the retreat didn't go over well,
though Bragg was summoned to explain himself to Jefferson Davis.
His own officers were openly accusing him of mishandling the
campaign and demanding he be replaced. Davis he heard him
out and Somewhat surprisingly, he decided to keep Bragg in command,
but the damage had been done. His relationship with his

(31:01):
top generals, men like Polk Hardy and Kirby Smith. It
was now deeply fractured, not broken though. After the campaign
Bragg he rejoined his army and ordered a movement back
into Tennessee. He set up camp in Murphrey's Borough. But
the cracks and his command structure, they were growing and
they were about to be tested get again in battle.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
I mean, who the hell has time to leave your
posts and go all the way to Richmond to have
a conversation and then stop everything that you're doing and
then go all way back to Tennessee him They're crazy, Yeah, railroads,
I guess it's like two three four days of wasting.
About late eighteen sixty two, Brax and Brag he was

(31:41):
still at the helm of the Confederate Army in Tennessee,
but he was about to give it a new identity.
Failures because on the twentieth of November he officially renamed
his force the Army of Tennessee, a title it would
carry for the rest of the war. Meanwhile, things were
changing on the Union side. Just a few weeks earlier,
on the twenty fourth of October, Union General Don Carlos Buell.

(32:01):
He'd been removed from command in this place. You guessed it,
Major General William rose Grans, and he didn't waste time
putting his stamp on things. When he got there. He
immediately renamed Bule's force the Army of the Cumberland.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
So now we have two new army names. And the
stage was set for a major showdown.

Speaker 3 (32:18):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
In late December, rose Grans advance out of Nashville, heading
straight for Bragg's position near Murphrey's Borough. Before Rosecrans could
strike Bragg he decided to take the initiative. No New
Year's Eve, eighteen sixty two. Everybody's got their party hands, Confederates.
They launched a powerful surprise attack. They hit rosecrans right
flank hard. The assault marked the opening of the Battle

(32:42):
of Stone's River.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
Bragg's forces drove the Union troops back, compressing them into
a tighter defensive pocket. It was a brutal day of fighting,
but Bragg he believed he had scored a decisive blow.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
I'm sure he did.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
He assumed Rosecrans had no choice but to retreat, but
guess what, as usual, wrong and wrong, he'd be in jail.
When January second, eighteen sixty three arrived, Union forces was
still holding Strong Baby. Instead of retreating Rosecrans, he dug in.
Bragg determined to finish the job. He ordered an assault

(33:15):
on the Union left, this time using the division under
Major General John C. Breckenridge. But that attack also failed.
The Union line just too strong, well positioned, and now
they're even receiving steady reinforcements and supplies from Nashville itself. Oh.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
With no clear progress on the battlefield, worsening winter weather,
and mountain pressure from his own senior officers, particularly Generals
Hardy and Pope, and they don't like him anyhow, Brag
he made the difficult called or withdrawal. He pulled his
army back to Tullahoma, Tennessee, and in the battle damn
it Stones River wasn't just a decisive Union victory by
the numbers, but strategically as well. It was a major

(33:54):
blow to Brag. He had launched the offensive, expected a
retreat and ended up being the one to retreat instead
hm hmm. Further damage morale within the Confederate command, and
it deepened the already grown tension between Bragg and his subordinates.
All right, cannot have tension between you.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
And Oh no no. After the grueling campaigns of Kentucky
and the bloody battles of Stone River, Bragg's generals were
anything but quiet about the dissatisfaction with their leadership. Rumors
their criticisms swirled throughout the army, and Bragg, never wanted
to shy away from confrontation, decided to tackle the issue

(34:29):
head on. He's all right, mother, Chris, what do you
all got to say? He drafted a letter and sent
it out to his core and division commanders. In that
very letter, do you hate me, right, chick? Yes? And
he asked them to confirm in writing what they had
in fact recommended the withdrawal after Stone's River. Bragg was

(34:51):
essentially saying, if I misunderstood you and pulled back by mistake,
I'm ready to step down and let someone else take command.
Oh okay.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
But he sent this letter when some of his staunches
supporters were away, either recovering from wounds or on sickly.

Speaker 3 (35:08):
You did that on purpose?

