Confederate Attorneys General

Thomas Bragg (1810–72) was named attorney general on November 21, 1861, when Benjamin became secretary of war. Bragg had been attorney general for only four months and had authored just seven opinions, when the escalating military conflict threatened his family and his personal interests. He resigned on March 18, 1862.

Bragg was born on November 9, 1810, in Warrenton, North Carolina, the son of Thomas Bragg and Margaret Crossland Bragg. He attended local schools in Warrenton and a military academy in Middletown, Connecticut, before studying law in Warrenton with John Hall, a North Carolina Supreme Court judge. Bragg was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law in 1833 at the age of 23. On October 4, 1837, he married Isabella Cuthbert, the daughter of a locally prominent and politically active family.

Bragg continued to practice law for the next several years, and he began to take an interest in local politics. He was elected to the North Carolina legislature in 1844, and by 1854 he was governor of the state. After two highly successful terms as governor, he was sent to the U.S. Senate, where he served until the secession of North Carolina.

In spite of Bragg's brief service as attorney general, he remained a friend of, and adviser to, the Davis administration throughout the war. After the war, Bragg returned to practice in North Carolina and tried, without success, to restore the personal property and fortune he had lost during the war years. Bragg died on January 21, 1872, in Raleigh, North Carolina.