Brackett through Britton’s Lane, Tennessee

BRACKETT, ALBERT GALLATIN, soldier, born in Cherry Valley, Otsego County, New York, 14 February, 1829. He moved to Indiana in 1846, and, during the war with Mexico, was first lieutenant in the 4th Indiana Volunteers, attached to Lane's brigade, being present at Huamantla, Puebla, and Atlixco. On 16 July, 1848, he was honorably discharged  on 3 March, 1855, he became captain in the 2d U.S. Cavalry, and, after raising a company in Indiana and Illinois, served on the Texas frontier, distinguishing himself in actions against the Comanche Indians. He was the first U.S. officer that crossed into Mexico in pursuit of hostile Indians. When General Twiggs surrendered to the Confederates in 1861, Captain Brackett escaped.  He commanded the cavalry at Blackburn's Ford and the first battle of Bull Run, and in August, 1861, became colonel of the 9th Illinois Cavalry, serving with credit through the Arkansas Campaign, an being severely wounded at Stewart's Plantation, where he saved a valuable train from falling into the hands of the Confederates. On 28 June, 1862, he was brevetted major in the regular army for services in the Arkansas Campaign, and on 17 July received his full commission as major in the 1st Cavalry. In 1863 he was chief of cavalry in the Department of the Missouri, and in 1864 assistant inspector-general of cavalry, in the Department of the Cumberland. He was engaged in the battles around Atlanta, was brevetted lieutenant-colonel on 1 September, 1864, for his services there, and at the close of the war was brevetted colonel. After that time he served principally against hostile Indians in Nevada, Wyoming, and Arizona. He received his full commission as lieutenant-colonel, 2d U.S. Cavalry, on 9 June, 1868, and on 20 March, 1879, when commanding the District of the Yellowstone, was made colonel of the 3d U.S. Cavalry. He was afterward assigned to the command of Fort Davis, Texas, and in March, 1886, was recommended by the Congressional delegation of Indiana and Texas for promotion to the rank of brigadier-general. He as published “General Lane's Brigade in Central Mexico” (Cincinnati, 1854); “History of the United States Cavalry” (New York, 1865); and has written many magazine and newspaper articles, especially in regard to military affairs and the development of the country. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 345-346.


BRACKETT, EDWARD AUGUSTUS, sculptor, born in Vassalborough, Maine , 1 October, 1819. He began his career in 1838, and has produced portrait busts of Washington Allston, Richard Henry Dana, Bryant, Longfellow, Rufus Choate, Charles Sumner, John Brown, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, General Butler, and others. His marble group of the “Shipwrecked Mother and Child” is now the property of the Boston athenaeum.—His brother, Walter M., painter, born in Unity, Maine , 14 June, 1823, began painting in 1843, giving his attention to portraits and ideal heads, and executed likenesses of Charles Sumner, Edward Everett, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. He also painted portraits of the first four secretaries of war, for the War Department at Washington. For some years he has been devoted himself to the painting of game fish, especially of salmon and trout. A series of four of his pictures, representing the capture of a salmon with a fly, was exhibited at the Crystal Palace, London. He now lives in Boston, where he has for some time been president of the art club, of which he was one of the original members. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 346.


BRACKETT'S FORD, VIRGINIA, June 30, 1862. As McClelland was changing his base to the James river a skirmish occurred on this date at Brackett's ford over White Oak creek, a detailed account of which is given under the head of the Seven Days' battles. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 155.


BRADBURN, GEORGE, 1806-1880, Nantucket, Massachusetts, politician, US Congressman representing the Free Soil Party, newspaper editor, Unitarian clergyman, abolitionist, women’s rights activist, lecturer.  Member, American Anti-Slavery Society.  Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1840-1845.  Vice President, Liberty Party.  Attended World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in June 1840, where he protested the exclusion of women from the conference.  Lectured for the American Anti-Slavery Society with fellow abolitionists William A. White and Frederick Douglass in 1843.  Editor, the Pioneer and Herald of Freedom from 1846 to 1849 in Lynn, Massachusetts. (Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 2.  Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 345; Minutes, Convention of the Liberty Party, June 14, 15, 1848, Buffalo, New York)


BRADFORD, AUGUSTUS W., governor of Maryland, born in Maryland about 1805; died 1 March, 1881. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and became an active Whig politician. He was an earnest unionist during the Civil War. In 1861 he was a delegate to the Peace Congress, and in 1862 was elected governor of the state, serving until 1866. In July, 1864, Confederate raiders burned his house. In 1864 he was influential in securing the adoption of the new constitution of Maryland, by which slavery was abolished, and under President Johnson was Surveyor of the port of Baltimore. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 348.


BRADFORD, JOSEPH, journalist, born near Nashville, Tennessee, 24 October, 1843; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 13 April, 1886. His real name was William Randolph Hunter. He was appointed to the U. S. Naval Academy in 1859, but did not take a full course. In 1862 he entered the U.S. Navy, and served with distinction until 1864, when he resigned on account of illness. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 348.


BRADFORD, JOSEPH M., naval officer, born in Sumner County, Tennessee, 4 November, 1824; died in Norfolk, Virginia, 14 April, 1872. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 10 January, 1840; became a lieutenant, 16 September, 1855; a commander, 25 July, 1866; retired 5 February, 1872, and was made a captain on the retired list, 16 March, 1872. He was fleet-captain of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron from November, 1863, till June, 1865, during which period he saw severe service and performed his difficult duties to the satisfaction of his superior officers. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 348.


BRADFORDSVILLE, KENTUCKY, February 8, 1865. 30th Kentucky Infantry. A band of about 50 guerrillas burned a railway train at New Market and then moved in the direction of Bradfordsville. Major Mahoney, with 35 men, most of whom belonged to the invalid corps, went in pursuit. Near Bradfordsville the guerrillas made a stand. Mahoney dismounted his men, who let their horses get away when the Confederates charged and were compelled to retreat. The guerrillas captured several of the horses. No casualties reported on either side.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 156.


BRADLEY, JOSEPH P., jurist, born in Berne, Albany County, New York, 14 March, 1813. He is of English descent. His earliest ancestor in the United States was Francis Bradley, who was a member of Governor Eaton's family in '' Haven, Connecticut, in 1650, and moved to Fairfield in the same state in 1660. From Francis Bradley the judge is the sixth in line. In 1791 the family moved to Berne. His father was Philo Bradley, and his mother was Mercy Gardiner, of a Newport, Rhode Island, family. The father was a farmer, and had a library containing historical and mathematical works. Joseph was the eldest of eleven children, and worked on the farm until he reached the age of sixteen. His opportunities for obtaining an education consisted principally in his attendance, three or four months in each year, at a country school when he was between the ages of five and fourteen; but he made constant use of his father's library, and his attainments must have been very considerable. He taught a country school every winter from his sixteenth year till his twenty-first. During this period he also practised surveying occasionally for the neighboring farmers. His love of study attracted the attention of the clergyman of the village, who offered to prepare him for college. This invitation he accepted, and at the age of twenty Mr. Bradley entered Rutgers, where he was graduated with honor in 1836, unusually distinguished as a mathematician. After devoting six months to teaching, he began the study of law with Arthur Gifford at Newark, New Jersey, and was admitted to the bar in November, 1839. In May, 1840, he opened an office in Newark, where he continued in practice thirty years, until his appointment to be a justice of the Supreme Court. He was engaged in many of the most important and difficult cases that arose in the New Jersey courts and in the courts of the United States for that district, and his services as a counsellor were sought in a multitude of other business transactions. His professional career was attended throughout with great success. In 1860 he argued the celebrated New Jersey bridge case in the Supreme Court of the United States with a power and cogency that were long remembered. During many years he was a director and principal counsellor of the New Jersey, Trenton, and Philadelphia, and of the Camden and Amboy Railroad Companies, and his influence was exerted to induce those companies to yield, in favor of the public, monopolies granted to them by the legislature, but odious to the community at large. From 1857 till 1863 he was the actuary of the Mutual Benefit Insurance Company of Newark, and from 1865 till 1869 was president of the New Jersey Mutual Life Insurance Company. He was also a director of various other financial institutions. In 1849 he addressed the literary societies of Rutgers College on the subject of “progress,” and he has delivered lectures to the classes on political economy and constitutional law. In 1851 he delivered the annual address before the historical society of New Jersey on “The Perils through which the Federal Constitution has, and which still threaten it,” and in 1865 he delivered an admirable address on the life and character of the Hon. William L. Dayton. In June, 1870, he delivered the centennial address at Rutgers College. He has contributed valuable articles to several cyclopaedias. In 1859 Lafayette College conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. In 1870, he was appointed by President Grant a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and was designated circuit justice for the large southern circuit. Subsequently, on the resignation of Justice Strong, he was assigned to the third circuit, embracing the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. During his membership of the Supreme Court a very large number of cases have been brought into it, involving questions arising out of the Civil War, the Reconstruction and other acts of Congress, the constitutional amendments, the difficulties and controversies of railroad companies, and other subjects. In no former equal period have as many cases of supreme importance been decided by that court. Many of them were not only novel,  intricate and difficult of solution. In the investigation and decision of all of them Judge Bradley has borne a distinguished part. His mind is remarkably analytical, capable of discovering and appreciating occult though important distinctions. Added to this, his legal learning is so large and accurate, his acquaintance with English and American decisions so extensive, and his habit of looking beyond the rule for the reason or principle upon which it is founded so constant, that his opinions have been of high value. Those opinions appear in more than forty volumes of the supreme court reports, beginning with 9th Wallace. Many of them are notable alike for the importance of the subject discussed and for the manner of the discussion. In patent cases Judge Bradley has exhibited marked ability, his natural aptitude for comprehending mechanical devices qualifying him unusually for such cases. His opinions in maritime cases, in cases relating to civil rights and habeas corpus, in suits upon policies of insurance, and in cases in which statutory or constitutional construction has been required, are especially noteworthy as able and instructive. When in January, 1877, in pursuance of an Act of Congress, an electoral commission was constituted to consider and report upon the controversies that had arisen over the counting of the votes of presidential electors, Judge Bradley was a member, and, as such, concurred in the conclusions reached by the majority of the commissioners, supporting those conclusions by elaborate arguments, which were published with the other proceedings of the commission. Judge Bradley was never what is called a politician, though always holding decided opinions respecting constitutional and other public questions, and occasionally giving those opinions to the press. In his earlier years he was attached to the Whig Party, and later be a Republican. To the government he has uniformly given a steady and efficient support. When the southern states attempted secession, he devoted his power and influence to sustaining the government against disunion, and, as counsel and director of the New Jersey Railroad Companies, he assisted very materially in forwarding troops and military supplies. On several occasions he accompanied new regiments to the field, and addressed them on the pending issues. In 1862, with much reluctance, he accepted the Republican nomination for Congress in the Sixth Congressional District of New Jersey; but so strongly Democratic was the district that he was defeated. In 1868 he headed the New Jersey Republican electoral ticket. He is an accomplished mathematician, familiar with the higher and more abstruse processes of mathematical investigation and not infrequently amuses himself by indulgence in such pursuits. In 1844 he married Mary, daughter of Chief Justice Hornblower, of New  Jersey by whom he has two sons and two daughters. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, pp. 352-353.


BRADLEY, LUTHER PRENTICE, soldier, born in New Haven, Connecticut, 8 December, 1822. He was educated in the common schools of his native city. Entering the army as lieutenant-colonel of the 51st Illinois Volunteers, on 15 October, 1861, he was on recruiting duty until February, 1862, and was afterward engaged at the capture of Island No. 10, New Madrid, Farmington, and Nashville, Tennessee He became colonel of his regiment 15 October, 1862, commanded a brigade, and was in the battles of Stone River, Chickamauga, where he was wounded, Resaca, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, and Jonesboro, Georgia. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers, 30 July, 1864, and was in the campaign against General Hood, being wounded at the battle of Franklin, Tennessee. He resigned on 30 June, 1865, and was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 27th U.S. Infantry, 28 July, 1866. He was brevetted colonel in the regular army on 2 March, 1867, for services at Chickamauga, and brigadier-general for services at Resaca. He became colonel of the 3d U.S. Infantry, 20 March, 1879, and on 14 June was transferred to the 13th. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 353.


BRADY, JAMES TOPHAM, lawyer, born in New York City, 9 April, 1815; died there, 9 February, 1869. His education was obtained under the direction of his father, Thomas S. Brady, subsequently an eminent lawyer and jurist, who at that time was engaged in preparing students for college. At the age of sixteen Brady had acquired a good knowledge of law, and frequently acted the part of junior counsel to his father. In November, 1836, he was admitted to the bar in New York, where he immediately opened an office for himself. Early in his practice he was called upon to secure the release of Sarah Coppin, a young English girl, whose parents had died on the voyage to this country. After her arrival in New York she was robbed of her money, turned into the street, and afterward bound out by the authorities. Her brother obtained the legal services of Mr. Brady, who was successful in liberating the girl. The great skill with which he conducted this case, his eloquence, his success, and the ability of the opposing counsel, brought him reputation at once. He was conspicuous for his knowledge in all departments of the law, winning verdicts from judges and jurors alike in great patent cases, like that of Goodyear v. Day; cases involving questions of medical juris- prudence, like the Allaire and Parish will cases, and the moral insanity plea in the case of the forger Huntington or the homicide Cole; divorce cases, like that of Mrs. Edwin Forrest, and also in civil cases of all sorts. But his special power was seen to the best advantage in criminal cases, where he usually undertook the defence. At one time he successfully defended four clients charged with murder in a single week, and all without fee or reward. In 1843 he was appointed district attorney of New York during the temporary absence of Matthew C. Patterson, and two years later he became corporation attorney for the city. In 1859 he was selected by Daniel E. Sickles to be one of the counsel in his trial for the assassination of Philip Barton Key, and made the opening address for the defence to the jury, which was one of his most notable efforts as a criminal lawyer. Mr. Brady was retained as counsel, on one side or the other, in many of the important criminal and civil cases of his time. His success as an advocate was due to a clear statement of the case and a skilful and courteous cross-examination of witnesses. His arguments were put with such tact, his statements of facts so lucid and candid, and his appeals were so eloquent and impressive, that he almost invariably carried judge and jury with him. It has been said that he never lost a case in which he was before a jury for more than a week; in that time they saw everything through his eyes. He was naturally a political leader, and was frequently urged to accept office, but invariably re- fused unless the place was in the line of his profession. Prior to the Civil War he was an ultra-state-rights man, and supported Breckinridge in the canvass of 1860, in which year he was candidate for governor on the “hard-shell” or pro-slavery Democratic ticket. During Mr. Lincoln's administrations he supported the war measures generally and made speeches on national questions, some of which produced a strong impression. In his address before the Seymour Association of New York in October, 1862, he said: “The south, in leaving us at the particular time she did, did so without the slightest pretext of justification or excuse.” Near the close of the war he was appointed a member of a commission to inquire into the administration of the department of the gulf under Generals Butler and Banks; but the report, notwithstanding the public interest in the subject at that time, has not been published. Mr. Brady was never married.  In the days of the old “Knickerbocker Magazine” he was one of its frequent contributors. “A Christmas Dream,” published originally in “The New World” in 1846, was subsequently put into a small volume, exquisitely illustrated.  Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, pp. 354-355.


BRADYVILLE, TENNESSEE, February 16, 1863.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 156.


