Edward S. Bragg

Edward Stuyvesant Bragg (February 20, 1827 – June 20, 1912) was a Democratic politician, lawyer and Union Army general from Wisconsin. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1877 to 1883 and from 1885 to 1887 and subsequently served as a foreign diplomat.

Early life and career
Born in Unadilla, New York, Bragg attended district schools as a child. He then attended the local academy and Geneva College (today Hobart College) in Geneva, New York, where he was one of the charter members of The Kappa Alpha Society. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1848, commencing practice in Unadilla until 1850 when he moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he continued practicing law.

A Democrat, he was elected district attorney of Fond du Lac in 1853 and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1860 which nominated Stephen A. Douglas for President and Herschel V. Johnson for Vice President.

Civil War
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Bragg entered the Union Army as a captain in the 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment on July 16, 1861. He was promoted to major on September 17, 1861, lieutenant colonel on June 21, 1862, and colonel on March 10, 1863. He missed the Gettysburg Campaign due to wounds suffered at the Battle of Chancellorsville.

After recovering and returning to his field command, he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on June 25, 1864, which he served as until being mustered out on October 9, 1865. For the latter part of the war, he commanded the famed Iron Brigade. Bragg mustered out in 1865 and returned to Wisconsin to resume his law practice.

Postbellum career
Following the war, Bragg was appointed postmaster of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin by President Andrew Johnson in 1866, served in the Wisconsin Senate in 1868 and 1869. In 1868 he was a delegate to the soldiers and sailors convention in New York City, which nominated Horatio Seymour for President. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1872 which nominated Horace Greeley and B. Gratz Brown. He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate to the United States Senate in 1874, losing to Angus Cameron.

Bragg was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1876 and was reelected in 1878 and 1880, serving from 1877 to 1883, not being a candidate for reelection in 1882. He represented Wisconsin's 5th congressional district in the 45th, 46th, and 47th United States Congresses (March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1883). There, he served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Justice from 1877 to 1879, of the Committee on War Claims from 1879 to 1881 and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1880 which nominated Winfield Scott Hancock and William H. English. At the Democratic National Convention of 1884, he seconded the nomination of Grover Cleveland for President with the "We love him for the enemies he made" comment that marked the rest of the successful campaign. It referred to Cleveland's conflicts with the corrupt Tammany Hall organization. He was elected back to the House of Representatives in 1884 to the 49th Congress, serving again from March 4, 1885 to March 3, 1887, this time as the representative of Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district. He also served as chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs from 1885 to 1887.

After not being a candidate for reelection in 1886, Bragg returned to his law practice in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico by President Grover Cleveland in 1888, serving until 1889, and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1896 which nominated William Jennings Bryan and Arthur Sewall. He was appointed consul general in Havana, Cuba in May, 1902, and in Hong Kong, then a British crown colony, in September, 1902, serving from 1903 to 1906.

Bragg died in Fond du Lac and was interned in the town's Rienzi Cemetery.