Speaker 2 (35:10):
Why they're his supporters? Bragg's critics, including the formidable William Hardy,
he read between the lines. They saw the letter not
just as a request for clarity, but as an unspoken question,
have I lost the confidence of my senior officers?

Speaker 3 (35:23):
Just say it?

Speaker 2 (35:24):
To say it, Lee and I spoke for one. He
didn't bother to reply to that implied question. Instead, he
went straight to the top, writing directly to old President
Jefferson Davis himself and recommending that.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
Bragg he replaced.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
He said, We've had enough of this fucking clown. What
is doing?

Speaker 3 (35:40):
What the hell is going on? Well, Davis took the
complaints seriously. To get to the bottom of things. He
sent General Joseph Johnston to inspect the army's condition, and
he said, you report back to me, buddy. Well. Now,
Davis likely expected Johnston, who was technically bragg superior, to
find the army in disarray and stepping to take command,
effectively pushing Bragg as well. Things don't always go as

(36:02):
it did for the old rebel commanders, But what happened
next wasn't what anyone anticipated. When Johnson arrived, he was
struck by what he saw. The army in Tennessee was,
by many measures, in good shape. He told Bragg bluntly,
you have the best organized, armed, equipped, and disciplined army,
and all of the Confederacy, maybe the Union.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
Well, Johnson, he refused to take over command.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
He can't do it.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
That he was concerned that assuming control under those circumstances
might look like he was exploited in the situation for
personal gain. It's a rare moment of principle in a
war full of ambition. Yeah, there's so many people doing
dirty ship. When Oh Jeff ordered Johnson to send Bragg
back to Richmond, Johnson delayed, citing the illness of Bragg's
wife at least, But then, even when she recovered, Johnson

(36:51):
himself was held back by lingering medical issues from a
wound he had suffered in the Battle of Seven Pines.

Speaker 3 (36:56):
Okay, right, so Bragg state command for the time being.
But these internal fractures and doubts about his leadership would
continue to shape the Army of Tennessee's fate and now
his own legacy. As Bragg's Army of Tennessee dug in
forty five, the position around to Lahoma. Union General William
Rosecrans was busy at work just down the road in Murphysboro.

(37:20):
For the next six months, rosecrans focus on resupplying, retraining,
reorganizing his forces, prepairing for the next big push. Then,
on the twenty thirty June eighteen sixty three, Rosecrans made
his move, caught Bragged by the surprise.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
While keeping Confederate in General Leonid his Poke's corps busy
with small scale skirmishes in the center of Bragg's line. Well,
Rosecrans he sent the majority of his army in a
wide maneuver around breaks Brags right flank uh oh. His
plan it was outflanked the Confederates and force them off
their ground.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
Dam right it was.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
But Bragg he was slow to respond, and things were
complicated by the usual infighting and mistrust among his own Generally.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
That's what happens. You can't do that shite.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
For months, communication between Bragg and his senior officers had
been poor, and neither Polk nor William Hardy had solid
grasp of Brags overall strategies like we don't even know
what this guy wants to do.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
This is wow. As rose krans forces out maneuvered him,
Bragg was forced to make a tough call. He abandoned Tullahoma,
and by the fourth of July his armor retreated across
the Tennessee River. Rose kranz Tellahoma campaign is often called
brilliant brilliant by historians. He achieved his goal, which the

(38:28):
drive Brag out of middle Tennessee, while suffering minimal casualties.
Historian Judith Halleck noted that Bragg was out fox during
the campaign and that his ongoing ill health may have
affected his decision making right, but she also gave credit
where it was due. She said, Bragg handled the retreat
reasonably well under difficult conditions, managed to keep his army intact.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
Well that he did. But at the end of July,
the Armor of Tennessee he had numbered about fifty two
thousand men. But Bragg's responsibilities suddenly handed. Oh, the competitive
governor merged the Department of East Tennessee, led by Major
General Simon Buckner. They merged him into Bragg's command, which
added roughly seventeen thy eight hundred men. This dude had
a hell army and it stretched Bragg's authority northward all

(39:13):
the way to Knoxville. Oh wow, well, Polkin, the other guy,
I wasn't happy about this.