BRADYVILLE, TENNESSEE, March 1, 1863. 1st Tennessee and 3d and 4th Ohio Cavalry. A foraging expedition, under Brigadier-General David S. Stanley, was sent out on the Bradyville pike from Murfreesboro. When within about 2 miles of the town of Bradyville the 1st Tennessee, which was in advance, came up with the enemy's pickets and drove them back. Upon arriving at the town a considerable force of Confederates was found strongly posted and disposed to resist the further progress of the foragers. The Tennessee troops, after a short skirmish, were driven back in some confusion. Colonel James W. Paramore, commanding the brigade, ordered up the 3d and 4th Ohio, and while the main body of the two regiments was stationed in front, detachments were sent to both the right and left. The enemy offered a stubborn resistance until the enfilading fire of the flanking parties commenced, when he broke and fled in confusion, being pursued for 2 or 3 miles. The Union loss was 2 killed and 7 wounded. The Confederates left 5 dead upon the field, about 20 or 30 were wounded and 83 captured. In addition to this they lost 70 horses and mules, 2 wagonloads of new saddles, 1 wagon-load of picket rope, and a large quantity of commissary stores.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 156.


BRADYVILLE, TENNESSEE, June 24, 1863. Part of 2nd Division, 21st Army Corps. The division, commanded by Major-General John M. Palmer, was ordered to march from Murfreesboro to the vicinity of Bradyville, the advance brigade to occupy the ridge at the commencement of the Barrens. At 3 o'clock that afternoon, the 11oth Illinois, which was in advance, encountered a small Confederate force, near Welles' church, on Browley's fork. Palmer's personal escort, part of Company C, 7th Illinois cavalry, was ordered to the assistance of the advance guard and in a short time the enemy was at full speed in retreat. One man of the escort was killed and another slightly wounded, which were the only casualties on the Union side.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 156.


BRADYVILLE PIKE, TENNESSEE, January 23. 1863. Bradyville Pike, Tennessee, May 17, 1863. Part of 2nd Division 21st Army Corps. While General Palmer was encamped with his division at Cripple creek, the Confederates were in the habit of making daily excursions to Youry's, three and a half miles from the camp, telling the people how anxious they were "to see the Yanks." On the 16th Palmer rode to Youry's with a small escort of 20 men. Knowledge of this was conveyed to the Confederate camp at Dug Hollow and a detail was made to watch for a second visit on the part of the Union officer. Palmer went out again on the 17th, but this time he had about 100 men in his escort. At Youry's he learned that a detachment of the 3d Georgia cavalry had just left there a short time before. Taking a side road he managed to get between them and their camp, charged them in the face of a quick fire, killing and wounding several of their number and capturing 18 prisoners. The enemy fell back when Palmer's men came within 100 yards, but after reaching a piece of timber made a stand. The Union force, after a short skirmish, returned to Cripple creek, having had 5 men wounded and losing 3 horses, though they captured a number of horses in return.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 156-157.


BRAGG, BRAXTON, soldier, born in Warren County, North Carolina, 22 March, 1817; died in Galveston, Texas, 27 September, 1876. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1837, standing 5th in a class of fifty. Among his classmates were Generals Benham, Townsend, Sedgwick, and Hooker on the national side, and Early and Pemberton on the Confederate side. He was appointed lieutenant of artillery, and served mainly in Florida until 1843, during the war with the Seminoles; from 1843 till 1845 he was stationed at Fort Moultrie, in Charleston Harbor, and just before the war with Mexico was ordered to Texas. In May, 1846, he was made captain by brevet for gallant conduct in the defence of Fort Brown, Texas, and in June was promoted captain of artillery. He was present at the battle of Monterey, 21–23 September, and was brevetted major for gallant conduct there. In 1847 he was brevetted lieutenant colonel for gallantry at the battle of Buena Vista. From 1848 till 1855 he was engaged in frontier service at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, Fort Gibson, and Washita. In March, 1855, he was appointed major of cavalry, but declined and received leave of absence. In January, 1856, he resigned his commission and retired to his plantation at Thibodeaux, Louisiana In 1859–’61 he was commissioner of the board of public works of the state of Louisiana. When the Civil War began he was appointed brigadier-general in the Confederate Army in 1861, and was in command at Pensacola, Florida.  In February, 1862, he was promoted major-general and ordered to join the Army of the Mississippi. He took part in the battle of Shiloh, 6–7 April, and was promoted general in place of Albert S. Johnston, who was killed. After the evacuation of Corinth he succeeded General Beauregard in command of the department. In August he led a formidable force, 45,000 strong, into Kentucky, but, after the battle of Perryville, 8 October, he retreated, carrying with him a vast quantity of supplies. He was moved from his command and placed under arrest, but was soon restored, and resumed command of the force opposed to the National Army under Rosecrans. He was worsted by Rosecrans in the protracted contest of Stone River or Murfreesboro, 31 December, 1862, and 2 January, 1863; again encountered and defeated him at Chickamauga, 19 and 20 September, 1863; but was decisively defeated by General Grant at Chattanooga, 23–25 November About 2 December he was relieved from command and called to Richmond, where for a time he acted as military adviser to Mr. Davis, with whom he was a favorite. In the autumn of 1864 he led a small force from North Carolina to Georgia to operate against Sherman, but without success. After the war he became chief engineer for the state of Alabama, and superintended the improvements in MobileBay, but with these exceptions his life was in comparative retirement.—His brother, Thomas, governor of North Carolina, born in Warrenton, Warren County, North Carolina, in 1810; died in Raleigh, 21 January, 1872. He was educated at the Military Academy at Middletown, Connecticut, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1831, and began practice at Jackson, North Carolina He was chosen to the state legislature in 1842, and in 1854 was elected governor of North Carolina, holding that office until 1858. He was elected U. S. Senator in 1859, but withdrew in 1861 after the secession of his state. Jefferson Davis made him attorney-general in his cabinet, 22 February 1861, and he acted in that capacity two years. Having lost all his means by the war, Governor Bragg resumed the practice of his profession and also re-entered political life, becoming chairman of the state Democratic Committee. He was active in the impeachment proceedings against Governor Holden. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 355-356.


BRAGG, EDWARD STUYVESANT, soldier, born in Unadilla, New York, 20 February 1827. He studied three years at Geneva, now Hobart, College, left at the end of the junior year, and studied law in the office of Judge Noble, in Unadilla. He was admitted to the bar in 1848, and soon after moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. In 1854 he was elected district attorney for Fond du Lac County, and served two years. He was a Douglas Democrat, and a delegate to the Charleston Convention in 1860. At the beginning of the Civil War he entered the military service of the United States as captain, 5 May, 1861, and held all the intermediate grades to and including that of brigadier-general, with which rank he was mustered out, 8 October, 1865. He participated in all the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac except the Peninsular, Gettysburg, and Five Forks. In 1866 he was a delegate to the Philadelphia union Convention. In 1867 he was elected to the state senate, and served one term. In 1868 he was a delegate to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Convention in New York, which nominated Horatio Seymour for president. In 1872 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in Baltimore, which nominated Horace Greeley for president. He was elected to Congress for three successive terms, beginning with the 45th Congress. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1884, and, as chairman of his delegation, seconded the nomination of Grover Cleveland for the presidency. The same year he was elected to the 49th Congress. During his Congressional career he was regarded as one of the most dangerous antagonists in debate in the whole house. Small of stature and belligerent in bearing, he was perpetually in the thick of the fight, and had few equals in his power of acrimonious retort and invective. Although he was intensely a Democrat in a partisan sense, he never could be counted upon to vote steadily with his party. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 356.   


BRAGG'S FARM, MISSOURI, September 13, 1862. 2nd Missouri State Militia. The Missouri state troops, under the command of Brigadier-General John McNeil, struck Porter's camp at Bragg's farm, near Whaley's mill, at 5 p. m. The 2nd regiment was pushed forward as an attacking party and in a few minutes had the Confederates in full flight. Two were left dead on the field and it was known that several were wounded, besides 20 men, a number of horses and a quantity of clothing and provisions captured. McNeil's loss was 1 killed and 2 wounded. Porter's force numbered about 500 men, and was pursued until dark.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 157.


BRAINE, DANIEL LAWRENCE, naval officer, born in New York City, 18 May, 1829. He was appointed to the U.S. Navy from Texas as a midshipman, 30 May, 1846, and during the Mexican War was in the actions at Alvarado, Tabasco, Laguna, Tuspan, Tampico, and Vera Cruz. He was made midshipman, 8 June, 1852, master in 1855, and lieutenant, 15 September, 1858. At the beginning of the Civil War he was selected by the union defence Committee to command the steamer “Monticello,” fitted out in forty-eight hours to provision Fortress Monroe. The “Monticello” was afterward attached to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and on 19 May, 1861, participated in the first naval engagement of the war, with a battery of five guns, at Sewall's Point, Virginia In October, 1861, he attacked the Confederate gun-boats above Cape Hatteras and dispersed two regiments of Infantry, sinking two ": filled with soldiers, and rescuing the 20th Indiana Regiment, who were cut off from Hatteras inlet by the enemy. On 15 July, 1862, he received his commission as lieutenant commander, and from that time till 1864 was in numerous engagements, commanding the “Pequot” in the attacks on Fort Fisher, Fort Anderson, and the forts on Cape Fear River. For “cool performance of his duty” in these fights he was recommended for promotion by Rear-Admiral Porter in his despatch of 28 January, 1865, and on 25 July, 1866, was commissioned as commander. He had charge of the equipment department of the Brooklyn U.S. Navy-yard from 1869 till 1872, and commanded the “Juniata,” of the Polaris Search Expedition, in 1873. In the latter part of that year he demanded and received the “Virginius” prisoners at Santiago de Cuba, and brought them to New York. He became captain on 11 December, 1874, commodore, 2 March, 1885, and president of the naval board of inspection at New York on 1 July, 1885. He was appointed acting rear admiral on 12 August, 1886, and ordered to the command of the South Atlantic Squadron. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 357.


BRAINERD, LAWRENCE, 1794-1870, anti-slavery activist, temperance activist, capitalist, statesman, U.S. Senator, elected 1854, member of the Liberty and Free Soil Parties.  Manager, American Anti-Slavery Society, 1833-1839.  (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 358; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. I, Pt. 2, p. 594)

BRAINERD, Lawrence, senator, born in 1794; died in St. Albans, Vermont, 9 May, 1870. He was active in forwarding the political, commercial, and railroad interests of Vermont, and was for several years candidate for governor. After the death of Senator Upham, Mr. Brainerd was chosen to the Senate as a Free-Soiler for the remainder of the term, serving from 5 December, 1854, till 3 March, 1855. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 358.


BRAMLETTE, THOMAS E., governor of Kentucky, born in Cumberland County, Kentucky, 3 January, 1817; died in Louisville, Kentucky, 12 January, 1875. He was educated in the schools of his native county, was admitted to the bar in 1837, became attorney for the state in 1848, and in 1850 resigned, to devote himself to his private practice. In 1856 he was chosen judge of the Sixth Judicial District, and in 1861 resigned and entered the National Army. He raised the 3d Kentucky Infantry, and became its colonel. He was elected governor of his state, as a union man, in 1863, and, by re-election, remained in office until 1867, and afterward was a successful lawyer in Louisville. He was also U.S. District Attorney for some time. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 358.


BRANCH, O'BRIAN, LAWRENCE soldier, born in Halifax County, North Carolina, 7 July, 1820; killed at Antietam, 17 September, 1862. Was graduated at Princeton in 1838, studied law, and began practice at Raleigh. He was chosen to Congress for three successive terms, serving from 3 December, 1855, till 3 March, 1861. After the secession of his state in May, 1861, he entered the Confederate Army, and became a brigadier-general in November of that year. He commanded at Newbern, North Carolina, when it was captured by Burnside, and afterward, took part in several battles in that state and on the Peninsula. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 358.


BRANCH, JOHN, 1782-1863, Raleigh, North Carolina, statesman, political leader, Secretary of the Navy, Governor of North Carolina.  President, Raleigh auxiliary of the American Colonization Society.  (Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 358; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 2, p. 594; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, p. 71)

BRANCH, John, Secretary of the Navy, born in Halifax, North Carolina, 4 November, 1782; died in Enfield, North Carolina, 4 January, 1863. After graduation at the University of North Carolina in 1801, he studied law, became judge of the superior court, and was a state senator from 1811 till 1817, in 1822, and again in 1834. He was elected governor of his state in 1817, and from 1823 till 1829 was U. S. Senator, resigning in the latter year, when he was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Jackson. He held this office till 1831, when the cabinet broke up, more on account of social than political dissensions, as was commonly thought. A letter from Secretary Branch on the subject is published in Niles's “Register” (vol. xli.). Judge Branch was elected to Congress as a Democrat in 1831. In 1838 he was defeated as Democratic candidate for governor of his state, and in 1844-'5 was governor of the Territory of Florida, serving until the election of a governor under the state constitution.  Appletons’ Cyclopædia of American Biography, 1888,  Vol. I, p. 358


BRANCHVILLE, ARKANSAS, January 19, 1864. 1st Indiana, 5th Kansas, and 7th Missouri Cavalry. About midnight on the 18th Colonel Powell Clayton, with the three cavalry regiments and 4 pieces of light artillery, left the post at Pine Bluff in the direction of Monticello. At daylight he encountered a Confederate picket at Bayou Bartholomew, 12 miles from Pine Bluff, and about 5 miles further on the advance commenced skirmishing with the pickets, driving them back for 5 miles in the direction of Branchville, when the Confederates were found in line of battle in some thick timber. Clayton deployed the Indiana and Kansas regiments to the right and left, holding the Missouri troops in the rear as a reserve in support of the artillery. After 2 hours the Missouri men were dismounted and pushed forward to the relief of the skirmishers. Going into the fight at a double-quick they struck consternation to the enemy, who fled to Branchville, where he was pursued and completely routed. Owing to scarcity of ammunition Clayton withdrew the pursuit and fell back to Pine Bluff. Clayton lost 2 men killed and several slightly wounded. Commanders of the different regiments reported 16 Confederates killed and 9 severely, besides a number slightly wounded.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 157.


BRANCHVILLE, ARKANSAS, March 27, 1864. (See Camden, Arkansas, Expedition to.)


BRANCHVILLE, ARKANSAS, May 27, 1864.


BRANDEGEE, AUGUSTUS, 1828-1904, lawyer, jurist, abolitionist.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  Elected to Connecticut State House of Representatives in 1854.  There, he was appointed Chairman of the Select Committee to pass a “Bill for the Defense of Liberty,” which was to prevent the Fugitive Slave Law from being enforced in the state. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress; Congressional Globe)


BRANDENBURG, KENTUCKY, September 12, 1862. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 157.


BRANDENBURG, KENTUCKY, July 8, 1863. United States Steamer Springfield. The Brandenburg skirmish was an incident of the celebrated Morgan raid. While the noted guerrilla chieftain was crossing his forces into Indiana, the Springfield, commanded by Acting Ensign James Watson, kept up a fire from his vessel on the Confederate troops. Morgan finally planted three batteries in such a way as to command the river for some distance and the steamer was compelled to withdraw for lack of adequate support.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 157.

BRANDON, MISSISSIPPI, July 19, 1863. Portion of 3d Division, 15th Army Corps. On the morning of the 18th, while the advance was debouching from a piece of timber, the Confederates opened fire from a battery of 3 guns planted directly in the road, and at the same time the cavalry of the enemy began making demonstrations on the flanks. Colonel J. L. Geddes, commanding the advance brigade, immediately formed the 12th In. on the right, the 8th and 14th Louisiana on the left of the road, the 72nd Ohio in close support, and ordered an advance, at the same time deploying a strong line of skirmishers well to the front. Just as the forward movement was commenced 2 guns of Waterhouse's battery were brought up, one placed in the road and the other in a cornfield on the right, and at once began to shell the enemy's position. The Confederates fell back, contesting every inch of the way to Brandon, 3 miles to their rear, 2 hours being consumed in the running fight. When the Union troops entered Brandon the town was practically deserted. The Union loss was reported as being 8 men killed, wounded and missing; that of the enemy as 31 killed and 40 prisoners, the number of wounded not being ascertained.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 157-158.


