"Double-Shot Your Guns and Give 'Em Hell!" Braxton Bragg and the War in Mexico

"Double-Shot Your Guns and Give 'em Hell!" Braxton Bragg and the War in Mexico Daniel T. Kuehl The Mexican War was the training ground for the American Civil War: nearly every Union or Confederate army commander served as a junior officer in Mexico. Some of the greatest Civil War leaders had relatively undistinguished careers in Mexico; others were famous, even heroic, but fell short of expectations during the Civil War. Among the most notable of the latter was Braxton Bragg, the Confederacy's fifthranking officer, who commanded the Army of Tennessee during its greatest victory (Chickamauga) and most ignominious defeat (Chattanooga ).1 Bragg left Mexico a war hero; his exploits at the Battle of Buena Vista were reported in newspapers nationwide. Yet his conduct in Mexico provided clear indications that he might be unsuitable for high command. A North Carolinian by birth, Bragg entered West Point in 1833 and graduated fifth in his class of fifty in 1837. A roster of his classmates and upper and lower classmen reads like a who's who of the Civil War: generals Early, Beauregard, Hardee, and Ewell fought alongside him in the Confederate army, while Union generals Meade, Sedgwick, Hooker, Sherman, and Thomas would oppose him. Although some served with him, and some against him, it is fairly certain that none liked him. "Fighting Joe" Hooker described him to a meeting of the Association of [West Point] Graduates in 1877: ...almost the youngest [in his class], tall, ungainly ... uncouth ... bright [with] unbending integrity. Free to express himself on all occasions and all subjects . . . conscious of his own rectitude . . . therefore free in approving or 1 Many Civil War generals lost battles. What was notable about Bragg was the number of losing or indecisive battles in which he commanded the Confederate forces, including Perryville, Murfreesboro/Stones River, and Chattanooga, and the acrimonious relations within the high command of the Army of Tennessee while he was its commander. Civil War History, Vol. XXXVIl, No. 1, ° 1991 by the Kent State University Press 52civil war history condemning the acts of others. . . . genial, generous, brave, and clever. ... to others sometimes brusque even to rudeness.2 In short, a man who might be hard to get along with. Bragg's first assignment was at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, where he reported for duty in October 1837 with the 3d Regiment of Artillery. He remained with the 3d until his resignation from the army in 1855. In 1843, he was reassigned to Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, where his personal relations continued to be stormy. A fellow officer, John Reynolds , thought him "saturnine, morbid and vitriolic," a man whose dictatorial manners and lack of sociability alienated those with whom he came in contact.3 Even his relations with his superior officers (where junior officers in peacetime usually tread softly), including the army's commanding general, Winfield Scott, were "strained by his severe punctiliousness ."4 Bragg's reputation for being quarrelsome was widespread. U. S. Grant told a story about a time when Bragg was acting as both the commander and quartermaster for a unit. Bragg as commander wrote to himself as quartermaster requesting some equipment. This is not unusual; he may have needed a record of the request. But he then denied his own request, and even worse, wrote a third letter (to himself) demanding the equipment . When the post commander heard of the incident he incredulously exclaimed, "My God, Mr. Bragg, you have quarreled with every officer in the army, and now you are quarreling with yourself!"5 If the war with Mexico had not intervened, Bragg would likely have vanished into obscurity; unfortunately for the Confederacy, he became a hero instead. Bragg and his unit arrived in Texas in the summer of 1845. When his battery's guns failed to arrive on schedule he located some artillery pieces and began drilling his men. His company commander was Capt. Robert Anderson, later to win fame as the defender of Fort Sumter, and his fellow artillerymen included John Reynolds, killed at Gettysburg, and George Thomas, who saved the day for the Union at Chickamauga. Gen. Zachery Taylor, who commanded the small army in Texas, pro2 George W. Cullom, Biographical Register of...