Speaker 3 (39:20):
Well, there was Buckner, because he wasn't thrilled at all,
he had little respect for Bragg, probably a holdover from
Bragg's failed invasion of Buckner's home state of Kentucky in
eighteen sixty two. He resented losing his independent command. Oh wow.
On the bright side for Bragg, William Hardy requested it
transferred to Mississippi in July, removing a difficult subordinate. As

(39:40):
I get the gout here, Hardy's replacement, you asked, well,
none other than Lieutenant General Daniel Harvey Hill. Oh DH,
A man who famously clashed with Robert E. Lee back
in Virginia and Dhill, but they still loved each other.
It was Aphill DHL hated Lee, right, that's true.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Fast forward to early August, the Competitive War Department asked
Bragg a critical question. If given reinforcements from Mississippi, could
he go on the offensive against Rosecrans m Brag. He demurred.
He was concerned about the tough geography and logistico nightmares
in the region and preferred to let Rosecrans make the
first move. An opposed crossing of the Tennessee River looked impossible.

(40:17):
Rosecrans knew this, and he came up with a clever deception.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
Oh oh, what did he do well. He kept Bragg's
attention fixed above Chattanooga with small feints, and even shelled
the city from the heights of north of the river
while secretly moving the bulk of his army downstream the
cross out of sight. Bragg also had to worry about
a sizeable Union force under Major General Ambrose Burnside threatening
Knoxville to the northeast. And Burnside it wasn't no uh,

(40:42):
just flick him off on the way. He was no slouch, right,
It was a force himself. So rosecrans faints amplified those
fears perfectly, because by the September fourth, the majority of
the Union army had crossed the Tennessee River southeast of Chattanooga,
and Oh Braxton Bragg realized his position was no longer defensible,
and he evacuated city just a few days later on

(41:02):
the eighth of September. Just a shit shows man here
and then these guys really don't have to do anything,
there was like Rosecrans is like jeez, make it hard
out of his bud, Like this is it really?

Speaker 2 (41:17):
After Rose Grants had solidfied his grip on Chattanooga, he
pushed his army further north into Georgia hot on the
trail of Braggs retreating forces. But Bragg was facing more
than just the Union Army.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
As always, his own.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Subordinates were proven to be a constant headache, goten ignoring
his orders and acting on their own agendas.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
Me, there's no respect there, so I can listen to
anybody you know.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
For example, September tenth, major Generals Thomas Henman and No D. H.
Hill they outright refused to attack a smaller Federal force
at Maclamore's Cove, which was an engagement known as the
Battle of Davis's Crossfolds. We did them.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
Oh wow. Then just a few days later, on the
thirteenth September, Bragg he ordered Pope to strike Major General
Thomas Crintonton's corps. Polk, however, ignore those orders and instead
demanding reinforcements, claiming that he was the one about to
be attacked. These delays gave rose Grand's precious time to
concentrates scatted troops. But Bragg he wasn't finished. He said,

(42:10):
come on, man, come on man. September nineteenth and the
twentieth eighteen sixty three, reinforced by two divisions from Mississippi,
A Division in several brigades from East Tennessee two divisions
under Lieutenant General James Longstreet, fresh from Robert E. Lee's
Army of Northern Virginia, Bragg he launched the counter attaggs,
all right, I got somebody on here and this swear

(42:33):
goes Yeah, long Street wasn't very well here. I don't
know what happened.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
Well, this is where it goes wrong for William Rosecrans.
But that resulted in the Battle of Chickamauga, which is
the Confederacy's greatest victory in the Western Threat theater during
the war. It was a hard fought, bloody wind one
that came at a staggering price. Bragg's army suffered nearly
eighteen four hundred and fifty casualties and making it the
costliest Confederate victory of the entire war.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
Still, it wasn't quite the complete victory brag had hope, for.
His goal had been to cut off rosecrans army at
Chattanooga and destroy it completely. Instead, after Longstreet's wing partially
routed the Union forces, Major General George Thomas held firm,
earning the nickname the Rocket Chickamauga Damn Rockamaga, and it
allowed Rose Grans and almost his entire army to escape.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
Sure, we went over that like three or four dollars.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
Yes. After the battle Rosecrans's battered Army of the Cumberland,
they retreated back to Chattanooga, where Bragg he moved to
lay siege.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
I mean, just a little shit like this or turning
points of what could have been different, right, could have
been different? Just I I guess that happens. I guess
it happens. But now Bragg's fight, it wasn't just against
the Union ass always before. He's still battling his own officers.

