page_title: Edgar A. Bras
section_title: Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Edgar A. Bras / Civil War
caption_attribution_description: American Civil War, produced by L. Prang &amp; Co.
context_page_description: Edgar A. Bras was a United States soldier who fought with the 8th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. He received his nation's highest award for valor, the U.S. Medal of Honor, for the bravery he displayed during the Battle of Spanish Fort in Alabama on April 8, 1865. That award was conferred on June 8, 1865.
context_section_description: At the age of 20, Edgar A. Bras enrolled for Civil War military service in Louisa County, Iowa on September 11, 1861.  He then officially mustered in for duty with Company K of the 8th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. Military records at the time described him as being 5’8” tall, with dark hair and blues eyes. He was then promoted to the rank of Fifth Corporal on December 7, 1861.
   Engaged with his regiment in several of the most intense actions of the American Civil War, he was wounded multiple times in combat. On April 6, 1862, he sustained a bullet wound to his upper thigh while fighting with his regiment in the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee. Because surgeons elected not to remove the projectile, he carried the bullet around with him in his leg for the remainder of his life. In recognition of his service to the regiment, he was subsequently promoted to the rank of Fourth Corporal on September 29, 1862. He was then wounded a second time during the second Battle of Corinth, Mississippi, on October 4, 1862. That bullet struck him in the head and lodged behind his left eye.
  Once again, in recognition of his service to the regiment, he was promoted — first to the rank of Fourth Sergeant on March 1, 1863, and then to the rank of Third Sergeant on September 1,1863. Upon expiration of his initial term of service, he then re-enlisted, mustering in again with the same regiment on January 11, 1864. He was also later promoted to the rank of First Sergeant on February 1, 1864.
  On April 8, 1865, during the Battle of Spanish Fort, one of the efforts by Union forces to capture the forts protecting the city of Mobile, Alabama, Bras charged through the Confederate camp, capturing a flag from a color-bearer. It is for this act of bravery that he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
  He was honorably discharged from the military at Selma, Alabama on April 20, 1866.
caption: Thure de Thulstrup's illustration of the April 6, 1862 Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee.
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