Thursday, November 1, 2018

Fort Bragg

Civil War General Braxton Bragg was responsible for the deaths of thousands of American soldiers, starting with Shiloh, one of many battles he lost for the Confederacy. Anyone familiar with the Civil War knows that Bragg was mightily disliked by many soldiers and generals of the Confederacy, including James Longstreet. Bragg was sustained by the high regard of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, but nearly everyone else considered Bragg a toxic loser. 

Recently I read the republished diary of Susan Shelby Magoffin, DOWN THE SANTA FE TRAIL AND INTO MEXICO, in which this 18-year-old woman, newly married, records her journey into Chihuahua in the middle of the Mexican War. Her portrait of life on the road in 1846 is compelling; this is what she says about Bragg, then a major. "The Maj. is called a great disciplinarian, drilling his men twice a day much to their dissatisfaction, they a few nights since placed a shell (under his cot) with a slow match, intending to kill him, but fortunately tho' it exploded about 11 O'clock shattering the roof of his tent, his trunk, part of his cott and even piercing the bed-clothing, he was unhurt."


This was one of two attempts the men made to kill Bragg during a short and unwarranted war. 


I mention this because there's a town in California named Fort Bragg. It's located a few miles west of Fort Benedict Arnold.    


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