(43:50):
Frustrated by what he saw as their failures during the campaign,
Bragg punished Himtman for his inaction at Maclamore's Cove and
Poked for delaying the attack on the morning of the
twentieth of September. So on twenty ninth September, both were
suspended from their commands. Oh but guess what you think?
Everything was quiet down there and things can go back
to normal. Nope, Nope, did not happen.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
This In early October, a mutiny was a bruin. As
a result, dhl he was relieved to command as well
To make matters worse for Bragg, Longstreet and his corps,
they were sent away to fight in the Knoxville Campaign,
and that was against Ambrose Burnside, which seriously weakened Bragg's forces.
Outside of Chattanooga, the disc colonel generals included many division
and core commanders. They weren't quiet about their frustrations either.

Speaker 3 (44:33):
No, they met secretly and drafted a petition to President
Davis calling for Bragg's removal again fourth time. While the
author of the petition remains a mystery, historians suspect that
Simon Buckner himself did it.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
Still pissed off he got a shit taken.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
Away, right, Lieutenant General James Longster even wrote to the
Secretary of War with a stark warning, nothing but the
hand of God can save us or help us as
long as we have our present command. Though is he
talking about Lee?

Speaker 2 (45:02):
Right Jefferson Davis with the Army of the Tennessee on
the brink of mutiny. Jefferson Davis himself traveled to Chattanooga
to take stock of the situation and try to call
him the unrest Bragg, for his part, he offered to
resign to settle the crisis, just let him go. But
old Davis, he ought to me, decided to keep Bragg
in command, denouncing the complaint in generals and calling their

(45:22):
grievances shafts of malice.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
What's that kind of word?

Speaker 2 (45:25):
But probably man, you do whatever you can, guy tells you. Right.

Speaker 3 (45:28):
As Bragg's struggled with dissent among his subordinates and saw
his forces weakening.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
He didn't have anybody that was on his side in
this whole thing or what.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
Especially after dispatching Long Street to Knoxville, campaign didn't union
on me. On the siege at Chattanooga got a game changer,
old drunken Grant coming in and taking command. Grant he
arrived with significant amount of alcohol. He arrived with Snigma
modin of reinforcements from Mississippi and Virginia, ready to break

(45:57):
the old rebel hold on that city of Chattanoo.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
Oh well, what follows you guess? The battles for Chattanooga,
which was a turning point and ultimately Bragg's final days
as an army commander.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
November twenty fourth, Bragg's already weakened left flank, the very
section that had manned by the very section that had
been manned by Longstreet troops that collapsed during the Battle
of Lookout Mountain. Damn it.

Speaker 3 (46:19):
Then the very next day, during the Battle of Missionary Ridge,
braggs the Mainory Ridge might be actually right. Bragg's main
defensive line managed the whole firm on the right flank
against the old Union assault, but the center of his
line then it hold the most important part. Union forces
under George Thomas launcht relentless frontal saw that overwhelmed the
old rebel center. The Army of Tennessee was routed force

(46:42):
into a chaotic retreat all the way back. Dalton, Georgia,
mister Dalton. The blow was devastating, devastating. Yep, Bragg, you
gotta go.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
So devastating that just five days later, November twenty ninth,
Bragg he tendered his resignation and was stunned when Jefferson
David accepted it.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
He said, I'm wanting to get rid of it. Was
waying from the well, yeah, he said.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
David.

Speaker 3 (47:05):
Davis was like, thank you.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
I gave you so many passes, dude, and then he
then handed temporary command over to William J. Hardy on
December second, before being officially replaced by Joseph Johnston, that
very army would be routed. Just not too long later,
Johnson he would go on to leave the Army of
Tennessee and the greueling Atlanta Campaign of eighteen sixty four,
facing off against so General William T.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
Sherman. Sherman had a mission and he was getting.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
It, and he was committing war crimes.

