Lawrence O'Bryan Branch (November 28, 1820 – September 17, 1862) was an American politician who served as a representative for North Carolina in the U.S. Congress and a Confederate brigadier general in the American Civil War. He was killed in action at the Battle of Antietam. He owned 40 slaves.

Early life and career

Branch was born in Enfield, North Carolina to Major Joseph Branch and Susan Simpson O'Bryan Branch. His childhood home, The Cellar, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.{{NRISref|version=2010a}}{{Cite web |author1=Catherine Bishir |author2=Jerry L. Cross |author3=Walter D. Best | title=The Cellar| work = National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory | date =June 1979| url = https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/HX0013.pdf | publisher = North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office | accessdate = 2015-01-01}} His family moved to Williamson County, Tennessee but his mother died when he was five and his father died in 1827. His uncle, Secretary of the Navy John Branch (then serving as Governor of North Carolina) assumed his guardianship and took him back to North Carolina. Branch moved to Washington City with his uncle when the latter took the position as Secretary of the Navy and he was tutored by Salmon P. Chase. He pursued a preparatory course under a private teacher in Washington, D.C., before going on to train at North Carolina's Bingham Military Academy. He also attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for a short time and, in 1838, graduated first in his class from Princeton College before going to study law in Nashville, Tennessee, where he also owned and edited a newspaper.

In 1840, Branch moved to Tallahassee, Florida and was admitted to the bar to practice law by a special act of the legislature. Just one year later, he went to fight in the Seminole Wars. In 1844, he married Nancy Haywood Blount and they had four children. In 1852, he moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he continued to practice law and became president of the Raleigh & Gaston Railroad Co. He also served as an elector on the Franklin Pierce ticket in 1852. Branch was elected as a Democrat to the 34th, 35th, and 36th Congresses (March 4, 1855 - March 3, 1861) but was not a candidate for renomination in 1860. On December 29, 1859, he challenged Galusha Grow to a duel after the two exchanged insults on the House Floor. Both men and their seconds were arrested by District of Columbia police before the duel could take place.{{Cite web|url=https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1851-1900/The-near-duel-between-Representatives-Galusha-Grow-of-Pennsylvania-and-Lawrence-Branch-of-North-Carolina/|title=The Near Duel Between Representatives Galusha Grow of Pennsylvania and Lawrence Branch of North Carolina {{!}} US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives|website=history.house.gov|language=en|access-date=2019-03-11}} On December 2, 1860, he was appointed, (but declined), the position of Secretary of the Treasury by President James Buchanan.

Civil War

Branch entered the Confederate Army, in May 1861, as a private in the Raleigh Rifles. Later that month he accepted the office of state quartermaster general, but resigned it for service in the field. In September he was elected colonel of the 33rd North Carolina. He was appointed brigadier general in January 1862. After the Battle of New Bern, his brigade was attached to A.P. Hill's Division of Stonewall Jackson's Corps. He was the senior brigadier general in Hill's division. Branch's brigade fought at the Battle of Hanover Courthouse, the Seven Days Battles, Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, Chantilly, and Harper's Ferry

=Antietam (Sharpsburg)=

On September 17, 1862, he led his troops on a rapid march from Harpers Ferry to Sharpsburg, Maryland where the Battle of Antietam was raging. Branch arrived on the field around 2:30 PM, in time to help stop the Union advance, thus saving General Robert E. Lee's right flank from a crushing defeat. Soon after this victory, Branch stood talking with fellow brigadier generals Maxcy Gregg, Dorsey Pender, James J. Archer, along with Hill and General Lee when a Federal sharpshooter, seeing the group, fired a shot that hit him in the right cheek and exited behind his left ear, killing him instantly. The bullet also wounded General Gregg in the thigh. Branch fell dead into the arms of a staff officer.

=Dates of rank=

Private, May 1, 1861
Colonel, September 1, 1861
Brigadier General, January 16, 1862

Legacy

A memorial cannon now stands at the location where Branch was killed. Five other memorial cannons are placed throughout the Antietam Battlefield marking the locations other commanders lost their lives. Branch is buried at the Old City Cemetery, Raleigh, North Carolina.{{cite web|last1=Barrett|first1= John G. |title=Branch, Lawrence O'Bryan|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/branch-lawrence-obryan|date=1979|website=NCpedia|publisher=State Library of North Carolina|accessdate=2 February 2018}}

Author Armistead Maupin is Branch's great-great-grandson.{{cite book|last1=Maupin|first1=Armistead|title=Logical Family: A Memoir|date=2017|publisher=Penguin|location=London, U.K.|isbn=9780857523518|page=17|quote=That's Grandpa Branch. He was a Confederate general who died at Antietam.}}

Notes

References

Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}.
{{cite book |last=Hardy |first=Michael C. |date=2018 |title=General Lee’s Immortals: The Battles and Campaigns of the Branch-Lane Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865. |location= El Dorado Hills, CA|publisher= Savas Beatie. |isbn= 978-1611213621}}
Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. {{ISBN|978-0-8160-1055-4}}.
Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. {{ISBN|978-0-8071-0823-9}}.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080514140908/http://www.aphillcsa.com/branch.html Web biography from And Then A.P. Hill Came Up]

{{bioguide}}

External links

{{Internet Archive author |sname=Lawrence O'Bryan Branch}}
Branch, Lawrence O'Bryan, [http://hdl.loc.gov/umich.dli.moa/ABJ4274 Congressional Intervention in Regard to Slavery in the Territories. Letter of Lawrence O'B. Branch to His Constituents], 1860
{{Find a Grave|9859}}
[http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/th/read/BRANCH/1998-08/0902963095 Transcript of a letter from Branch's daughter reporting his death to his sister]

{{US House succession box

| state=North Carolina

| district=4

| before=Sion H. Rogers

| years=1855–1861

| after=John T. Deweese
1868

}}

Category:1820 births

Category:1862 deaths

Category:Confederate States Army brigadier generals

Category:Burials at City Cemetery (Raleigh, North Carolina)

Category:People of North Carolina in the American Civil War