BRANDON, MISSISSIPPI, February 7,. 1864. Part of 16th and 17th Army Corps. The advance had a spirited skirmish with some Confederate cavalry, but succeeded in driving the enemy from the town, chasing him for some 6 miles. No casualties were reported on either side but the post adjutant was captured by the Union forces. During the day the rear-guard was annoyed by the Confederate cavalry under General W. H. Jackson, but little damage was done. At Brandon 2 miles of railroad, a bridge and about 450 feet of trestle work were destroyed. The affair was an incident of the Meridian exposition.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 158.


BRANDON BRIDGE, VIRGINIA, May 9, 1864. 3d New Hampshire Infantry. The regiment, under the command of Colonel J. I. Plimpton, was stationed by General Terry to guard the bridge, which was on the road from Petersburg to Richmond, instructed to let no troops pass, and to reconnoiter the position of the enemy. It was after dark when Plimpton reached the bridge. Halting his men about 700 yards from the river he advanced with 150 men deployed as skirmishers and met the enemy about 150 yards from the bridge. Firing commenced immediately on both sides, the Confederates using grape and canister from a battery on the opposite side of the river. Owing to the darkness but little damage was done to either side and in a short time the firing ceased. The skirmish was renewed the next morning, but Plimpton held his position until about 10 o'clock, when he was ordered to fall back, his casualties being 2 men slightly and 1 severely wounded.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 158.

BRANDY STATION, VIRGINIA, August 20, 1862. Brigadier-General Beverly H. Robertson in his report of the campaign in northern Virginia in 1862 says that a portion of his Confederate cavalry brigade attacked a Federal force guarding the railroad between Stevensburg and Brandy Station. The Federals were driven back to Brandy Station where for some time they offered a determined resistance to the approaching enemy, who finally charged and routed them. The losses were 3 killed and 13 wounded on the Confederate side and 64 of the Union participants captured, besides a number killed and wounded. Federal reports make no mention of the affair. Brandy Station, Virginia, April 29, 1863. Two squadrons of the 5th U. S. Cavalry. The two squadrons of cavalry were sent out by General Stoneman to effect a junction with General Averell's division at Brandy Station. They were commanded by Captain Drummond and Lieutenant Walker. Before reaching the station they came in contact with a detachment of Confederate cavalry, supported by a battery of artillery. This force they drove back to the station, losing 1 man, but failed to see or hear anything of Averell. That night they rejoined the main body near Kelly's ford.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 158.


BRANDY STATION, VIRGINIA, June 9, 1863. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, 6th Corps; 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 11th Corps; and Pleasonton's Cavalry, Army of the Potomac. Preparatory to the invasion of Pennsylvania, Lee concentrated his army at Culpeper, Virginia. In order to learn something of the enemy's strength and proposed movements General Hooker, then in command of the Army of the Potomac, sent General Pleasonton, with his three divisions of cavalry, supported by Ames' and Russell's brigades of infantry and six light batteries, about 11,000 men in all, to beat up the camps of Stuart's cavalry in the neighborhood of Brandy Station and, if possible, gain the desired information. On the 8th Pleasonton moved from Falmouth up the north bank of the Rappahannock without being discovered. That night Buford's division of cavalry and Ames' infantry lay at Beverly ford, waiting for daylight to cross the river. At Kelly's ford, 6 miles below, were Duffle's and Gregg's cavalry divisions and Russell's brigade of infantry. No camp fires were lighted and at dawn the whole force crossed the river and moved toward Brandy Station, where the command was to unite and march on toward Culpeper. Duffle was to move via the Stevensburg road and the infantry was to be used to keep open the line of retreat if the enemy proved too strong to overcome. Buford's division encountered the Confederate cavalry between the ford and Brandy Station. This unexpected appearance of Stuart in his front somewhat disarranged Pleasonton's plans. A sharp engagement was fought at St. James' Church, in which Buford had to contend with five brigades of cavalry and about 20 pieces of artillery. Finding that he was unable to break the enemy's line Buford fell back to avoid being flanked out of his position and cut off from the ford. In the meantime Gregg had succeeded in getting to the rear of Stuart without being observed and began his attack just as Buford retired. For some time he engaged the whole Confederate force on Fleetwood hill, finally being compelled to withdraw, leaving 3 of his guns in the hands of the enemy, as most of the horses belonging to the battery had been killed during the action. Duffle came up as rapidly as possible, but owing to the distance he had to march, did not reach the field until the fight was over. Learning that a large body of infantry was coming from Culpeper to the assistance of Stuart, and having accomplished the object for which he was sent out, Pleasonton ordered his command to recross the Rappahannock, which was accomplished without any interference from the enemy, who had no desire for further combat. The Federal loss at Brandy Station was 81 killed, 403 wounded and 382 captured or missing. Stuart reported his casualties as being 51 killed, 250 wounded and 132 missing, but Pleasonton reported the capture of over 200 prisoners. One important result of this engagement was the capture at Stuart's headquarters of a desk containing a number of despatches, by which Hooker learned of the projected invasion of Pennsylvania, and was enabled to thwart Lee's original plans, compelling him to move through the Shenandoah valley instead of along the eastern base of the Blue Ridge as he had intended. (See Stevensburg, same date.) Brandy Station, Virginia, August 1, 1863. 1st Cavalry Division, Army of the Potomac. The division, commanded by Brigadier-General John Buford, crossed the Rappahannock river at Rappahannock Station about 11 a. m. for the purpose of reconnoitering the Confederate position. Soon after crossing, Buford encountered two cavalry brigades under command of General Stuart and drove them back to within a mile and a half of Culpeper Court House, where he met A. P. Hill's corps of infantry, with three batteries of artillery. Unable to cope with this force. Buford fell back to Brandy Station, closely pressed by the enemy. There were several brilliant charges and some hand-to-hand fighting in which sabers were used with great effect. Buford's loss was 21 killed, 104 wounded and 20 captured or missing. The Confederate loss was not reported but was much heavier. Brandy Station, Virginia, August 4," 1863. 1st Cavalry Division, Army of the Potomac. In the morning Colonel Thomas C. Devin, commanding the 2nd brigade, sent out two parties to reconnoiter on the roads leading to Stevensburg. The one on the Kelly's Ford road encountered a strong picket at the ford across Mountain run, with a considerable force in reserve. The detachment of Devin's brigade had been instructed to go no farther than the ford and remained there watching the enemy. In the afternoon some 2,000 Confederate cavalry, with a battery of 6 guns, attacked General Buford's position, drove back the pickets for about 1,500 yards and threatened a general assault. Buford ordered the entire division under arms, repulsed the enemy with considerable loss, and that evening advanced his picket line 800 yards in advance of where it had been prior to the attack. Buford's loss was slight—not more than 8 or 10 wounded.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 158-160.

BRANDY STATION, VIRGINIA, August 9, 1863.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 160.


BRANDY STATION, VIRGINIA, September 6, 1863. Cavalry, Army of the Potomac. Brandy Station, Virginia, September 8, 1863. Brandy Station, Virginia, September 13, 1863. Kilpatrick's Cavalry. On the evening of the 12th Kilpatrick's division was massed at Kelly's ford, where he received orders to march early the next morning to Brandy Station and effect a junction with General Buford's division. In pursuance of this order he crossed the Rappahannock a little after daylight, captured the enemy's pickets and drove his reserves back upon Stevensburg, closely followed by the 1st Michigan cavalry. At Brandy Station the whole division engaged the Confederates, forcing them back to the ridge west of the station, where they had a battery stationed, which opened on Kilpatrick's forces. The junction was then made with Buford and Kilpatrick was ordered to move his forces to the left for the purpose of attacking the enemy's right and rear. (See Culpeper of same date.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 160.


BRANDY STATION, VIRGINIA, October 11, 1863. Pleasonton's Cavalry, Army of the Potomac. The 2nd brigade of Kilpatrick's division, commanded by Brigadier-General George A. Custer, was almost surrounded by the enemy's cavalry near Brandy Station. General Birney, from his position at Welford's ford, saw the attack from three sides, and formed Ward's brigade in line of battle, at the same time sending an aide-de-camp to General Pleasonton with the offer of assistance. This Pleasonton declined and Custer asked permission to cut his way through the enemy's lines. This was granted and Custer, leaving the 6th and 7th Michigan to hold the enemy in the rear in check, ordered the band to play "Yankee Doodle," and informed his men that they must cut their way to liberty with their sabers. The men responded with a cheer and with the 1st and 5th Michigan regiments in advance Custer led one of his characteristic charges, before which the Confederates scattered in all directions, thus opening a way for the entire corps. About the same time the 1st Maryland cavalry, belonging to the 1st brigade of General Gregg's division, was having a tilt with the enemy's cavalry at Morton's ford, Stevensburg, and on the road to Brandy Station. The Union troops were dismounted and deployed as skirmishers until the Confederates began to fall back, when they followed at the double-quick, driving the enemy all the way to the station. The losses in these skirmishes are included in the report for the entire Bristoe campaign.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 160.


BRANDY STATION, VIRGINIA, October 12, 1863. (See Fleetwood.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 160.


BRANDY STATION, VIRGINIA, November 8, 1863. 6th Maryland, 110th and 122nd Ohio, and 138th Pennsylvania Infantry, and 1st New Hampshire Battery. The affair at Brandy Station on this date was one of the skirmishes that occurred during the advance of the army to the Rappahannock. When within about 2 miles of Brandy Station, General Keifer's brigade, which formed the advance, met with a considerable force of the enemy—principally cavalry and horse artillery—occupying a strong position overlooking the Oransre & Alexandria railroad. Deploying his forces and throwing forward skirmishers, supported by the main body of the brigade, as well as the 1st brigade, Keifer ordered an advance. The movement was well executed and the Confederates driven from their works, which had in the meantime been shelled by more than 50 rounds from the 1st New Hampshire battery. The enemy was pursued beyond Brandy Station, when the chase was ended by order of General Carr. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 160.


BRANNAN, JOHN MILTON, soldier, born in the District of Columbia in 1819. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1841, and served at Plattsburg, New York, during the border disturbances of 1841—'2, and in the Mexican War as first lieutenant of the 1st U.S. Artillery. He was at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, La Hoya, Contreras, and Churubusco, and for his conduct in the two actions last named was brevetted on 20 August, 1847. On 13 September he was severely wounded at the Belen Gate in the assault on the city of Mexico. After this he served on garrison duty in various forts, and against the Seminoles in 1856-'8. On 28 September, 1861, he was made brigadier-general of volunteers, commanded the Department of Key West, Florida, in 1862, and served in the Department of the South from June, 1862, till 24 January, 1863. During this time he commanded the St. John's River Expedition of 25 September, 1862, receiving the brevet of lieutenant-colonel for his services at the battle of Jacksonville, was engaged at Pocotaligo, South Carolina, 24 October, 1862, and twice temporarily commanded the department. In the Tennessee Campaign of 1863 he was  at Hoover's Gap, Tullahoma, Elk River, and Chickamauga, winning two brevets. From 10 October, 1863, till 25 June, 1865, he was chief of artillery of the Department of the Cumberland, and was engaged at Chattanooga until May, 1864, in arranging the armament of its defences. He was in the battle of Missionary Ridge, 23–25 November, 1863, and from 4 May till 1 October, 1864, took part in the Georgia Campaign, being engaged at Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, and the siege and surrender of Atlanta. On 23 January, 1865, he was brevetted major-general of volunteers, and on 13 March, 1865, received the brevet of brigadier-general in the regular army for his services at Atlanta, and that of major-general for his services during the war. In 1870 he commanded the troops at Ogdensburg at the time of the threatened Fenian raids into Canada, and in 1877 at Philadelphia during the railroad riots. He was made colonel of the 4th U.S. Artillery, 15 March, 1881, and was retired from active service on 19 April, 1882. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 359.


EXPEDITION FROM HILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA, October 21-23, 1862. In accordance with instructions from headquarters, Department of the South, Brigadier-General John M. Brannan led an expedition to destroy the bridges on the Charleston & Savannah railroad. His forces consisted of infantry; 300 of the 48th New York; 108 of the 1st Massachusetts; one section each of the 1st and 3d U. S. artillery, and 250 of the New York volunteer engineers, making a total of 4,448 men. The expedition left Hilton Head on transports and gunboats on the evening of the 21st and proceeded up the Broad river. At 4:30 the next morning the transport Ben De Ford and the gunboat Paul Jones arrived off Pocotaligo creek, whence a detachment was sent to destroy the Coosawhatchie river bridges. The other vessels did not arrive until late in the day, when Brannan landed his artillery and infantry at Mackay's point and sent two of the transports to Port Royal for some cavalry. An advance was commenced in the direction of Pocotaligo bridge, which was to be the first point of attack. At Caston's plantation, some 5 or 6 miles from the river, the enemy was found in considerable force. The 1st brigade, which was in advance, had no sooner debouched upon an open field than fire was opened on it from a field battery stationed in a thick wood. The brigade was deployed, the artillery ordered to the front, and the Confederates were soon driven from their position. In their retreat they managed to destroy a number of small bridges, which had to be rebuilt by the engineers, causing considerable delay in bringing up the artillery. A mile and a half further on the enemy made a stand at Frampton's plantation. Here he had the advantage of the ground, the battery being posted in a wood, in front of which was an almost impassable swamp. Across this swamp was a narrow causeway, the bridge of which had been destroyed. Brannan took a position in a thicket on the edge of the swamp, but his men were twice driven back by the terrific fire of grape, canister and shell from the enemy's battery. Seeing a flank movement impossible on account of the ground, Brannan advanced the 1st brigade to the verge of the swamp and sent a section of the 1st U. S. artillery to the broken causeway. This bold move caused the Confederates to again abandon their position. The infantry waded the swamp and started in pursuit, pressing the enemy so closely that he had no time to reform his lines. In the retreat the Confederates abandoned a caisson filled with ammunition, which fortunately fitted the boat howitzers, thus enabling Brannan to keep up an artillery fire after his other ammunition was exhausted. Brannan followed to the junction of the Coosawhatchie and Mackay's point roads, at a point where the former runs through the swamp to Pocotaligo bridge. Here the enemy had constructed a line of rifle pits and earthworks and massed a considerable force, evidently having information of the intentions of the expedition. The Union forces were here met by a murderous fire from a long line of batteries, to which no response could be made for lack of ammunition. The skirmish line was advanced to the edge of the swamp, however, and did good execution for a time, but without artillery Brannan deemed it inexpedient to continue the fight and sounded the retreat. This last skirmish is known as the battle of Coosawhatchie. In the meantime Colonel Barton, with the 48th New York and 3d Rhode Island battery, had been sent up the Coosawhatchie, with instructions to approach as near to the town of that name as practicable, and, under cover of the gunboats, destroy the railroad bridge if possible. He was also instructed not to hazard too much, but, if attacked by a superior force, to fall back to the fleet. Barton drove in the pickets and was approaching the town, but when within a mile of the place a train of 8 cars, loaded with troops and bearing 2 pieces of artillery, was sent out to resist his further advance.