Speaker 3 (47:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Then with that old brax and Braggs tumultuous tenure as
a Confederate Army commander came to a close.

Speaker 3 (47:40):
Yep, it lasted longer than it should have. February of
eighteen sixty four, brax and Bragg summoned to Richmond for
an important consultation with Jefferson Davis. His new Orders dated
February twenty fourth officially tested in with overseating the conduct
of military operations of the Confederate States. All right, but

(48:01):
in reality Bragg was stepping into a role more like
a military advisor or chief of staff, kind of like
Robert E. Lee once without a direct battlefield command. Maybe
that's where it needs to be through himself.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
Right, we don't want you on the field making decisions,
but we'll consult.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
You about what to do. I guess and do the
opposite right. Well, he was good tactically, but Brack threw
himself into the organizational side of things very fast and quickly.
He worked to reduce corruption within the old Rebel military
and improved the notoriously troubled supplies. Yeah they were notorized, notarized.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
He also took over responsibility for administering the military prison
system and its hospitals, which was a tough job, especially
during more time he was. One of his big achievements
during this time was reshaping the Confederacy's conscription process.

Speaker 3 (48:48):
There it is.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
He streamlined the chain of command, cutting down on the
number of ways conscripts could appeal their service, making the
system more efficient. But it wasn't all smooth sailing, so
why would it ever be?

Speaker 3 (48:58):
Oh? Never is. During his time and Richmond Bragg, he
found himself clashing with a lot of important figures. Oh no,
you don't say, oh, the Secretary of War, the Commissary General,
members of Congress, the press, and even of his fellow generals,
many of them the one exception he ain't being robbery.
Lee Lee treated Bragg with politeness and respect, and Bragg

(49:20):
knew that Lee shared a very close relationship with President
Davis himself.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
He's a big guy. Oh that's because, yeah, he knew
he shared a relationship with Davis. So Lee could just
like get this mother.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
G out of here.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
Meanwhile, and May Lee was locked in brutal combat defending
Virginia against owed US grants overland campaign, and Bragg he
turned his attention to defending the areas south and west
of Richmond. He successfully convinced Davis to appoint PG T
Bowguard to a key row in defending Richmond and Petersburg.

Speaker 3 (49:49):
Grind didn't work out, but Davis he was worried about
the situation in Georgia.

Speaker 2 (49:55):
And Georgia, yeah you should be.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
Joseph Johnston, who have replaced Bragg as commander of the
at Tennessee, was perceived as being too cautious against Sherman's
aggressive Atlanta campaign.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
I don't think anybody was gonna mat Sherman's aggresiveness.

Speaker 3 (50:07):
No, So on the ninth of July, Davis he said, Bragg,
take your ass at Georgia. I want you to assess
the tactical situation there and then evaluate whether Johnston should
be replaced or not. He's like, you want me tell
you somebody who should be replaced.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
You want me to tell me, tell to evaluate whether
the guy that replaced me should be replaced. Right. Brag
himself hoped he might get the nod to return the commands, Yeah,
of the Army of Tennessee, but he was ready to
support whatever decision Davis made. Davis he had hinted that
William J. Hardy might be a suitable replacement, but Bragg
was reluctant to promote Hardy, an old rival, of course,

(50:43):
and a reporter that Hardy's leadership wouldn't bring any real
change and strategy from Johnson's. Instead, Bragg had extensive talks
with younger core commander named Lieutenant O. John Bellhood. Hood
impressed Bragg with his aggressive plans for taking the offensive,
plans that Hood had even been quietly comunicating for to
Richmond for weeks behind Johnson's back.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
Our son of a bitch.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
In the end, Oh, Davis did indeed choose Hood to
replace Johnston.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
That's all right, because in October eighteen sixty four, Davis
sent Brax and Bragg to take temporary command of the
defenses at Wilmington, North Carolina. His responsibilities, you asked, well,
they quickly expanded, and we don't know what those responsibilities were.
We do His responsibilities quickly expanded thanks to recommendation from
Robert E. Lee. His responsibilities were to cover the entire

(51:30):
department of North Carolina in southern Virginia. But the war
was closing in fast. By November, Sherman's devastating March to
the Sea was well underway. Davis ordered Bragg to move
from Wilmington to defend key southern cities, starting with the Gootsta, Georgia,
then Savannah, then Charleston, South Carolina, and back again to

(51:50):
Wilmington by January of eighteen sixty five, and nobody know.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
Just a few months later, like Federick's, managed a hold
strong and one crucial early fight, successfully repelling the first
Union attempt to capture Fort Fisher. There was a fort
that was vital because it controlled the seaborne supply line
to Wilmington, which was the Confederacy's last major Atlantic port.
But things changed dramatically with the old Second Battle Fort
Fisher in January.

