Braxton Bragg was born on the 22nd of March 1817 in Warrenton, North Carolina. He grew up hearing unsubstantiated rumors that his mother had been convicted and imprisoned for murdering an African American freeman.
West Point admitted Braxton Bragg at age sixteen and he graduated fifth out of fifty cadets in the Class of 1837. His classmates included future Union generals Joseph Hooker and John Sedgwick as well as Confederate officers like John C. Pemberton and Jubal Early.
Bragg won promotions for bravery during the Mexican American War starting in 1845 and received a brevet promotion to captain after the Battle of Fort Brown in May 1846. He earned further promotions to major in September 1846 following the Battle of Monterrey and to lieutenant colonel in February 1847 for the Battle of Buena Vista.
Braxton Bragg ordered his army to retreat through the Cumberland Gap to Knoxville because he displayed perplexity and vacillation that became appalling to Smith Hardee and Polk despite pleas to follow up on success. The armies had met unexpectedly at the battle while skirmishing the previous day while searching for nearby water sources.
Bragg defeated Rosecrans at the Battle of Chickamauga which became the greatest Confederate victory in the Western Theater during the war but his army suffered 18,450 casualties making this the costliest Confederate victory of the entire war. Longstreet's wing routed part of the Union army but Thomas allowed Rosecrans and almost all of his army to escape.
On the 27th of September 1876 Braxton Bragg walked down a street with a friend in Galveston Texas when he suddenly fell over unconscious and died within ten to fifteen minutes after being dragged into a drugstore. A physician believed he died from brain degeneration of cerebral blood vessels and an inquest ruled death due to fatal syncope possibly induced by organic disease of the heart.