Braxton Bragg built his early career in the United States Army after graduating from West Point in 1837. He served in the Seminole War and won recognition as an artillery officer in the Mexican-American War, particularly at Buena Vista in 1847. After resigning in 1856, he operated a Louisiana plantation worked by enslaved people before joining the Confederacy in 1861.

Bragg first organized troops around Pensacola and then commanded a corps at Shiloh in April 1862. Promoted to full general, he took command of the principal Confederate army in the western theater. His invasion of Kentucky later that year sought recruits, supplies, and a strategic reversal of Union gains. Although his forces fought at Perryville, he withdrew from the state, failing to secure its allegiance to the Confederacy.

Against William Rosecrans at Stones River, fought across the end of 1862 and beginning of 1863, Bragg launched a powerful attack but ultimately abandoned the field and Murfreesboro. The following summer Rosecrans's maneuvering during the Tullahoma campaign forced him out of Middle Tennessee and then Chattanooga. These withdrawals intensified conflict with subordinates who questioned his leadership.

At Chickamauga in September 1863, Bragg won the largest Confederate victory in the western theater, aided by reinforcements under James Longstreet. He failed to destroy the retreating Union army, however, and the ensuing siege of Chattanooga ended in defeat when Union forces broke his positions in November. Quarrels with senior officers weakened his army, although responsibility for its failures extended beyond one commander.

After resigning the army command, Bragg became a military adviser to Jefferson Davis in Richmond. He later served in North Carolina during the Confederacy's final campaigns. Following the war, he worked in engineering and railroad-related employment. His early artillery success contrasted with strategic reverses and bitter disputes as an army commander.