Speaker 3 (52:15):
Did brag He assumed that because the first siege had failed,
the fort was essentially invincible. What he didn't fully realize
was that poor communication and planning by the old Blue
Coats had played a big role in the initial failure.
So when a Union launched their second attack, Bragg didn't
send reinforcements. Are come to the Fort's eight at all?

(52:36):
The result, you asked, well, the old Rebels lost Fort
fisher See Bragg, and by February they were forced to
evacuate Wilmington, altogether losing their last Atlantic seaport. From here
on out Bragg's already fragile military career for grand to crumble.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
And add insult to injury. Oh Joseph Johnson. He returned
to service to command what was left of the Army
of Tennessee and other forces opposing Sherman's advance into North Carolina.
Around the same time Bragg he lost his position as
Jefferson Davis's military advisers. All well that role, it went,
told Robert E. Lee, Because he was promoted to General
in chief of all the Armies in February eighteen sixty five.

Speaker 3 (53:15):
He's a big guy. Should have done that years ago.
Make matters worse. Old Breckenridge, who had harbored a deep
grudge against Bragg since disaster at Perryville. He was named
secretary of Oh, He's like Bragg will never ever fight
for the Confederate again. He did not. Davis, he sympathized
with Bragg's discomfort and even discussed transfer him to command

(53:37):
the trans Mississippi Department, replacing Edmund That the one he
didn't originally want to go to, but politicians from that
region were fiercely opposed to that day is I don't
bring MVR over here. Instead, Bragg effectively became a core commander,
though his command was actually smaller than a full division
servant under Johnston. For the remainder of the Carolinas campaign,
man I far I had the mighty fella in.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
Right has managed victory at the Second Battle of Kingston
early March from seventh to tenth. Then they fought again
at the Battle of Bentonville later that month from the
nineteenth to the twenty first, though this time unsuccessfully.

Speaker 3 (54:09):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
Then with the fall of Richmond April second, Jefferson Davis
and the remnants of the Confederate government they fled. There
gone Bragg, who had been headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.
He caught up with Davis near Abbeville, South Carolina, May first,
and Davis, just like you think we could do something,
put something back together, the pants back together.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
No, maybe maybe. He attended the final cabinet meeting and
convinced Davis that the old Confederate cause was lost. Shortly
there after, Bragging a small group of his staff headed west,
but they were captured in Parole in Monticello, Georgia, on
the ninth of May. And with that, Braston Braggs long
tumultuous military career finally came to an end.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
Yeah. After the war, Bragg and his wife, Eliza, they
faced tough times Back in late eighteen sixty two, they
lost their plantation home in Thibodeaux when the United States
Army confiscated it. Shit happens, but the plantation briefly became
a shelter called the brag Home Colony, which is run
by the Freedman's Bureau for Freed African Americans. Oh, insult
injury there, all right?

Speaker 3 (55:09):
I kept his name.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Yeah. With their home gone, Bragg and Eliza they moved
in with his brother, who owned a plantation in Loundesborough, Alabama.
But life there, secluded and quiet, was something they found.

Speaker 3 (55:21):
Hard to endure, all right. They like that nightlife. Fast
forward to eighteen sixty seven, two years the war has
been gone. Reconstruction not quite done, not.

Speaker 2 (55:34):
Even quite started.

Speaker 3 (55:36):
Bragg took a job as a superintendent of the new
Lands water Works. However, as a reconstruction era unfolded and
power shifted, a formerly enslaved African American man replaced him.
By the eighteen sixty nine, Jefferson Davison himself, the former
competitive President, offered Bragg. Davison Yeah, Jefferson Davis offered Bragg
a position as an agent for the Carolina Life Insurance Company.

