John Bratton John Bratton ( March 7 , 1831 – January 12 , 1898 ) was a U . S . Representative from South Carolina , as well as a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . He rose from private to brigadier general and led a regiment and brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia in several important battles in both the Eastern Theater and Western Theater during the war . Early life and career . Bratton was born in Winnsboro , South Carolina . He attended the Academy of Mount Zion Institute in Winnsboro and graduated from South Carolina College at Columbia in 1850 and from South Carolina Medical College at Charleston in 1853 . He practiced medicine in Winnsboro from 1853 to 1861 . Bratton was also a successful planter , acquiring high valued real - estate and as many as seventy - five slaves by 1860 . Civil War service . John Bratton was one of only a few men who enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private , rose to the rank of brigadier general , and fought in both Eastern and Western theaters during the Civil War . He enlisted in the Confederate States Army on April 1 , 1861 , as a private in Company C of the 6th South Carolina Infantry and was promoted a month later to captain . On March 1 , 1862 , he became a colonel in charge of the regiment . He participated in the Peninsula Campaign and was wounded and captured in the Battle of Seven Pines . On June 1 , 1862 , under the command of Maj . Gen . James Longstreet and Brig . Gen . Richard H . Anderson , Bratton led the 6th South Carolina Regiment in an assault on several isolated Union entrenchments west of Seven Pines , Virginia . Bratton ' s 6th Regiment was the lead Confederate regiment in the Confederate advance through and behind enemy lines . During the assault Bratton sustained a severe injury to his left arm and shoulder . Unable to make it back to Confederate lines , he was subsequently captured by remaining Union forces . Upon hearing word of the 6th Regiment ' s gallantry , Union Brig . Gen . Philip Kearny saw to it that Bratton received the utmost care . Bratton was released two months later on August 31 , 1862 . Bratton rejoined his regiment in October 1862 and participated in the Battle of Fredericksburg in December . In the spring of 1863 , his regiment missed the Battle of Chancellorsville because it accompanied Longstreet ' s Corps in the Siege of Suffolk , where Bratton served as temporary brigade commander . The regiment garrisoned Richmond , Virginia , while Robert E . Lee ' s army fought the Gettysburg Campaign during June and July . In the fall of 1863 , Col . Bratton ' s 6th South Carolina accompanied Gen . Longstreet ' s corps to the Western Theater . He was present in several battles in the Tennessee area , including the Chattanooga Campaign and the Knoxville Campaign . Bratton ' s regiment did not reach the Army of Tennessee until after the Battle of Chickamauga . Brig . Gen . Micah Jenkins replaced Maj . Gen . John Bell Hood after he was wounded at Chickamauga and Bratton once again served as brigade commander . Bratton led a night attack on Federal forces at Wauhatchie on October 28 – 29 , 1863 , during which Bratton had the 1st , 2nd , 5th , and 6th South Carolina Regiments and Hampton ' s legion at his disposal . Opposing him were the 109th and 111th Pennsylvania Regiments along with the 137th and 149th New York Regiments . Although the brigade attack was well - executed , the battle was a significant Confederate defeat at the beginning of the Chattanooga Campaign . Bratton was promoted to brigadier general dating from May 6 , 1864 . He led an infantry brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia for most of the rest of the war , seeing action in such battles as the Wilderness , Spotsylvania Court House , and Cold Harbor . He then participated in the defense of Petersburg and was wounded in the shoulder at the Battle of Darbytown Road . He surrendered his brigade , the largest in the Army of Northern Virginia at the end of the war , at Appomattox Court House in April 1865 and was paroled on April 9 . Postbellum career . In the years following the war , Bratton concentrated on farming cotton and raising imported livestock . He entered politics during Reconstruction as a supporter of the conservative Democratic regime dominated by Gen . Wade Hampton . Bratton served as member of the State constitutional convention in 1865 . He represented Fairfield in the South Carolina Senate in 1866 . He served as chairman of the South Carolina delegation in the 1876 Democratic National Convention . He served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1880 . Bratton was elected comptroller general of South Carolina by the legislature , to fill a vacancy , in 1881 . Bratton was elected to the Forty - eighth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John H . Evins and served from December 8 , 1884 , to March 3 , 1885 . He was not a candidate for renomination in 1884 . He retired from active politics and again engaged in planting at " Farmington " near Winnsboro . He died in Winnsboro , South Carolina . He was interred in St . John ' s Episcopal Church Cemetery . Honors . The General John Bratton Camp # 1816 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans was named in his honor .