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APPENDIX: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES Cooke’s letters refer to a number of general officers from both sides as well as to several politicians and other prominent individuals. Nearly all would have been familiar names during the war and are to those familiar with the history of the Civil War. These brief biographical sketches are intended for those who are not. Braxton Bragg Confederate Braxton Bragg was born in North Carolina in 1817 and graduated from West Point in 1837, ranking fifth in the class. He served in the Mexican War and rose to the rank of brevet (temporary) lieutenant colonel before resigning his commission in 1856. He spent the years immediately before the Civil War as a sugar planter in Louisiana and was appointed a brigadier general in the Confederate army in 1861. Bragg had a number of commands in the western theater, none of which were successful, including an offensive into Kentucky in 1862. He was the Confederate commander during the Chattanooga campaign in the fall of 1863. His failure there led to his resignation of command, and he became military adviser to Confederate president Jefferson Davis. He died in 1876. Ambrose Burnside Union Ambrose Burnside was born in Indiana in 1824. He graduated from West Point in 1847 and was commissioned in the artillery. In 1852 he resigned from the army to work on a breech-loading rifle he had developed. His business failed when he was unable to persuade the army to adopt the weapon. He then obtained a position with the Illinois Central Railroad and was its treasurer when the Civil War began. Burnside received a commission as colonel of a Rhode Island regiment and fought at First Bull Run. Soon after this he was promoted to brigadier general in the Army of the Potomac. In the fall of 1861 and spring of 1862 he conducted a successful campaign along the Carolina coast and was promoted to major general. He was given command of the new 9th Corps, and his unit fought well at Antietam. In November 1862 he replaced McClellan as commander in the eastern theater. In December 1862 his plan to trap Lee at Fredericksburg failed with heavy casualties, and Burnside was transferred to command the Army of the Ohio. He again enjoyed success, capturing Knoxville and defending it successfully. His command was brought back to Virginia for Grant’s spring 1864 offensive against Lee. A court of inquiry found Burnside responsible for the disaster at the Battle of the Crater during the siege of Petersburg, and he resigned from the army in April 1865. Following the war he served three terms as governor of Rhode Island and was a U.S. senator from that state when he died in 1881. Jefferson Davis President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis was born in Kentucky in 1808 and moved with his family to Mississippi at a very early age. He graduated from West Point in 1828. He resigned his commission in 1835 and became a planter in Mississippi. He became active in politics and was elected to Congress but resigned to command a regiment during the Mexican War. He distinguished himself during the war and was appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate and then elected to a full term in 1848. He served as secretary of war in the Franklin Pierce administration. Davis returned to the Senate in 1856 but resigned in January 1861 when Mississippi seceded from the Union. A month later he was elected president of the newly formed Confederate States of America and served until the end of the Civil War. He died in 1889. Jefferson Columbus Davis Union Jefferson C. Davis was born in Indiana in 1828. He enlisted in the army as a private and fought in the Mexican War. He received a commission as second lieutenant in the regular army for bravery and was serving as a captain at Fort Sumter when the Civil War began. Indiana’s governor appointed Davis colonel of an Indiana regiment and he served in the western theater. In September 1862 he shot Gen. William Nelson dead during an argument in Louisville but was not courtmartialed . He served under Sherman through the end of the war and attained the rank of major general. He remained in the army after the war and died, still on active duty, in 1879. John Charles Frémont Union John Charles Frémont was born in Georgia in 1813. He attended the College of...

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