(55:59):
Secret agent man Brack was like, all right, I'll work
there for you. I'll do it for four months. Then
he was unhappy with low pei and the nature of
the work.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
She makes some money and shut up right. At one
point Bragg I would considered joining the Egyptian Army call Jeez,
but ultimately he decided against it. Right the sail across
the sea and ride camels and shit. August eighteen seventy one,
Bragg he found employment with the City of Mobile, Alabama.

Speaker 3 (56:25):
Look at that.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
He worked on improving the river, harbor and bay. But
in true Brag style, conflict soon a rose because he
clashed with what he called a combination.

Speaker 3 (56:34):
Of capitalists and left the job. If you think you're living, buddy.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
He then moved to Texas. In July of eighteen seventy four,
he was appointed chief engineer of the Gulf Colorado and
Santa Fe Railway, but once again disagreements, this time with
the board of directors over his compensation.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
It led to him to resign within a shit the
zerders can't get a can't get along with anybody well.
He decided to stay in Texas. He took a job
as inspector of a railroads. Then on twenty September eighteen
seventy six, age fifty nine, Bragg he was walking down
a street in Galveston with a friend and then he

(57:11):
suddenly collapsed and he was unconscious. He was dragged into
a nearby drug store. Despite efforts, he died within ten
to fifteen minutes. YEP, A physician familiar with Bragg's medical
history believed he died by the brain, likely from degeneration
of cerebral blood vessels, a condition that's sometimes described as

(57:34):
paralysis of the brain. Official inquest ruled the cause of
death fatal syncope. I don't know what that is, possibly
triggered by an underlying heart condition, most likely couldn't get
enough blood or auctions into the brain. Brags of Brag
laid the rest Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile, Alabama.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
Weird waited from North Carolina, lived in Louisiana, settled in
Texas after the war, and then he just gets buried
in Mobile, right with Trudy and uh yeah, whoever, hm hmm,
Well when it comes oh Braxon, many modern historians, they're
pretty blunt. James blunt, beautiful. James Pherson, a respected Civil

(58:15):
War historian. He famously grouped Bragg alongside other Confederate journals
like Pemberton and Hood as the bumblers who lost the West.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
Son of a bitch.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
That pretty much sums up a common judgment.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
You ain't kidding.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
So what where Bragg short comes as a commander? You say, Well,
he was known for unimaginative tactics, most notably his heavy
reliance on frontal assaults.

Speaker 3 (58:32):
I mean, you can't do rear assaults.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
Well, at least try to tack the flanks or something.

Speaker 3 (58:37):
Think about battles like horns nests or Shiloh, Breckinridge's charge
at Stones River and the repeated head on attacks at Chickamauga.
Even when he achieved tactical victories or at least draws,
he often failed to follow up effectively after the battle,
turning those moments into strategic disappointments, just like Perryville and

(58:59):
also chick Them. Bragg's personality didn't help his cause because
he was a bastard. He had a sour disposition. He
was quick to blame ut us when things went wrong.
This made him a lightning rod for criticism, probably more
than many of his less successful peers.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
Right, they just shut up and failed. This dude failed
and ran his mouth. Peter cosins, Well, that's a lie,
because he said um about a million times in Rose
Rans episode Today. Historian Peter cosins he described Bragg's relationship
with his subordinates as strained, to say the least. Even
Bragg's most loyal supporters warned about his quick temper and
general irritability. He was known for firing barbs during fits

(59:38):
of anger, often wounding innocent men.

Speaker 3 (59:40):
Damn it, and if Bragg.

Speaker 2 (59:41):
Formed a bad opinion of a subordinate, he held on tight.
For many officers in the Army of Mississippi, the only
relief was either Bragg's removal or their own transfer.

