Edward Stuyvesant Bragg
Biography




 
Edward Stuyvesant Bragg (February 20, 1827 – June 20, 1912) was a Democratic 
politician, lawyer and Union Army general from Wisconsin. He served in the U.S.
House of Representatives from 1877 to 1883 and from 1885 to 1887 and
subsequently served as a foreign diplomat. Born in Unadilla, New York, Bragg attended district schools as a child. He then
attended the local academy and Geneva College (today Hobart College) in Geneva,
New York. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1848, commencing
practice in Unadilla until 1850 when he moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where
he continued practicing law. A Democrat, he was elected district attorney of Fond du Lac in 1853 and was a
delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, in
1860 which nominated Stephen A. Douglas for President and Herschel V. Johnson
for Vice President. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Bragg entered the Union Army as a captain in the
6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment on July 16, 1861. He was promoted to
major on September 17, 1861, lieutenant colonel on June 21, 1862, and colonel on
March 10, 1863. He missed the Gettysburg Campaign due to wounds suffered at the
Battle of Chancellorsville. After recovering and returning to his field command, he was promoted to brigadier
general of volunteers on June 25, 1864, which he served as until being mustered
out on October 9, 1865. For the latter part of the war, he commanded the famed
Iron Brigade. Bragg mustered out in 1865 and returned to Wisconsin to resume his
law practice. Following the war, Bragg was appointed postmaster of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin by
President Andrew Johnson in 1866, served in the Wisconsin Senate in 1868 and
1869. In 1868 he was a delegate to the soldiers and sailors convention in New
York City, which nominated Horatio Seymour for President. He was a delegate to
the Democratic National Convention in 1872 which nominated Horace Greeley and B.
Gratz Brown. He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate to the United States
Senate in 1874, losing to Angus Cameron. Bragg was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1876 and was
reelected in 1878 and 1880, serving from 1877 to 1883, not being a candidate for
reelection in 1882. There, he served as chairman of the Committee on
Expenditures in the Department of Justice from 1877 to 1879, of the Committee on
War Claims from 1879 to 1881 and was a delegate to the Democratic National
Convention in 1880 which nominated Winfield Scott Hancock and William H.
English. He was elected back to the House of Representatives in 1884, serving
again from 1885 to 1887, where he served as chairman of the Committee on
Military Affairs from 1885 to 1887. After not being a candidate for reelection in 1886, Bragg returned to his law
practice in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and
Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico by President Grover Cleveland in 1888,
serving until 1889, and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in
1896 which nominated William Jennings Bryan and Arthur Sewall. He was appointed
consul general in Havana, Cuba in May, 1902, and in Hong Kong, China in
September, 1902, serving from 1903 to 1906. Bragg died in Fond du Lac and was interned in the town's Rienzi Cemetery.
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