This train was greeted with a destructive fire of grape, canister and musketry, and several were seen to fall, among them the engineer. The survivors jumped from the train and took to the woods. Barton here captured several stand of arms, the silk colors of the Whippy Swamp Guards, and was engaged in tearing up the track when advised that Brannan had ordered a retreat. The Union casualties on the expedition were 43 killed, 294 wounded and 3 missing. The enemy's losses could not be ascertained. Brannan attributed the failure of the expedition to the information the Confederates had obtained in some way in advance of the movement.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 161-162.


BRASHEAR CITY, LOUISIANA, March 18, 1863. 1st Louisiana Cavalry.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 162.


BRASHEAR CITY, LOUISIANA, June 21, 1863. (See La Fourche Crossing, same date.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 162.


BRASHEAR CITY, LOUISIANA, June 23, 1863. Detached forces under command of Major Robert C. Anthony of the 2nd Rhode Island Cavalry. For some time the enemy had been threatening the post at Brashear City. When Lieutenant-Colonel Albert Stickney, of the 47th Massachusetts infantry, withdrew the greater part of the forces there on the 20th for the action at La Fourche Crossing, it gave the Confederates an opportunity too good to be overlooked. On the evening of the 22nd Major Hunter, with about 325 men of Baylor's Texas cavalry, rowed in skiffs from the mouth of Bayou Teche to a position in the rear of the city. About 5:30 on the morning of the 23d he was within 800 yards of the Union lines. About the same time the Confederates commenced a spirited bombardment of the place from the Valverde battery across the bay. The attack from both sides seems to have disconcerted Major Anthony, who doubtless believed the land forces in the rear to be much larger than they really were, and he surrendered without offering any resistance. Some of the 1st Indiana heavy artillery stationed there acted without orders and put up a gallant fight until notified that the place had surrendered. The number of prisoners taken was about 1,000 (accounts differ) and there fell into the hands of the enemy 11 heavy guns, about 2,500 stands of small arms, a large number of wagons and tents, and a supply of ammunition. The prisoners were paroled. In killed and wounded the Union forces lost about 75 and the Confederates 21.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 162.


BRAXTON COURT HOUSE, WEST VIRGINIA, December 29, 1861. (See Suttonville, same date.)


BRAYMAN, MASON, soldier, born in Buffalo, New York, 23 May, 1813. He was brought up as a farmer, but became a printer, edited the Buffalo “Bulletin” in 1834—'5, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1836. In 1837 he moved to the west, was city attorney in Monroe, Michigan, in 1838, and became editor of the Louisville “Advertiser,” in 1841. In 1842 he opened a law-office in Springfield, Illinois. The year following he was appointed a special commissioner to adjust Mormon troubles, and in 1845–6 acted as special attorney to prosecute offences growing out of the Mormon difficulties, and to negotiate a peace between the followers of Joseph Smith and their enemies in Nauvoo. In published the statutes of Illinois under the appointment of the governor and the authority of the legislature. He afterward became interested in railroad enterprises. He was attorney of the Illinois Central Railroad in 1851–5, and then president and organizer of railroads in Missouri and Arkansas till the beginning of the war. In 1861 he joined the volunteer army as major of the 29th Illinois Regiment, of which he became colonel in May, 1862, having been promoted brigadier-general of volunteers for bravery in action, and at the close of the war received the brevet of major-general.  He commanded the U.S. forces at Bolivar, Tennessee, from November, 1862, to June, 1863, and repelled Van Dorn’s attack on that place.  He afterward reorganized about sixty Ohio regiments at Camp Dennison, Ohio, was president of a court of inquiry to investigate General Sturgis’s conduct, commanded at Natchez, Mississippi, from July, 1864, to the spring of 1865, and then presided over a commission in New Orleans to examine and report upon southern claims against the government.  After the war he was engaged for several years in reviving railroad enterprises in the south, edited the “Illinois State Journal” in 1872-‘3, moved to Wisconsin in the latter year, was appointed governor of the territory of Idaho in 1876, served a term of four years, and then returned to Wisconsin and practised law in Ripon.  Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, pp. 362-363.


BRAZIL CREEK, INDIAN TERRITORY. October 11, 1863.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 162.


BRAZOS SANTIAGO, TEXAS, November 2, 1863. Banks' Expedition to the Rio Grande. The fleet bearing the expedition left New Orleans on October 26. After being scattered by a severe gale the vessels got together and on the morning of the 2nd arrived off Brazos island (Brazos Santiago), near the mouth of the Rio Grande. The place was occupied by a small force of Confederate cavalry, which fled as they saw about 3,500 troops under General Dana in the act of disembarking. Just at noon the stars and stripes were hoisted on Texas soil. Brazos Santiago, Texas, September 6, 1864. 1st Texas Cavalry. The action was really at the Palmetto ranch. about 16 miles up the Rio Grande from Brazos Santiago. Colonel H. M. Day of the 91st Illinois infantry, commanding the Union forces in the district, learned that the Confederates had collected a large lot of cattle in a bend of the river near the Palmetto ranch, sent out a squadron of the 1st Texas cavalry and a piece of artillery, to drive back the enemy and if possible capture the cattle. The Confederates slowly retired until the Palmetto ranch was reached, when they made a stand and a brisk skirmish ensued. The Confederates were constantly receiving reinforcements from up the river, when the piece of artillery arrived and opened an effective fire on the ranch, which drove the enemy flying in the direction of Brownsville. The expedition was a success, the enemy being driven from the neighborhood and a large lot of cattle brought to the Union camp.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 162-163.


BREACH. Rupture made in a fortification to facilitate the assault. The best mode of doing this is by dividing the wall up into detached parts by making one horizontal 'and several vertical cuts, and battering each part down. The easiest way to make the cut is to direct the shots upon the same line, and form a series of holes a little greater than a diameter apart, and then fire at the intervals until the desired cut is made. The horizontal cut is finished first. The vertical cuts are then commenced at the horizontal cut, and raised until the but wall sinks, overturns, and breaks into pieces. The effective breaching power of rifle cannon has been shown by recent successful experiments in England, against a martello tower 30 feet high and 48 feet diameter, the walls being of good solid brick masonry, from 7 to 10 feet thick. Armstrong guns with 40 and 80-pounder solid shot, and 100-pounder percussion shells were used at a distance of 1,032 yards, more than twenty times the usual breaching distance. The 80-pounder shot passed completely through the masonry, (7 feet 3 inches,) and the 40-pounder shot and 100-pounder percussion shells lodged in the brick-work, at a depth of five feet. After firing 170 projectiles, a small portion of which were loaded shells, the entire land side of the tower was thrown down, and the interior space was filled with the debris of the vaulted roof, forming a pile which alone saved the opposite side from destruction. The superior breaching power of rifle projectiles depends not only on penetration, but on accuracy of flight and consequent concentration on any desired point; (BENTON.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 110).


BREACH OF ARREST. Any arrested officer who shall leave his confinement, before he shall be set at liberty by his commanding officer, or by a superior officer, shall be cashiered; (ART. 77, Rules and Articles of War.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 110).


BREAK GROUND is to commence the siege of a place by opening trenches, &c. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 110).


BREAKER, SCHOONER, August 12, 1862. (See Naval Volume.)


BREASTWORK is a hastily constructed parapet, not high enough to require a banquette, or at least generally without one; (See FIELD WORKS.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 110).


BRECK, SAMUEL, soldier, born in Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 25 February, 1834. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1855, and served in the Florida War of 1855–6, was assistant professor of geography, history, and ethics in the Military Academy in 1860–1, and served in the Civil War as assistant adjutant-general of General McDowell's division in the beginning of 1862, and afterward of the 1st Army Corps, and of the Department of the Rappahannock, being engaged in the occupation of Fredericksburg and the Shenandoah Valley Expedition, and from 2 July, 1862, till 5 June, 1870, was assistant in the adjutant-general's department at Washington, in cha of rolls, returns, and the preparation of the “Volunteer Army Register.” He was brevetted brigadier-general, for faithful services, on 13 March, 1865. From 1870 until 1877 he was stationed in San Francisco, California, and from 24 December, 1877, served as assistant in the adjutant-general's office at Washington, and at departmental headquarters in California, New York, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 364.


BRECKRIDGE, ROBERT JEFFERSON, clergyman, born in Cabell's Dale, Kentucky, 8 March, 1800; died in Danville, 27 December, 1871, studied at Princeton, Yale, and Union Colleges successively, graduating at Union in 1819, read law, was admitted to the bar of his native state in 1823, and practised eight years. For four successive years he was a member of the legislature. In 1829 he made a profession of religion, and determined to be a preacher. As a politician he had advocated the emancipation of the slaves, and when the public sentiment of his state turned in favor of slavery, he was the more inclined to abandon the political career. After studying theology privately, he was licensed to preach in 1832, and soon afterward became pastor of the 2d Presbyterian Church of Baltimore, in which place he remained thirteen years. In 1845 he was  president of Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, and at the same time took charge of a Presbyterian Church in a neighboring village. After two years in the presidency of the college, he moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where he became pastor of the 1st Presbyterian Church, and also superintendent of public instruction for the state. He was the principal author of the public-school system of Kentucky. In 1853 he was elected professor of didactic and polemic theology in the new theological seminary at Danville, which chair he held until his death. He published “Travels in France, Germany,” etc. (Philadelphia, 1839); a volume on “Poland " in 1841; “Memoranda of Foreign Travel.”, 1845); the “Internal of Christianity,” in 1852; and “The Knowledge of God Objectively Considered” (New York, 1857), followed by “The Knowledge of God Subjectively Considered,” two parts of an elaborate work on theology as a science of positive truth. While in Baltimore he edited a “Literary and Religious Magazine” and the “Spirit of the Nineteenth Century,” in which he carried on discussions with the Roman Catholics on questions of theology and history. He also edited at Danville, Kentucky, while professor there, the “Danville Review,” in which he not only defended his theological views, but gave utterance to his patriotic sentiments during the war. In the discussions and controversies that receded the disruption of the Presbyterian Church he was the champion of the old-school party. He was largely instrumental in actuating the managers of the American Bible Society to recede from their resolution to adopt the revised version of the Bible. Previous to the Civil War he had been inclined to conservatism, though disposed to deprecate slavery; but when the war came he was from the first intensely loyal, though one of his sons, and his nephew, John C. Breckinridge, went over to the confederacy. He presided over the National Republican Convention at Baltimore in 1864, which renominated Mr. Lincoln for the presidency. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 365.


BRECKENRIDGE, WILLIAM CAMPBELL PRESTON, born in Baltimore, Maryland, 28 August, 1837, was graduated at Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, in 1855, entered the Confederate Army as a captain in 1861, became colonel of the 9th Kentucky Cavalry, commanded the Kentucky Cavalry Brigade when it surrendered, was an editor for two years, afterward professor of equity jurisprudence in Cumberland University, Tennessee, and in 1884 was elected as a Democrat, without opposition, to the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 365.


BRECKENDIDGE, JOSEPH CABELL, soldier, born in Baltimore, 14 January, 1842, was graduated at the University of Virginia in 1860, and volunteered in the U.S. Army in August, 1861. He was engaged in the campaigns in Kentucky and Tennessee, ending with the advance on Corinth, was appointed second lieutenant in the 2d U.S. Artillery in April, 1862, for gallantry at the battle of Mill Spring, promoted first lieutenant in August, 1863, and served in Florida, and then  the Atlanta Campaign with his battery until July, 1864, when he was taken prisoner before Atlanta, Georgia. In September following he was released, and was on mustering, staff, and recruiting duty during the remainder of the Civil War. He was promoted captain, 17 June, 1874. On 19 January, 1881, he was transferred to the inspector-general's department with the rank of major, promoted lieutenant-colonel in that department, 5 February, 1885, and colonel 22 September the same year. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 365-366.


BRECKENRIDGE, JOHN CABELL, Vice-President of the United States, born near Lexington, Kentucky, 21 January, 1821; died in Lexington, Kentucky, 17 May, 1875. He was a grandson of John Breckenridge, U. S. Senator and Attorney-General, was educated at Centre College, Danville, studied law at the Transylvania Institute, and, after a short residence in Burlington, Iowa, settled at Lexington, where he practised his profession with success. At the beginning of the war with Mexico, in 1847, he was elected major in a regiment of Kentucky volunteers, and while on duty in Mexico he was employed by General Pillow as his counsel  in his litigation with his associates and superiors. On his return, he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives. In 1851 he was elected to Congress, and was reelected in 1853. He declined the Spanish mission tendered him by President Pierce. In the presidential election of 1856 he was chosen Vice-President of the United States, with Mr. Buchanan as President. In 1860 he was the candidate for president as the representative of the slave-holding interest, nominated by the southern delegates of the Democratic Convention who separated from those that supported Stephen A. Douglas. In the Electoral College he received 72 votes, to 180 cast for Lincoln, 39 for Bell, and 12 for Douglas, all the southern states voting for him excepting Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. In the same year he was elected U.S. Senator as the successor of John J. Crittenden, and took his seat in March, 1861. At the beginning of the Civil War he defended the southern Confederacy in the Senate, soon afterward went south, entered the Confederate Army, and was expelled from the Senate on 4 December, 1861. On 5 August of the following summer he was appointed a major-general. He commanded the Confederate reserve at Shiloh, 6 April, 1862; was repelled in the attack on Baton Rouge in August, 1862; commanded the right wing of Bragg's army at Murfreesboro, 31 December, 1862; was at Chickamauga, 19 and 20 September, 1863; and Chattanooga, 25 November 1863; defeated General Sigel near Newmarket, 13 May, 1864; then joined General Lee's army, and was at the battle of Cold Harbor, 3 June, 1864; commanded a corps under Early, and was defeated by General Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley in September, 1864; defeated General Gillem in east Tennessee, 12 November, 1864; and was in the battle near Nashville, 15 December, 1864. He was Secretary of War in Jefferson Davis's cabinet from January, 1865, till the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston in April. He left Richmond for Charlotte. North Carolina, with Mr. Davis and the other officers of the Confederate Government, and, after it was decided to abandon the contest, left the party at Washington, Georgia, made his escape to the Florida Keys, and thence embarked for Cuba, and sailed from Havana for Europe. He returned in 1868 determined to take no further part in politics, and to devote himself to his profession. As vice-president he was the youngest man that had ever held that office. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 366.


BRECKINRIDGE, ROBERT JEFFERSON, 1800-1871, Kentucky, lawyer, clergyman, state legislator, anti-slavery activist.  Supported gradual emancipation.  Opponent of slavery and important advocate for colonization and the American Colonization Society (ACS).  He argued emancipation was the goal of African colonization and it was justified.  He worked with ACS agent Robert S. Finley to establish auxiliaries.  (Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 1, p. 10; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 144-145, 183, 231)


BRECKENRIDGE, MISSOURI, June 9, 1864. Detachment of the 65th Missouri Enrolled Militia. Ten men were sent out by the colonel of the regiment to secure an escaped prisoner named Weldon. Five of the party went to the house of the prisoner and the other 5 to the house of his mother. Secreting themselves about the houses they waited for the arrival of the prisoner, with a party who was engaged in guarding him. They arrived about daylight on the morning of the 9th and a sharp fight ensued in which 2 of the Union men were slightly wounded, 1 was killed and 2 of the citizens were severely wounded.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 163.


BREECH. The mass of solid metal behind the bottom of the bore of a gun extending to the rear of the base ring. The base of the breech is a frustum of a cone or spherical segment in rear of the breech. Breech of a musket; Breech screw; Breech pin. (For breech-loading arms, See CARBINES; PISTOL.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 110).