Speaker 3 (59:50):
You ain't getting.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
The staining under his command was almost unbearable.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
M shitty workplace. There was one private his name was
Sam Watkins. He later became a professional writer, and he said,
which was famously noted. None of Bragg's men ever loved him.
That had no faith in his ability as a general.
He was looked upon as a merciless tyrant. He loved

(01:00:13):
to crush the spirit of all the men. Damn, that's
pretty harsh words there, Bud historian ty Sudele. He sums
it up by pointing out that Bragg's battles often ended
in defeat, largely because his stubborn insistence on direct frontal
assaults and his uncanny ability to turn minor wins or
losses into strategic defeats.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
But it's not all one side. I mean, there's somebody
out there that likes this guy. Gotta be right, his
wife maybe. In recent years, some historians have pushed back
against the purely negative view, what Judith Lee Halleck called
the brag syndrome, Oh bragged arrangement syndrome bdsh Yeah, Bragg
he was a great army commander. Historians like Halleck and

(01:00:57):
wasn't right. It's but historians like Hallick and Stephen Woodworth
they argued he was at least a skilled organizer.

Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
I mean, yeah, you gotta have some kind of skill.

Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
They also say some of his defeats were due to
bad luck and the incompetence or insubordination of troublesome subordinates,
especially Lee nin As Polk oh Now Hardy, another subordinate,
was actually considered solid, even by Bragg himself. Polk, while
personally brave and charismatic, he was an average tactician at best,
known for launching piece meal attacks and outright disobedience.

Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
He was also a close friend of Jefferson Davis, which
made the president reluctant to remove them same thing that
happened to Bragg, though is Woodworth Awesome notes that Brag
never even got the kind of strong support from Davis
that generals like Lee and Sidney Johnston enjoyed. Interestingly enough,
I would say getting asked to get removed from his

(01:01:49):
command seven times before it was finally done as pretty
pretty strong support to me.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
But interestingly enough, historians Grady McWhiney and Woodworth they say that,
contrary to popular belief, Bragg and Davis. They weren't even
exactly close friends at all. They had bitter arguments even
before the war. Early on, Davis admired Bragg's qualifications for command,

(01:02:14):
but by eighteen sixty three he was willing to release.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
Oh that's what war does, well, that said Judith Tablet.
She points out that there was some mutual admiration between
Bragg and Davis during Bragg's time in Richmond, perhaps because
Bragg genuinely respected the presidents. Okay, but after the war
Bragg and Davis's relationship actually grew closer.

Speaker 3 (01:02:32):
That's nice.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
Bragg regularly addressed his letters to Davis as your friend.
They even worked together at the Carolina Insurance Company, which
we said, good for him, all right, Brag, well, you
did good in the Mexican American War, and uh, for
a minute there in the beginning of the Civil War.
But then when you keep trying the same things and
it doesn't work, and you keep trying it, and you

(01:02:54):
keep trying, and you keep trying it, and then you
don't shut up.

Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
He was right about one thing. The Western theater wasn't
a main goal, and that's what the Confederates wanted to do,
and you should have stuck to the East coast boys.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
Well they tried. I just couldn't do anything on the
East coast beyond Lee, that's true, do anything from Stonewall.

Speaker 3 (01:03:16):
Jackson ruined everything.

Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
Well that was Lee's command, all right.

Speaker 3 (01:03:20):
He died as he did.

Speaker 2 (01:03:24):
That's all for Brax and Bragg is all. The fun
thing is he had to fort named after him, But
then they renamed it like Fort Victory or some shit.
And now it's renamed Fort Bragg again. But it's not
after Brax and Bragg. It's after some World War two
private something something Bragg. But they renamed it Bragg just.

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
To shut people out.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
So yeah, there's that Bras and Bragg. Back next week
for another Union general. Maybe we'll finally do. We've been
holding off on Sherman and Sheridan because those two are
probably gonna be two partners and it's gonna be like
two and a half hours worth.

Speaker 3 (01:03:56):
Maybe we do like a I don't Pickett he was
a Confederate. We would do uh, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:04:05):
We'll do somebody. Well, yeah, until then, subscribe Church with Friends,
give us a review in Oh Joshua, maybe I think
you had.

Speaker 3 (01:04:13):
A good little uh run in the uh Gottiesburg. That
would be good to you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
Signed a pretty decent after Yeah, look for war life,
but yeah, we'll be back anyway, so something. So yeah,
subscribe chairs with friends, give us a review like share
all that good stuff, and we'll be back next week
for more civil war. Behind the battles them Where the Mothers?

Speaker 3 (01:04:33):
This week about anything