Braxton Bragg, (born 1815, died 1876,) son of Thomas and Margaret Bragg, was born in this County.
After proper early education, he was appointed, in 1833, a cadet at the U. S. Military Academy from the Warren district, Gen. Micajah T. Hawkins being then member of Congress. He graduated in 1837, and was appointed a lieutenant of the Third Artillery. In 1839 to 1843 he served in Florida in the war with the Seminoles. He was breveted captain for gallant conduct in Mexico at the defense of Fort Brown, May 9, 1846, and major, for gallantry at Monterey, September 23, 1846; breveted lieutenant-colonel for Buena Vista 1847, and appointed major of First Cavalry March 3, 1855. He resigned January 3, 1856, and resided on his plantation, at Thibodeaux until our civil war began. He was appointed a brigadier-general (March, 1861) in the Confederate army, and assigned to command at Pensacola. In February, 1862, he was was made a major-general, and joined the army of the Mississippi in command of the Second Corps, and bore an important part in the battle of Shiloh. He was made general in place of A. S. Johnson, and succeeded Beauregard in command of that army after that battle. In August he entered Kentucky, and was compelled to retire after the battle of Perryville, October 9, 1862. He was then relieved from this command, but was soon restored, and took command of the army opposed to Rosecrans. After the battle of Murfreesboro', December 31, 1862, where he gained partial success, he was compelled to retire. On September 19, 1863, he defeated Rosecrans at Chickamauga, and on November 25, 1863, he was defeated by General Grant at Missionary Ridge, and again was relieved of his command. At Wilmington he was again placed in command, just before its capture by the Union forces. After the war he led a quiet life, and died very suddenly, (falling dead in the street,) from a disease of the heart, at Galveston, on September 27, 1876. Thus ended the last of this triumvirate of genius, of worth and talent.
The memory of Gen. Thomas J. Green should be guarded well and protected in love. He, generous to a fault, noble and grand, fiery and impulsive, heard the Texan cry for freedom, left a home of luxury, sought the field where blood like water flowed, unsheathed his sword in defense of a stranger's land, and bravely fought for unknown homes. The cry of the oppressed reached his ears and was echoed in his unselfish heart--that heart gave its first beat of life 'neath Warren's sky--bravely and nobly he fought, his blood stained the plains and broad prairies of Texas land; the "Lone Star State" was saved from Mexican persecution, and his chivalric nature was satisfied. Years passed, but Warren's memory remained still fresh in his mind, he returned, settled, and many yet there are who remember with pleasure how Esmeralda's door, whether touched by the hands of rich or poor, ever swung upon the hinges of hospitality. But he, too, who had aided so much to build the temple of fame, passed away just as the blood-bespattered flag of our land was unfurled for its last mighty effort in the southern heavens, but in passing away his noble heart beat with a quickened pulse of pride, for he knew that his only son, shrouded in the patriotic mantle of his sire, was battling for Warren, Carolina and the South.
From the graceful pen of E. A. Oldham, of the New South, we find that Wharton J. Green is of an old Warren County stock, his ancestors being among the earliest settlers of that County, then a part of old Bute. Losing his mother at four years of age, his father, Gen. Thomas J. Green, placed him with a maternal uncle while he went off to engage in the struggle for Texan independence, just then beginning. The latter was forthwith commissioned a Brigadier-General by the Congress of the young republic and directed to return to New Orleans and raise a brigade for active service. This he speedily accomplished, consuming in the effort almost his entire private means. Returning to Texas on the day that Santa Anna, who had been captured at San Jacinto, was to have sailed for Vera Cruz, General Green assumed the responsibility of bringing him ashore and detaining him a prisoner of war--an act which was approved by the succeeding Congress.
Subsequently he was captured with the illfated Mier expedition, every tenth man of which was shot in cold blood, by order of his former captive, the then tyrant of Mexico. After twelve months' confinement in the Castle of Perote he and seven others effected their escape by drilling a hole through an eight foot wall. On his arrival in Texas he wrote and published an account of the expedition. Upon the annexation of Texas, General Green returned to his native County, where he lived and died.
Naturally of an adventurous disposition, he helped to settle three different States, and was during his life a member of the Legislature of five, including the first one of California. Foote in his history of Texas says of him, that he did
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