BREESE, KIDDER RANDOLPH, naval officer, born in Philadelphia, 14 April, 1831; died 13 September, 1881. He was appointed a midshipman from Rhode Island in 1846, and served during the Mexican War in the “Saratoga,” Commander Farragut, on the coast of Mexico. As passed midshipman he served in Commodore, Perry's Japan Expedition and was on the “Macedonian,” which visited the northern end of Formosa to search for coal and inquire into the captivity of Americans on that island. He also served in Preble's Paraguay Expedition, from which he returned in September, 1859, with isthmus fever. He next served on the “San Jacinto,” which captured 1,500 slaves on the coast of Africa, and took Mason and Slidell from on board the “Trent" in November, 1861. He was ordered to Porter's mortar flotilla in December, 1861, and  took part in the attacks on New Orleans and Vicksburg in 1862. Promoted lieutenant-commander, on 16 July, 1862, at the time of the establishment of that grade, he joined Porter's Mississippi Squadron in October, 1862, took command of the flag-ship “Black Hawk,” and participated in the important operations in the Mississippi and the Red River. When Admiral Porter was placed in command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in September, 1864, he selected Breese as his fleet-captain, in which capacity he served until hostilities came to an end in May, 1865. He was engaged at the Fort Fisher fights and in the attack on Fort Anderson; and in the naval assault on Fort Fisher, on 15 January, 1865, he commanded the storming party, which gained the parapet, but was unable to maintain the position, owing to lack of support from the marines. He was recommended for promotion for services on that occasion, promoted commander 25 July, 1866, and captain, 9 August, 1874. After the war he was employed in the testing of breech-loading arms, and in other ordnance duties, and commanded the “Plymouth,” of the European Squadron, and afterward the “Pensacola.” Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 366-367.


BREESE, SAMUEL LIVINGSTON, naval officer, born in Utica, New York, in 1794; died at Mount Airy, Pennsylvania, 17 December, 1870. He was appointed a midshipman, 10 September, 1810, and was present at the battle of Lake Champlain, received his commission as lieutenant, 27 April, 1816, as captain, 8 September, 1841, and on the frigate “Cumberland,” of the Mediterranean Squadron, in 1845. He was in the Pacific during the Mexican War, and was present at the capture of Tuspan and Tobasco, and of Vera Cruz. In 1853-'5 he was commandant of the Norfolk Navy-yard, in 1856–’8 commanded the Mediterranean Squadron, and in 1859–’61 the Brooklyn Navy-yard. On 16 July, 1862, he was commissioned as commodore and placed on the retired list, and on 3 September, 1862, was made a rear-admiral on the retired list. He served in 1862 as light-house inspector, and in 1869 was port-admiral at Philadelphia. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 367.


BREESE, SIDNEY, jurist, born in Whitesboro, New York, 15 July 1800; died in Pinckneyville, iii. 2; June, 1878. He was graduated at Union in 1818, moved to Illinois, and in 1821 was admitted to the bar. He became assistant Secretary of State, and was state attorney from 1822 till 1827, when he was appointed U.S. Attorney for Illinois. In 1829 he published the first volume of supreme court reports in that state. He served in the Black Hawk War as a lieutenant-colonel of volunteers. In 1835 he was elected a circuit judge, and in 1841 to the Supreme Court. From 1843 to 1849 he was a senator of the United States, having been elected as a Democrat to succeed Richard M. Young. He was a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution during the administration of President Polk, and served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Lands, in which capacity he made a report in favor of a transcontinental railroad to the Pacific. In 1850 he was speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. He was one of the originators of the Illinois Central Railroad. He again became a circuit judge in 1855, and was made chief of the court. In 1857 he was elected a justice of the Supreme Court, and in 1873 he became Chief Justice, in which office he continued till the time of his death. In 1869 he published a work on Illinois and one treating of the “Origin and History of the Pacific Railroad.” Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 367.


BRENTSVILLE, VIRGINIA, January 9, 1863. 1st Michigan Cavalry. One officer and 7 men belonging to the 1st Michigan cavalry were surprised by a much larger force about noon. Not expecting an attack the men were all dismounted except one. Two were killed, 1 mortally wounded and 4 captured. The one who was mounted made his escape.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 163.


BRENTSVILLE, VIRGINIA, October 14-15, 1863. 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions, Bristoe Campaign. The 1st division, commanded by Brigadier-General John Buford, was assigned to the duty of guarding the rear and flank of the wagon trains on the march to Centerville. At Brentsville the trains were delayed on the 14th, which made it necessary to keep in motion all that night, frequent dashes being made by the enemy's cavalry, but every time they were repulsed by Buford's men. During the night march the 2nd division, under Brigadier-General D. McM. Gregg, was sent to Buford's assistance until the danger point was considered passed. At daylight on the 15th the wagons were all safely over Broad run. From there to Cedar run they were followed by a small force of Confederate cavalry, though no attack was made. After crossing Cedar run the wagons, through confusion as to route, recrossed the stream to the enemy's side. A strong force of the enemy's cavalry made a brisk advance, doubtless with the intention of capturing or destroying some of the train, but instead of striking the train on the flank he struck Buford's force, which was well prepared to receive him. By an adroit movement the 17th Pennsylvania turned the Confederate flank, forcing him to give way long enough to afford the main body of the Union forces to take a strong position, which was maintained until the train was well on the way to Fairfax Station.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 163.


BRENTSVILLE, VIRGINIA, November 26, 29, 1863. Brentsville, Virginia, February 14, 1864. Detachment, 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry. A party of 25 men was sent out from the camp at Bristoe Station, under Lieutenant Patrick S. Earley, to scout through the country for a mile or two beyond Brentsville. While passing through that town one man, who was somewhat in advance, saw 3 Confederate soldiers run into a thicket of pines in the direction of Cedar run. Four men were dismounted and sent into the thicket while the rest of the party proceeded on across a narrow bridge. Scarcely had this bridge been crossed when several shots were fired from a thicket on the right of the road. The formation of the ground made it easier to go forward than back and all those in advance dashed forward toward the thicket. Another volley came from the ambush and Major Larrimer, who accompanied the expedition, and 3 men were killed and 4 were wounded. Captain Carle, division provost-marshal, wanted to pursue but the other officers disagreed with him as they were unacquainted with the country and did not know the strength of the enemy. Some of the men reluctantly went with Carle to the place where Larrimer fell to recover his body. Several pools of blood were found on the ground, indicating that some punishment had been inflicted on the Confederates, but the loss could not be ascertained. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 163.


BRENTWOOD, TENNESSEE, September 19-20, 1862.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 164.


BRENTWOOD, TENNESSEE, December 9, 1862. 25th Illinois, 8th Kansas, and 81 st Indiana Volunteers, and 8th Wisconsin Battery. The Illinois and Kansas troops were sent out from the camp near Nashville on a reconnaissance in the direction of Franklin. Near the junction of the Liberty and Nolensville pikes they met with a detachment of Confederate cavalry under General Wharton. The Indiana regiment and the Wisconsin battery were then ordered up as reinforcements and the enemy retired, being pursued beyond Brentwood, both sides keeping up a desultory firing, which could hardly be dignified by the name of a running fight. About 5 miles beyond Brentwood a considerable body of the enemy's cavalry was seen blocking the road some distance in advance. The battery was ordered to the front and with two or three well directed shots dispersed them. The Union force remained there until sunset, when it returned to the camp. One man of the 25th Illinois was slightly wounded, which was the only casualty reported.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 164.


BRENTWOOD, TENNESSEE, March 25, 1863. Detached troops of the 22nd Wisconsin, 33d Indiana, 19th Michigan infantry, and 4th Cavalry Brigade. The detachment, numbering 300 men, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Bloodgood, of the 22nd Wisconsin, surrendered to a force of Confederate cavalry early on the morning of the 25th. The story of the whole affair is perhaps best told in the following report from General Rosecrans: "The force at Brentwood was captured early this morning by two or three brigades of rebel cavalry. They crossed the Harpeth, 12 miles below, near Tank, and destroyed the railroad bridge and telegraph. Pickets were attacked early and vigorously on all approaches to this place, on the south side of the river. I immediately dispatched cavalry under General Smith, to save railroad train and Brentwood. The rebels had completed work; were moving westward; pursued and overtook them 6 miles out; sharp engagement; recaptured wagons, ambulances, and arms (one hundred) taken from us, and two hundred stands in addition. When success seemed certain, Forrest came up with a strong force on the left. We were compelled to fall back to Brentwood, burning a portion of the wagons and destroying such arms as we could not bring away. Smith reports 350 to 400 of the enemy killed. Brought in 40 prisoners. Our loss did not exceed 50.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 164.


BRENTWOOD, TENNESSEE, December 15-16, 1864. (See Nashville, Tennessee)


BREVET. (French.) It is derived from Latmjreve, brevia, which signify a brief; a parchment containing an annotation or notification; (BARDIN, Dictionnaire de l’Armee de Terre.) So also, according to Ainsworth, To issue out a writ, Mandatum, vel BREVE emittere. This Latin word breve, brevia, is also still preserved in English law, as signifying a writ, or mandatory precept issued by the authority, and in the name of the sovereign or state.' See Breve, a writ, Breve de Recto, a writ of right, Brevia Formata, the register of writs; (BOUVIER'S Law Dictionary.) So also in Scots Law, Breve Testatum (Lat.) an acknowledgment in writing, which, by the ancient practice, was made out on the land at the time of giving possession to the vassal, and signed by the superior; (OGILVIE.) The word brevet in French signifies, when applied to officers in the army or navy, commission; (SPIERS and SURENNE.) Brevet was taken by the English from the French with this meaning. As used in the United States army, brevet was borrowed with our Articles of War from England, and in the British service it means a commission in the army at large, distinctive of a commission in a particular regiment or corps. But, as both in the British service and our own, payments are made for the authorized number of officers of the various grades in the several corps composing an army, ordinary English lexicographers have set down the meaning of brevet as a commission which gives an officer title and rank in the army above his pay; (WEBSTER, WORCESTER, and OGILVIE.) This would be the true meaning of brevet, if there was no legislation on the subject of rank by brevet other than that authorizing such rank to be conferred. But as rank by brevet is given in the army of the United States, by and with. the advice and consent of the Senate, for “ gallant actions or meritorious services,” the laws have justly provided that, whenever an officer is on duty, and exercises a command according to his brevet, he shall be entitled to the pay of such grade; (Acts of 1812 and 1818.) Brevets, however, being commissions in the army at large, it would also follow, if there was no further legislation, that such commissions would be exercised in the particular regiment in which an officer was mustered. To avoid this, and also to give efficacy to commissions in particular corps where different corps come together, the 61st and 62d Articles of War have regulated the whole subject. The 61st Article provides that within a regiment or corps officers shall take rank and do duty according to the commissions by which they are mustered in their regiments or corps, but brevets or former commissions may take effect in detachments and courts-martial composed of different regiments or corps. As rank, however, means a range of subordination in the body in which it is held, it is manifest that rank in any particular body, as a regiment, corps, or the army at large, would not of itself give the right to command out of that particular body, without being enabled by further legislation. Hence the necessity of the 62d Article of War, which provides that, when different corps come together, the officer highest in rank of the line of the army, marine corps, or militia, by commission there on duty or in quarters shall command the whole, and give orders for what is needful for the service, unless otherwise specially directed by the President of the United States, according to the nature of the case; (See COMMAND; DETACHMENT; LINE; PRESIDENT; RANK.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp.  110-111).


BREWER'S LANE, ARKANSAS, September 11, 1864. 13th Illinois, 5th Kansas and 1st Indiana Cavalry. The skirmish at Brewer's lane was one of the incidents of an expedition sent out from Pine Bluff by General Clayton. On the return trip the forces were divided. Company G, of the Kansas regiment, was some distance in advance and when about 18 miles from Pine Bluff met the enemy and forced him to retire slowly. A little later the Union force was attacked on the right flank, but the enemy was again driven back. The column moved on a short distance, when another attack was made, this time on both the flank and rear. The men were thrown into confusion for a little while, but were finally rallied and held the enemy in check. Captain Kyler of the 1st Indiana, who was acting as rearguard, was cut off from the main body but managed to cut his way out. For the next 4 miles repeated attacks were made on the rear, and the march was practically a running fight. At Warren's cross-roads the Union troops found Colonel Erskine, with the 13th Illinois drawn up in line of battle, and the retreat was turned into a victory. The Confederates were beaten back and after waiting for some time for them to reappear the expedition returned to Pine Bluff. The losses were 1 killed, 8 wounded, and 2 missing. Four of the 1st Indiana who were wounded in the fight when cut off, were left on the field. (See Monticello, Arkansas, September 10.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 164.


BREWERTON, HENRY, soldier, born in New York City; died in Washington, D.C., 17 April, 1879. He was at the head of the 2d class in the U. S. Military Academy when the 1st class was about to graduate in 1819. He obtained leave to essay the examination with the advanced class, and was graduated fifth from its head, thus completing the usual four years' course in three years. At the same time three of his classmates obtained similar permits and passed the ordeal successfully, though not with so high grade. But these irregularities of administration were found to be detrimental to the general good of the cadets, and were not mitted under the stricter discipline established soon after this time. Brewerton was at once commissioned second lieutenant of engineers, and, after a temporary detail to aid in determining the 45th parallel of latitude at Rouse's Point, New York, he was in September, 1819, assigned to duty as an instructor at the Military Academy. He was promoted first lieutenant of engineers, 1 January, 1825; captain, 21 September, 1826; major, 23 August, 1856; and lieutenant-colonel, 6 August, 1861. During these years he was continuously active on important engineering works, such as Fort Adams, Newport, Fort Jackson, Louisiana, the defences of Charleston Harbor, on the light-house board, and as a member of various boards and commissions appointed to improve the defences of the United. In 1847 he received the degree of LL.D. from Dickinson College. During the early years of the Civil War, from 1861 till 5 November, 1864, he was superintending engineer of the fortifications and improvements Baltimore Harbor, Maryland. On 22 April, 1864, he was promoted colonel of engineers. The winter of 1864–5 he passed in the neighborhood of Hampton Roads, superintending the construction of defensive works, and thence he was transferred to the defences of New York. He was brevetted brigadier-general, “for long, faithful, and meritorious services,” 13 March, 1865, and retired 7 March, 1867, in compliance with the law, “having been borne on the army register more than forty-five years.”—His son, George Douglas, soldier, born about 1820. He joined Stephenson's Regiment of “California Volunteers,” in 1846, as second lieutenant, became second lieutenant, 1st U. S. Infantry, 22 May, 1847, and first lieutenant in June, 1850. He is the author of “The War in Kansas: A Rough Trip to the Border among New Homes and a Strange People” (New York, 1856): “Fitzpoodle at Newport” ; and “Ida Lewis, the Heroine of Lime Rock” (Newport, 1869). He has published also, through a New York firm, “The Automaton Regiment” (1862), “The Automaton Company," and “The Automaton Battery." (1863). ' devices for the instruction of military recruits were brought out when hundreds of thousands of untrained soldiers were eagerly studying the rudiments of the art of war, and were extensively used in connection with the regular books of tactics. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 370-371.


BREWSTER, HENRY, LeRoy, New York, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Manager, 1837-40


BREWSTER, J. M., Pittsfield, Massachusetts, abolitionist.  Massachusetts Abolition Society, Vice-President, 1842-45.


BREWSTER, WILLIAM R., soldier, died in Brooklyn, New York, 13 December, 1869. He was a colonel in the Excelsior Brigade, organized by Daniel E. Sickles in 1861, and after the promotion of that officer was made a brigadier-general of volunteers. At the time of his death he held a place in the U. S. Internal Revenue Department. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 372


BRIAR, MISSOURI, March 26, 1862. (See Warrensburg.)


