Bragg, Braxton (1817–1876)

American Confederate general. When the Civil War broke out 1861 he served as major-general in the Confederate army of the Mississippi, taking part in the Battle of Shiloh 1862. He was then placed in command of the Western Army, to succeed Pierre Beauregard. Bragg was defeated by General Ulysses S Grant at Chattanooga in November 1863. He acted as military adviser to Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, until late in 1864, when he took part in the unsuccessful defence against William Sherman.

Bragg was born in North Carolina, and trained at the military academy at West Point. He served in the Seminole and Mexican wars. After the Civil War he was chief engineer to the state of Alabama.