BRIBE AT MUSTER. Art. 16 of the Rules and Articles of War provides that any officer convicted of taking any bribe on mustering, or on signing muster rolls, shall be displaced from his office, and be utterly disabled from ever after holding any office or employment in the service of the United States. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 112).


BRICE, BENJAMIN W., soldier, born in Virginia in 1809. He was appointed to the U. S. Military Academy from Ohio, was graduated in 1829, served as a lieutenant of infantry in an expedition against the Sac Indians in 1831, and on 13 February, 1831, resigned from the army. He was brigade major in the Ohio militia in 1835–'9, became a lawyer, and was a judge of common pleas in 1845, and adjutant-general of the state in 1846. At the beginning of the Mexican War he re-entered the army with the rank of major on the staff, on 3 March, 1847, and served as paymaster at Cincinnati and in the field. He was discharged on 4 March, 1849, but was reappointed on 9 February, 1852, and served in the pay District of Kansas and the Territories in 1861-1862.  He had charge of the pay district of and of that of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware in 1862-'4, and on 29 November, 1864, was appointed paymaster-general with the rank of colonel. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted major-general in the U.S. Army for faithful, meritorious, and distinguished services. He was continued in charge of the pay department at Washington, was promoted brigadier-general on 28 July, 1866, and on 1 January, 1872, was retired from active service. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 372.


BRICE'S CROSS-ROADS, MISSISSIPPI, June 10, 1864. Expedition under Brigadier- General S. D. Sturgis. On June 2, 1863, General Sturgis marched from camp near La Fayette with about 8,000 men of the Military District of West Tennessee. The force comprised a division of cavalry under Brigadier-General B. H. Grierson—the two brigades of which were commanded respectively by Colonel G. E. Waring, Jr., and Colonel E. F. Winslow—and a division of infantry under Colonel William L. McMillen, whose brigade commanders were Colonels A. Wilkin, G. B. Hoge and E. Bouton, the latter leading a colored brigade. With the cavalry were a 6-gun battery and 4 mountain howitzers, while the infantry had 12 pieces of artillery. On the morning of the 10th the cavalry, Waring's brigade in advance, left camp at 5 130 a. m. When it arrived at Brice's cross-roads the Confederates, commanded by General Forrest, were first encountered. Grierson halted his column and sent heavy patrols out on all of the four roads. The force proceeding on the Baldwyn road had gone about a mile when it encountered the enemy in great strength and Waring's whole brigade was brought into the action to develop the enemy's force. A portion of Winslow's brigade was thrown out on the Fulton road connecting with Waring's right, holding about 600 men in reserve. The Confederates advanced upon Grierson's position with double line of skirmishers and line of battle, but the Union line held. As soon as the infantry arrived Grierson asked permission to withdraw the cavalry as the men were exhausted and almost out of ammunition. Sturgis oversaw the placing of the artillery, which had no sooner opened than the enemy replied. The right of the line seemed to be bearing the brunt of the attack and Grierson was directed to send some cavalry to support it, but the pressure was too great and the exhausted cavalry began to give way. At the same time the enemy showed more strength on the left and the center was badly in need of reinforcements. Sturgis was making for the head of the colored brigade guarding the train, to bring it into action, when the whole line gave way, and at 5 p. m., after 7 hours of sharp fighting, the Union troops fell back. Part of them became confused and the result was a panic, but by hard work Grierson and Sturgis succeeded in rallying 1,200 or 1,500 men, who for a time formed a rearguard and held the enemy in check. The road became jammed with wagons and men, and 14 pieces of artillery and 200 wagons were captured by the enemy. It was not until the Federal column reached Stubbs' plantation, 10 miles from the scene of action, that a halt was made and something like order restored. Early the next morning a complete reorganization was effected at Ripley and the retreat was continued in an orderly manner. The Union loss was 223 killed, 394 wounded and 1,623 captured or missing. Forrest reported his loss as 96 killed, 396 wounded and none missing. This engagement is called in the Confederate reports the battle of Tishomingo creek, and is also sometimes referred to as the battle of Guntown, as it occurred near that place. Bridge Creek, Mississippi, May 28, 1862. 22nd Brigade, 4th Division, Army of the Ohio. Bridge creek is a small stream to the east of Corinth and flows a southwesterly direction into the Tuscumbia river. On this date, as the Union army was drawing its lines around Corinth, General Nelson, commanding the 4th division, ordered Colonel Thomas D. Sedgewick to move his brigade to the advance of the division. Upon gaining a point about three-fourths of a mile in front of the Federal intrenchments, Sedgewick disposed his command with the 2nd and 20th Kentucky in the first line, the 1st Kentucky in a second line about 70 yards in the rear of the first, and the 31st Indiana in double column 100 yards behind the 1st Kentucky. In this order the brigade advanced, two companies of each regiment being thrown forward as skirmishers. The skirmish line soon drew the fire of the enemy's pickets, posted in a thicket on the left and some woods and a swamp on the right. Those on the left were quickly driven back to the main road from Farmington to Corinth, where a larger force was encountered at the bridge. This point was of great importance to the Confederates, who held on to it tenaciously, but after a stubborn fight of half an hour the skirmishers of the 2nd and 20th Kentucky succeeded in forcing them back about 50 yards beyond the creek and gaining possession of the end of the bridge. Sedgewick requested the men at the bridge to hold on at all hazards and immediately took steps to reinforce them. Reinforcements came to the enemy also, his line/ was reformed and he advanced, fully intent on regaining possession of the bridge. To meet this movement part of the 20th Kentucky was thrown to the left and the remainder of that regiment to some woods across a small open field on the right, while Captain Mendenhall's battery was brought up to shell the enemy in front. At the same time part of the 31st Indiana was ordered to reinforce the line on the left. The well directed fire of the battery, with the cross fire of the infantry on both flanks, soon caused the enemy to beat a hasty and disorderly retreat, leaving the Federals in possession of the bridge. In this engagement Sedgewick was opposed by fully 6,000 of the best troops in the Confederate army, and his victory was a tribute to his generalship and the bravery of his men. He reported his loss as 3 killed and 20 wounded. The enemy's loss in killed and wounded was not ascertained, but in the retreat a number of prisoners were taken, one company of the 21st Louisiana being cut off and nearly all captured.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 165-166.


BRIDGE. If you are at the side of a narrow but deep and rapid river, on the banks of which trees grow long enough to reach across, one or more should be felled, confining the trunk to its own bank, and letting the current force the head round to the opposite side; but if “ the river be too wide to be spanned by one tree and if two or three men can in any manner be got across let a large tree be felled into the water on each side, and placed close to the banks opposite to each other, with their heads lying up-streamwards. Fasten a rope to the head of each tree, confine the trunks, shove the heads off to receive the force of the current, and ease off the ropes, so that the branches may meet in the middle of the river, at an angle pointing upwards. The branches of the trees will be jammed together by the force of the current, and so be sufficiently united as to form a tolerable communication, especially when a few of the upper branches have been cleared away. If insufficient, towards the middle of the river, to bear the weight of men crossing, a few stakes, with forks left near their heads, may be thrust down through the branches of the trees to support them; “ (SIR H. DOUGLAS.)

When a river, which cannot be forded, must be crossed by animals and carriages, a bridge becomes necessary; and in all cases it is better, if possible, to cross by a bridge than by a ford, unless the latter be exceedingly shallow. Military bridges may b of three kinds: 1st. Fixed structures of timber. 2d. Floating-bridges. 3d. Flying-bridges. Timber bridges may be either supported on piles or on trestles. Pile-bridges are the most secure, and where bridges are required to remain in use for a considerable period, as those which may be constructed on the lines of communication of an army, with its base of operations, this form of bridge will generally be adopted. To construct a good pile-bridge over a considerable river, much skilled labor is necessary, and an ample supply of materials essential. When the bottom of the channel is firm, and the river not subject to floods, a pile-bridge may be constructed without difficulty, and will be very durable. The piles must be driven by an engine, which may be constructed of an 8-inch or 10-inch shell run full of lead, suspended by a rope over a pulley. This may be worked by hand, and will drive piles to a depth sufficient to allow of the passage of the heaviest artillery over the bridge. The pulley of the pile engine should be supported on a framework, some 16 feet high, which may be made to act as a guide to the shell during its fall, and also for the pile while it is being driven. This framework should be erected upon a large flat-bottomed boat. If such a boat is not to be procured, a raft must be made to answer the purpose. When timber of a considerable length can be procured for the joists of the bridge, it will be advisable to make the intervals between the piers or rows of piles, as great as the length of the joists will allow, so that the current of the river may be impeded as little as possible, and its action on the bridge be reduced to a minimum. By this arrangement, too, as much space as possible is given for the passage of floating bodies, and the danger of their damaging the bridge is proportionately diminished. When all the piles have been driven as far as the power of the engine can accomplish, they must be sawn off to the same level, and the superstructure of timber be strongly and carefully fitted. With bays of 20 feet, and a roadway 14 feet wide, there must be at least five or six beams not less than 7 inches by 8. With wider bays, timbers of larger dimensions will be necessary. The planking should not be less than 2 inches thick laid transversely. Bridges on piles, for the passage of infantry over shallow rivers only, may be expeditiously constructed, as the piles may be slight, 6 inches in diameter would suffice, and they can be driven by hand by heavy mauls, or by two men using a beetle. See diagram, Fig. 71. FIG. 71.

Here the pile is set and kept in its place by means of two spars of planks resting their extremities upon a stool placed on the bank. A plank is then laid across, on which one or two men may stand to drive the pile. The weight of the men may be increased, if necessary, by stones placed on the platform assisting to force the piles into the ground. When one row of piles is placed, and the floor laid to a cross beam fixed upon them, another row may be set and driven in the same manner, fixing the stool on that part of the floor which will thus have been completed. Piles driven in this way may be safely depended upon to bear infantry with a front of two or three files in open ranks, not keeping step.

Bridges on Trestles. When rivers are shallow, and not liable to sudden floods, and when their channels are firm and even, very useful bridges may be constructed on trestles. Trestles for this purpose should each consist of a stout transom or ridge piece some 8 inches square and 16 feet long; to this should be fitted four legs adapted to the depth of the river slanting outwards from the vertical, and strengthened by diagonal bracing, (Fig. 72.) For large bridges it will be found advantageous to add an additional pair of legs to each trestle. These, from the difficulty of fitting six legs to the uneven surface of the bottom of the river, should not be attached until the trestle is placed in position; they should then be driven into the bed of the river, and their upper extremities should be firmly nailed to the ridge piece. When the different parts of the trestles are all prepared beforehand, they can be speedily put together and the bridge completed with great expedition. Fascines may be used for flooring, where plank cannot be obtained. When the intervals or bays are ten feet, the dimensions of the trestle and beams may be as follows:

If there be a strong current, a cable should be stretched across the river on each side of the bridge, and the trestles be firmly lashed to them. It may, moreover, sometimes be necessary to load the trestles with shot or stones, to keep them in their position until the flooring is laid upon them.

Floating-Bridges are those generally adopted for the passage of troops over rivers. They may be very expeditiously constructed, and can be made strong enough to carry the heaviest artillery. During the last century boats were generally used for this purpose; and, although on navigable rivers, boats are readily found, it was frequently a work of time and difficulty to collect a sufficient number, particularly if the enemy had had the opportunity of removing or destroying them previously. The inconveniences and delays resulting from this cause, always hazardous and often fatal to the success of an expedition, led to the introduction of regular bridge equipages or pontoon trains, duly organized to accompany the march of armies. An efficient pontoon train renders an army independent of the rivers which may intersect its route. By its aid rivers of very considerable magnitude may be bridged in a few hours, and a march of a given distance may thus be with certainty completed in a given time a matter often of momentous importance to the success of military operations.

Bridges of Boats. Boats of almost any kind will make a serviceable bridge. For wide rivers the boats should be large. The boats of which a bridge is constructed should, if possible, be nearly of the same size, unless they are all very large, and then variations in dimensions will be of little consequence. Should some be large and. some small, the passage of large bodies of troops, of heavy guns and ammunition wagons will depress them unequally, causing the flooring of the bridge to assume an irregular line, straining and injuring, and in some cases fracturing, the timber and destroying the bridge. When boats, all of the same size, cannot be obtained, the larger boats should be placed at wider intervals, so that they may sustain a heavier weight, proportioned to their greater capacity, during the passage of troops, and be depressed to an equal distance with the smaller. The superstructure will consist of balks of timber laid across the gunwales of the boats, and securely fastened, and the flooring of planks laid transversely over. A certain rigidity results from this arrangement, by which, if the boats were subject to much motion, the bridge would be speedily destroyed. In tidal rivers, where a considerable swell must generally be encountered, this manner of securing the timbers will not answer. In this case, it will be found advantageous to erect a trestle or support in the centre of each boat, over which the timbers may be bolted to each other: thus each boat will be allowed independent motion, and this will not endanger the fracture of the bridge.

The boats should be moored head and stern, and should be kept at their relative distances by timbers fixed at the head and at the stern, Fro. 73. stretching across the bays, so as to remove unnecessary strain from the timbers of the bridge. The timbers should be as nearly as possible square, and of dimensions proportioned to the space of the intervals. With good timbers, 8 inches by 6, twenty feet may be allowed from trestle to trestle. The width of the bridge should also be proportioned to the dimensions of the timbers. With five balks of 7 inches by 8, the bridge should not exceed 14 feet in width. If too wide there will be danger of the beams being broken by the overcrowding of troops on the bridge.

When there is no regular pontoon train, and boats cannot be procured, rafts may be used in place of boats. These rafts may be made of casks, which, if properly arranged and securely lashed, will answer all the purposes of pontoons. Eight or ten casks, all of the same size, should be placed side by side on a level piece of ground, touching each other, bung-holes uppermost. Two stout balks, 4 1/2 inches square, and about 2 feet longer than the sum of the diameters of the casks which are to form the pier, must then be prepared and laid along the upper surface of the casks, parallel to each other, and each about a foot distant from the line of the bung-holes. A piece of 3-inch rope should then be attached to one end of each of these balks, passed under all the casks, and secured to the other end of the same balk.

These ropes are then drawn up towards the balks and tightly lashed by small ropes between every pair of casks, and the smaller ropes of the one side are again lashed across to those of the other side (Fig. 74.) The whole pier thus becomes so compact that it may be rolled and launched and rowed with as little danger of breaking up as though it were a single pontoon. Piers of casks constructed in this way may be used exactly like pontoons, and will form a most efficient bridge. FIG. 74.

Pontoons are vessels of various forms and dimensions, and are made of various materials. They are generally boat-shaped, of wood, of copper, or of tin, sometimes with decks, and sometimes without. Each boat, or pontoon, is carried on a suitable wagon, which also conveys the portion of superstructure necessary for one bay or interval.

Flying-Bridges. A flying-bridge is an arrangement by which a stream with a good current may be crossed, when, from a want of time or a deficiency of materials, it may not be possible to form a bridge. It consists of a large boat or raft firmly attached by a long cable to a mooring in the centre of the stream, if the channel be straight, or on the bank if the channel be curved. By hauling the boat or raft into proper positions, it will be driven across the stream in either direction as may be desired.

The bridge is made usually of two, (Fig. 75,) three, and sometimes six boats, connected together, and very solidly floored over, the beams being fastened to the gunwales of the boats with iron bolts or bands, and the flooring planks nailed down upon them. The floor is sometimes surrounded with a guard-rail. The most suitable boats are long, narrow, and deep, with their sides nearly vertical, in order to offer greater resistance to the action of the current. At the end of the rope is fixed an anchor X, which is moored in the channel, if this is in the middle of the stream. If the channel is not in the middle, the anchor is placed a little on one side of it toward the most distant shore. By means of the rudder, the bridge is turned in such a direction that it is struck obliquely by the current, and the force resulting from the decomposition of the action of the current makes it describe an arc of a circle around the anchor as a centre, and this force acquires its maximum effect when the sides of the boats make an angle of about 55 with the direction of the current.

Suppose M N (Fig. 76) to represent the side of the boat, and A B the resultant of the forces of the current against it. The force A B will be decomposed into two forces; the one, A C, will act in the direction M N as friction, and may be neglected, and the other, A D, will act perpendicularly to the side of the boat. Were the boat free to move, and headed in the same direction, it would descend the river, at the same time crossing it. A D is then decomposed into two other forces, the one A E, in the direction of the current, causing the boat to drift, the other A F, perpendicular to this, which pushes the boat across. If the boat is now attached to a fixed point by the rope A X, the force A E will be neutralized, and all the effort of the current will be reduced to the force A F, which makes the boat revolve around the point X. The length of rope used should be once and a half or twice the width of the river. With a shorter rope the arc described by the bridge is too great, and it performs the ascending branch with difficulty; with a longer one, the rope becomes too heavy, sinks in the water, and fetters the movement. Generally, the arc described by the bridge should not be more than 90. To prevent the rope from dragging over the deck, which would interfere with the load, it is held up by an arrangement such as is indicated in Fig. 76, and buoyed out of the water nearly to the anchor by skiffs, empty casks, or other floating bodies. When the stream to be crossed is not very wide, a flying-bridge may be made with two ropes, one fastened on each shore, the ropes being used alternately. If the stream, on the contrary, is very wide, several boats are fastened together, floored over, and anchored in the middle, and communication kept up with each shore by a flying-bridge, like the one already described. In about one hour 36 men can construct a flying bridge composed of 6 bridge-boats, and capable of carrying 250 infantry, or 2 pieces of artillery and 12 horses. At least one spare anchor should always be carried on the bridge, to anchor it in case the rope should break or become detached; and oars, a small boat, and a long rope, should also be provided. A flying-bridge may, in case of emergency, be made of any kind of boats with the means of fixing rudders to them. For want of an anchor, a large stone, mill-stone, or a bag or box of sand may be made use of. A flying-bridge may be made of a raft, the best form being lozenge-shaped, with the front angle about 55. It is attached to a rope stretched across the stream by three others with pulleys, which slide along the first rope, this being tightly stretched across and not allowed to hang in the water. Buttresses constructed on boats or trestles, according to the means at hand, are formed on both sides of the river, at the points where the flying-bridge lands. Wagons impermeable to water may, by means of a rope attached to the wagon body, be used to pass a company with its baggage.

Where large bodies are to be crossed, a common contrivance is the RAFT of logs, but it is the last expedient to be adopted from its want of buoyancy and general manageability, and is inapplicable when the passage of a river is likely to be contested with animation. Its merits are that, at the expense of time, it can be constructed with less experienced workmen; it saves carriage, as it can only be made of materials near the spot. It is, however, an indifferent substitute for boats, pontoons, or casks. An independent raft will require two rows of trees, at least, to float as many men as can stand upon it, and the logs are best bound together by withes, or ropes, and stiffened with cross and diagonal traces.

Timber Bridges. The rudest form of arch is very strong, easy of construction, and of frequent occurrence; the timbers being roughly notched into each other as in log-houses, and gradually jutting over FIG. 78. the pier or abutment near each other. A few of the upper courses may be trenailed down. Figure 79 shows the manner of construction with hewn or rough timber. FIG. 79,

The wagon bodies now made for the United States army are galvanized or zincked iron; the lower and upper rails are of oakwood, covered with sheet iron; wooden supporters are framed into the lower rails like the usual wagon body, the tail piece is hung upon hinges. An important application of these iron wagon bodies, (suggested by Lieutenant-colonel Grossman, United States army,) would be their employment as boats in bridging rivers. If they are so perfected as to render them water-tight, they might be readily converted into a system of pontoons, each one carrying a portion of the string pieces and planks necessary to construct a bridge, without materially interfering with the usual load. Arranged and lashed together in double rows, they would afford a sufficient breadth of roadway for the passage of both cavalry and artillery with facility.

Large trees may be felled to enable infantry to cross narrow streams, placing them so that their butts may rest upon the banks with the top directed obliquely up the stream; if one is not long enough, others may be floated down so as to extend across, being guided and secured by ropes: a footway may be formed by laying planks, fascines, or hurdles over them, and their branches should be chopped off nearly to the level of the water and intertwined below; poles also may be driven into the bed of the river, to aid in supporting the trees by attaching the boughs to them. Wheel carriages used to form a foot bridge may be connected by beams; or a single pair of wheels with an axle-tree to admit two strong posts may be attached and placed in the centre of the stream if it is not too wide. Poles reaching from each bank may be secured to the posts, and the wheels would act as a trestle. With a flooring over the poles, a slight bridge could be FIG. 80. rapidly constructed for an advanced guard. Hide boats are made of four buffalo hides strongly sewed together with buffalo sinew, and stretched over a basket work of willow 8 feet long and 5 feet broad, with a rounded bow, the seams then being covered with ashes and tallow. Exposed to the sun for some hours, the skins contract and tighten the whole work. Such a boat with four men in it draws only four inches of water. Inflated skins have been used since the earliest times for crossing, and if four or more are secured together by a frame, they form a very buoyant raft. Canvas (rendered water-proof by a composition of pitch 8 lbs., beeswax 1 lb., and tallow 1 lb., boiled together and laid on quite hot) will serve as a raft or pontoon, if placed over framework or wicker work; (Consult Memorial des Officiers d’Infanterie et Cavalerie; Aide Memoire of the Military Sciences; DOUGLAS'S Principles and Construction of Military Bridges; HYDE'S Fortifications; GIBBON'S Manual; HAILLOT, Instruction sur le Passage des et Rivieres et la Construction des Ponts Militaires.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 112-121).


BRIDGE-HEAD (la tete du pont) is a work consisting of one or more redans or bastions, constructed on the bank of a river, to cover a bridge, to protect a retiring army in crossing the river, and to check an enemy when pressing upon it. (See REDAN.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 121).


BRIDGE, HORATIO, naval officer, born in Augusta, Maine, 8 April, 1806. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1825. Among his classmates were Nathaniel Hawthorne, George B. Cheever, John S. C. Abbott, and Henry W. Longfellow. After the usual three years' course of study he was admitted to the bar in 1828, and practised for ten years, at first in Showhegan, and afterward in Augusta. In 1838 he was appointed a paymaster in the U.S. Navy. He was assigned to the “Cyane,” and cruised in her until 1841, when, after an interval of shore duty, he was ordered to the “Saratoga,” and in her visited the African Coast. After his return he published “The Journal of an African Cruiser” (New York, 1845), the authorship of which is usually accredited to his classmate, Nathaniel Hawthorne. The book was, in fact, edited by Hawthorne from Bridge's notes. In 1846–’8 he cruised in the Mediterranean and off the African Coast in the frigate “United States.” From 1849 till 1851 he was stationed at Portsmouth Navy-yard. Near the close of 1851 he sailed for the Pacific in the “Portsmouth,” and while on this cruise was ordered home and assigned to duty as chief of the bureau of provisions and clothing, the duties of which he faithfully performed for nearly fifteen years, covering the whole period of the Civil War, and involving transactions and disbursements to the amount of many millions of dollars. In July, 1869, he resigned this place, and was assigned to duty as chief inspector of provisions and clothing until he reached the legal limit of age for active duty, when he was retired with the rank of commodore. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 373-374.


BRIDGEPORT, ALABAMA, April 23-27, 1862.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 166.


BRIDGEPORT, ALABAMA, April 29, 1862. (See West Bridge, same date.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 166.


BRIDGEPORT, ALABAMA, August 27, 1862. (See Battle Creek, Tennessee, same date.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 166.


BRIDGEPORT, ALABAMA, July 29, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 3d Division, 20th Army Corps. The brigade, commanded by Colonel Bernard Laiboldt, reached Bridgeport at 6 a. m. and was fired upon by Confederate pickets from the opposite bank of the Tennessee river. The pickets were driven off by the fire of the Union sharpshooters, but they took refuge in the middle bridge and a house from which they continued to annoy the Federals. Laiboldt then ordered a battery to dislodge them and a few shells caused them to beat a hasty retreat out of range. No casualties were reported.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 166.


BRIDGEPORT, MISSISSIPPI, May 17, 1863. 6th Missouri Cavalry. Three miles from Bridgeport the Union troops, commanded by Colonel Clark Wright, engaged the Confederate General Reynolds, with a brigade and 2 batteries, and notwithstanding the difference in numbers charged so impetuously that the Confederate lines broke and retreated toward Bridgeport. Clark followed and kept up the fight for 3 hours when he was relieved by General Blair.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 166.


BRIDGEPORT, WEST VIRGINIA, April 30, 1863. Two companies of Federal troops and 1st Maryland Battalion, Confederate Cavalry. The two Union companies, one of cavalry and one of infantry, were stationed as a garrison at Bridgeport when the town was charged by the Confederate cavalry, led by Major Brown, and almost the entire garrison killed or captured. The enemy lost 1 killed and 2 wounded.


BRIDGEWATER, VIRGINIA, October 2, 1864. 3d New Jersey and 2nd New York Cavalry. The 3d New Jersey, on picket duty, was attacked by a division of Lomax's cavalry and driven back across the North river and through the town in some confusion. The 2nd New York formed quickly, charged the enemy and drove him back across the river, recapturing nearly all the prisoners and killing and wounding several of the assailants. During the brief but spirited action the Confederates used artillery freely, but without doing much damage.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 166.


BRIDGES, GEORGE WASHINGTON, lawyer, born in Athens, McMinn County, Tennessee, 9 October, 1821; died there, 16 March, 1873. After working several years at the tailor's trade, he made enough money to educate himself, and, having graduated at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He became attorney-general of the state in 1848, and held the office until 1859, when he resigned it. He held also the places of bank attorney and railroad director, and was a presidential elector on the Douglas ticket of 1860. In August, 1861, he was elected to Congress as a unionist, but was arrested by the Confederate authorities while on his way to Washington, and taken back to Tennessee, where he was kept a prisoner for over a year. Finally escaping, he took his seat in the house, 25 February, 1863, and served until 3 March. He was commissioned as lieutenant-colonel of the 10th Tennessee Cavalry in 1864, and in 1865 was elected judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Tennessee. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 373.


BRIDOON. The snaffle and rein of a military bridle, which acts independently of the bit, at the pleasure of the rider. BRIGADE. Two regiments of infantry or cavalry constitute a brigade. (Act March 3, 1799.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p.121 ).


BRIER CREEK, GEORGIA, December 4, 1864. (See Waynesboro, same date.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 166.


BRIER FORK, MISSOURI, July 5, 1861. Brimstone Creek, Tennessee, September 10, 1863. 11th Kentucky Mounted Volunteers. Colonel Love, in command of the Union troops, came up with a detachment of Hamilton's guerrillas at Brimstone creek, engaged them, Page 167 killed 4, wounded 7 and captured 2, with a loss of 1 horse killed, After the engagement Love withdrew to Rose's cross-roads.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 166-167.


BRIGADIER-GENERAL. Rank next below major-general. The commander of a brigade. Entitled to one aide-de-camp. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 121).


BRIGADE-INSPECTOR. (See MILITIA.)


BRIGADE-MAJOR. An officer appointed to assist the general commanding a brigade in all his duties. (See MILITIA.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 122).


BRIGGS, HENRY SHAW, soldier, born 1 August, 1824, was graduated at Williams in 1844, and became a lawyer. At the beginning of the Civil War he joined the army as colonel of the 10th Massachusetts Volunteers, and distinguished himself at the battle of Fair Oaks, where he was wounded. On 17 July, 1862, he was made a brigadier-general. At the close of the war he was a member of the general court-martial in Washington, D.C. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 375.


BRIGGS, CHARLES FREDERICK, author, born in Nantucket, Massachusetts. in 1804; died in Brooklyn, New York, 20 June, 1877. He moved to New York early in life, and was there connected with the press many years. He began the publication of the "Broadway Journal” in 1844, and in the following year Edgar A. Poe became his associate editor. From 1853 till 1856, in connection with George William Curtis and Parke Godwin, he was an editor of “Putnam's Magazine,” and was also an editor of the new series begun in 1869. He was also connected with the “New York Times” and the “Evening Mirror,” in which he published a series of humorous letters signed “Fernando Mendez Pinto.” He was afterward employed in the custom-house, and in 1870 joined the editorial staff of the Brooklyn “Union,” of which he was chief editor in 1874. In the latter part of 1874 he became an attaché of the New York “Independent,” where e continued till his death. He published “Harry Franco; a Tale of the Great Panic” (1839); “The Haunted Merchant” (1843); “Working a Passage, or Life on a Liner" (1844); “Trippings of Tom Pepper” (1847); and, in connection with A. Maverick, “History of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable” 1858). These works are largely humorous, and deal with life in New York city. Mr. Briggs also wrote a few pieces of poetry, some of which appeared in “Putnam's Magazine,” and others in a volume of selections entitled “Seaweeds from the Shores of Nantucket” (Boston, 1853).  Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 357.


BRIGGS, GEORGE NIXON, governor of Massachusetts, born in Adams, Massachusetts, 13 April, 1796; died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 12 September, 1861. His father served under Stark and Allen at Bennington. In 1809 he was apprenticed to a hatter at White Creek, New York, but was taken from the shop in 1811 by an elder brother and given a year's schooling. He then began the study of law, and in October, 1818, was admitted to the bar of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where he soon became prominent, practising in Adams, Lanesborough, and Pittsfield. In 1827, by his defence of a Stockbridge Indian, who was tried for murder at Lenox, he established his reputation as one of the best criminal lawyers in the state. From 1824 till 1831 he was register of deeds for his county, and in 1830 was elected to Congress as a Whig, serving six successive terms, and being at one time chairman of the post-office committee. He was known as an eloquent debater. From 1843 till 1851 he was governor of Massachusetts. During his administration the murder of Dr. Parkman by Professor Webster occurred, and the most extraordinary efforts were made to induce the governor either to pardon the offender or to commute his sentence; but, believing that the good of the community required the execution of the murderer, he refused to interpose. Governor Briggs was appointed one of the judges of the court of common pleas in 1851, which office he continued to fill till the reorganization of the courts of the state in 1856. In 1853 he was a member of the state constitutional convention. In 1861 he was one of a commission to adjust the claims between the United States and New Granada; but his death, which resulted from the accidental discharge of a fowling-piece, occurred before he had entered upon his duties. He had taken a deep interest in the great struggle  which the nation had just entered, and one of his last public acts was to address a regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, of which his son was the colonel. Governor Briggs had taken through life an active interest in religious and benevolent enterprises, and at the time of his death was president of the American Baptist Missionary Union, of the American Tract Society at Boston, the American Temperance Union, and the Massachusetts Sabbath-School Union, and director in several other benevolent societies. He was also, for sixteen years, a trustee of Williams College. A memoir of him, with the title “Great in Goodness,” was published by the Reverend William C. Richards (Boston, 1866)  Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 375.


BRIGHT, JESSE D., senator, born in Norwich, Chenango County, New York, 18 December, 1812; died in Baltimore, Maryland, 20 May, 1875. He was taken to Indiana by his parents in 1820, received an academic education there, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1831, and began practice in Madison, Indiana. He was elected judge of the probate court of Jefferson County in 1834, was sent to the legislature in 1836, and in 1841 became lieutenant-governor of the state. He had also served as circuit judge and U. S. marshal. He was sent to the U. S. Senate as a Democrat in 1845, and was twice re-elected, serving several times as its President Pro Tempore. While in Congress he voted persistently with the southern Democrats on all questions involving the restriction of slavery. In 1857 it was claimed by the Republicans that his election was fraudulent, and his seat was contested. He was victorious, however, and held it until 1862, him, the chief evidence being a letter addressed to the end of his life. when a charge of disloyalty was brought against “His Excellency, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederation of States,” recommending a friend who had an “improvement in fire-arms” of which he wished to dispose. The Senate Committee on the Judiciary reported, five to two, that this did not constitute sufficient evidence against Mr. Bright. In a speech in his own behalf, he said that in March, 1861 (the date of the letter), he had no idea that there would be war, and that he wrote it to rid himself of the inventor's importunities. Nevertheless, strong speeches against him were made by Charles Sumner and others, and on 5 February, 1862, he was formally expelled from the Senate, by a vote of 32 to 14. He afterward moved, with his family, to Carrollton, Kentucky, and then to Covington, where he was elected to the Kentucky legislature in 1866. In 1874 he moved to Baltimore, where he remained till his death. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 376.


BRIGHT, MARSHAL H., journalist, born in Hudson, New York, 18 August, 1834. He received an academic education, and took a course at the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard in 1852–3. In 1854 he became assistant editor of the Alban “Argus,” and was a reporter in the New York State Senate. He was appointed on the staff of General Robert Anderson in October, 1861, and afterward served on the staffs of Generals William T. Sherman, Don Carlos Buell, William S. Rosecrans, and George H. Thomas. He was brevetted major for his services during the war, and, after resigning his commission at its close, engaged in silver-mining in Nevada. In 1873 he became managing editor of the “Christian at Work,” New York and in 1880 its editor-in-chief. He has contributed to periodicals on theological, scientific, and philosophical subjects, and delivered public addresses. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 376.


BRINKERHOFF, JACOB, jurist, born in New York in 1810; died in Mansfield, Ohio, 19 July, 1880. He moved early to Plymouth, Ohio, and was elected to Congress as a Democrat, serving from 4 December, 1843 till 3 March, 1847. While in Congress he was author of the original draft of the celebrated Wilmot proviso. From 1856 to 1871 he was a judge of the supreme court of Ohio.  Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 377.


BRINTON, DANIEL GARRISON, ethnologist, born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 13 May, 1837. He was graduated at Yale in 1858 and at the Jefferson Medical College in 1861. After which he spent a year in Europe in study and in travel. On his return he entered the army, in August, 1862, as acting assistant surgeon. In February of the following year he was commissioned surgeon, and served as surgeon-in-chief of the second Division, 11th Corps. Brinton was present at the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and other engagements, and was appointed medical director of his corps in October, 1863. In consequence of a sunstroke received soon after the battle of Gettysburg, he was disqualified for active service, and in the autumn of that year he became superintendent of hospitals at Quincy and Springfield, Illinois, until August, 1865, when, the Civil War having closed, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel and discharged. He then settled in Philadelphia, where he became editor of “The Medical and Surgical Reporter,” and also of the Quarterly “Compendium of Medical Science.”  Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 377-378.


BRISBANE, ABBOTT HALL, military engineer, born in South Carolina; died in Summerville, South Carolina, 28 September, 1861. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1825, and appointed second lieutenant of the 3d U.S. Artillery, serving on topographical duty in the city of Washington, a' afterward with the engineer, Bernard, on the South Atlantic Coast until the close of the year 1827, when he resigned. He served in the Florida War against the Seminole Indians in 1835–6 as colonel of South Carolina volunteers, and was engaged in the skirmish of Tomoka, 10 March, 1836. After the war he turned his attention, as engineer, to a projected railroad from Charleston, South Carolina, to Cincinnati, Ohio, having especially intrusted to him the examination of the mountain-passes through which it was to run. He received the appointment of constructing engineer of the projected road, which place he held from 1836 till 1840. He was also chief engineer of the Ocmulgee and Flint Railroad, Georgia, in 1840–4. In 1847-8 he was superintending engineer of an artesian well for the supply of water to the city of Charleston, and he then accepted the chair of belles-lettres and ethics in the South Carolina Military Academy, occupying the place from 1848 till 1853, after which he retired to his plantation near Charleston. He was the author of a critical romance, “Ralphton, or the Young Carolinian of 1776.” Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 378.


BRISBANE, WILLIAM HENRY, 1803-1878, South Carolina, physician, abolitionist leader.  Executive Committee of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.  Clergyman, Baptist Church in Madison, Wisconsin.  Chief Clerk of the Wisconsin State Senate.  He inherited slaves, however he realized slavery was wrong.  In 1835, Brisbane freed 33 of his slaves, bringing them to the North where he helped them settle.  As a result, he was criticized by his family and friends.  He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked for the abolitionist cause.  He founded the Baptist Anti-Slavery Society in 1841.  He was fired for being too anti-slavery.  Leader in the Liberty Party in the Cincinnati area in early 1840s.  He was active with Levi Coffin in the Underground Railroad.  He was publisher of the Crisis, an abolitionist newspaper, which was widely distributed.  He wrote two anti-slavery books. (Dumond, 1961, pp. 93, 286; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 378)

BRISBANE, William H., clergyman, born about 1803; died in Arena, Wisconsin, in 1878. He inherited a large number of slaves, but became convinced that slavery was wrong, and in 1835 brought thirty-three of them to the north, manumitting them and aiding them to settle in life. In consequence of this, he was obliged to take rank among the poor men of the country. Making his home in Cincinnati, he became the associate of prominent abolitionists, and a constant worker in their cause. In the early days of the anti-slavery agitation he was among its foremost advocates. In 1855 he moved to Wisconsin, was chief clerk of the state senate in 1857, became pastor of the Baptist Church in Madison, and early in the Civil War was tax commissioner of South Carolina. In June, 1874, he took an active part in the reunion of the old abolition guards in Chicago. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 378.


BRISBIN, JAMES S., soldier, born in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, about 1838. He received a liberal education, taught school, became known as an anti-slavery orator, and at the beginning of the Civil War enlisted as a private in a Pennsylvania regiment, and in April, 1861, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 1st U.S. Dragoons. At the battle of Bull Run, 21 July, 1861, he was twice wounded. He was promoted captain in the 6th U.S. Cavalry, 5 August, served with his regiment in the Penninsular Campaign of the Army of the Potomac (1862), and, under General Alfred Pleasanton, accompanied the expedition to the Blue Ridge mountains in 1863. He was appointed colonel of the 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry, 1 March, 1864, and was engaged in the Red River Expedition in the Department of the Gulf in April and May, 1864. Later in the same year he was on recruiting service in Kentucky, and chief of staff to General Burbridge. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, 13 March, 1865, for gallant conduct at the battle of Marion, Virginia, 16–19 December, 1864, and was promoted to the full rank of brigadier-general of volunteers, 1 May, 1865. He received the brevet of major-general of volunteers, 15 December, 1865. In the meantime he had received brevets of major and lieutenant-colonel in the regular service for gallantry at Beverly Ford, 9 June, 1863, and at Marion, Virginia He was brevetted colonel in the regular army, 13 March, 1865, for “meritorious services during the war.” He was transferred to the 9th U.S. Colored Cavalry in July, 1866, and was promoted major, 2d U.S. Cavalry, 1 January, 1868, and lieutenant-colonel, 9th U.S. Cavalry, 6 June, 1885. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 378.


BRISTOE STATION, VIRGINIA, August 26, 1862. 2nd Division, 3d Army Corps. When Stonewall Jackson started on his raid around General Pope, just before the second battle of Bull Run, he left Ewell's division at Bristoe Station, while with the rest of his command he pushed on to Manassas Junction. Pope was then concentrating his forces in the neighborhood of Gainesville, and on the afternoon of the 26th the 3d corps reached Bristoe Station to find its further progress disputed by Ewell, who occupied a strong position along the little stream called Kettle run. Hooker sent forward Taylor's and Carr's brigades to engage the enemy and some sharp skirmishing occurred, neither side gaining any material advantage. Hooker then ordered Grover's brigade to form in line of battle, throw out skirmishers, and advance in front and on the right. Ewell's lines, which had been somewhat broken in the first attack, now fell back across Cedar run and later to Manassas. Casualties not reported.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 167.


BRISTOE STATION, VIRGINIA, August 18, September 12, 24, 1863.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 167.


BRISTOE STATION, VIRGINIA, October 14, 1863. 2nd Army Corps. On this date the corps was under the temporary command of Brigadier-General John C. Caldwell, General Warren being absent. After the engagement at Catlett's station in the morning, the command pushed forward to Bristoe, the object being to get possession of the Orange & Alexandria railroad, the line of which afforded a strong position for defense. As the advance approached the station Caldwell learned that the Confederates were advancing in line of battle to attack his flank. He gained the railroad and formed his line of battle with his own division (the 1st) on the left, Webb's (2nd) division on the right, and Hays' (3d) division in the center, the batteries being planted in the rear in such a position that they could fire over the heads of the infantry. Against this line General A. P. Hill sent Cooke's North Carolina brigade without taking the customary precaution to advance a skirmish line to develop the Federal position. As Cooke advanced he was met by a withering fire of musketry, while the batteries in the rear poured a rapid fire of canister into his line, causing it to break in disorder, leaving 5 pieces of artillery and 2 stands of colors in Union hands. The loss of the 2nd corps for the day, including the actions at Auburn and Catlett's station, was 50 killed, 335 wounded and 161 missing. A Confederate account says that their loss was 1,400 in killed and wounded. This decisive repulse checked Lee's advance and enabled the Army of the Potomac to take a strong position at Centerville.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 167.


BRISTOE STATION, VIRGINIA, October 18, 1863. 1st Maryland Cavalry. Lieutenant-Colonel Ridgely Brown, who commanded the regiment on this date, reported as follows: "The brigade being in position at Bristoe to resist the enemy, my command had position on the left of the railroad, and poured a volley into the enemy's ranks; but they retired so quickly we could not tell the effect of our fire."  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 167.


BRISTOE STATION, VIRGINIA, February 1, March 16, 1864.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 167.


BRISTOE STATION, VIRGINIA, April 15, 1864. Troops of the 3d Division, 5th Army Corps. The division, constituted mainly of the Pennsylvania reserves, was engaged in guarding the line of railroad above Manassas Junction, and was subjected to numerous petty attacks from the roving bands of guerrillas in that locality. The affair of the 15th was a trivial one, but characteristic of these annoyances. Three mounted guerrillas passed along the north side of the railroad and shot 2 men belonging to the 10th Pennsylvania infantry, who had been sent out with a squad to obtain wood. The same guerrillas then crossed Broad run near Milford. surprised a vedette of 4 men belonging to the 13th Pennsylvania cavalry and killed 1 of the number. The other 3 fled, leaving their horses and dead companion to the enemy. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 167.


BRISTOL, TENNESSEE, September 19, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, 23d Army Corps. Colonel John W. Foster, commanding the brigade, reported as follows: "I arrived at Bristol today and occupied the town without resistance, except by a force of 400 cavalry, which were driven out of the town after a severe skirmish. I tore up the railroad and burned the bridges, 2 miles above town." Foster also destroyed a large amount of subsistence stores and then returned to Blountsville. No casualties reported. Bristol, Tennessee, September 21, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, 23d Army Corps.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 168.


BRISTOL, TENNESSEE, October 15, 1863. 3d Brigade, 4th Division, 23d Army Corps. Brigadier-General J. M. Shackelford, commanding the brigade, reported from Bristol at 2:30 p. m. on the 15th: "I have the honor to report that, with the blessing of Providence, we have succeeded in driving the enemy out of East Tennessee, and are still pursuing him. Our forces now occupy Zollicoffer and this place."  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 168.

BRISTOL, TENNESSEE, December 14, 1864. Cavalry commanded by General Burbridge. After the engagement at Kingsport on the 13th Burbridge's cavalry pursued Duke's brigade to Bristol, where the 11th Kentucky made a dashing charge into the town at 3 o'clock in the morning, routed the enemy and drove him from the place in confusion. About 200 were captured, together with 2 trains of cars, 5 locomotives and a large quantity of stores and munitions of war. Colonel Boyle of the 11th was warmly commended by his superiors for his gallant action. The engagement was an incident of Stoneman's raid.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 168.


BRISTOW, BENJAMIN HELM, statesman, born in Elkton, Todd County, Kentucky, 20 June, 1832. He was graduated at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1851, studied law, and was admitted to the bar of Kentucky in 1853. He began practice at Elkton. whence he moved to Hopkinsville in 1858. At the beginning of the Civil War, at a time when the state was wavering between loyalty and secession, he entered the union Army as lieutenant-colonel of the 25th Kentucky Infantry, and was engaged at the capture of Fort Donelson and at the battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded. He afterward became colonel of the 8th Kentucky Cavalry, and served throughout the war with distinction. While still in the field he was elected to the state senate for four years, but resigned at the end of two years, serving only from 1863 until 1865. He was U. S. District attorney for the Louisville District from 1865 until 1870. The ability with which he filled these offices led to his appointment as solicitor-general of the United States on the organization of the Department of Justice in October, 1870. In 1872 he resigned to become attorney of the Texas Pacific Railroad, but soon returned to the practice of law at Louisville. He was nominated attorney-general of the United States in December, 1873, but not confirmed. President Grant appointed him secretary of the treasury on 3 June, 1874, and this office he filled acceptably until the end of June, 1876, when he resigned, owing to the demands of his private business. At the Republican National Convention of that year, held in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was a leading candidate for the presidential nomination, receiving 113 votes on the first ballot. Since 1876 he has practised his profession in New York City. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 380.


BRITTON'S LANE, TENNESSEE, September 1, 1862. Detached Troops from the Post of Jackson. After the skirmish at Bolivar on August 30, Colonel E. S. Dennis, stationed at Estanaula, was ordered to leave that place and return to Jackson. His command consisted of the 20th and 30th Illinois infantry, two companies of cavalry and a section of Battery A, 2nd Illinois artillery. Early on the morning of the 31st Dennis destroyed all the stores he was unable to take away, and started for Jackson, but before he proceeded far he received an order to march to Medon Station to intercept the enemy near that point. About 10 a. m. on September 1, his scouts brought word that a large Confederate force was at Britton's lane, near the junction of the Denmark and Medon roads. This force numbered about 5,000 men. while Dennis had but about 800. In the face of these odds Dennis did the 1 wisest thing possible in selecting a strong defensive position in a grove . on an elevated piece of ground, surrounded by open fields. Soon after taking this position the enemy appeared in sufficient force to completely surround Dennis, the fight being waged on all sides at the same time. The Confederates, dismounting part of their men, attacked as both infantry and cavalry. Early in the action they succeeded in capturing the wagon train, with the teamsters and a number of sick soldiers, and the 2 pieces of artillery, but the wagons and guns were later recaptured, except 4 wagons that were burned. The fight lasted for 4 hours, during which time several fierce cavalry charges were met and repulsed. Finally the enemy withdrew, leaving 179 of his dead upon the field, as well as a large number of wounded. The total Confederate loss was reported as being over 400. Dennis' loss was 5 killed and 55 wounded.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 168.