Lawrence O'Bryan Branch
Lawrence O'Bryan Branch, (* November 28, 1820 in Enfield, Halifax County, North Carolina; † September 17, 1862 in Raleigh, North Carolina) was a politician, a member of the U.S. Congress and Brigadier General of the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War.
Life
After his normal schooling he received a preparatory course at a private teacher in Washington, then went to the Bingham Military Academy in North Carolina, then moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated in 1838 at Princeton College, now Princeton University, New Jersey. He then went to Nashville, Tennessee, studied law there, was the same publisher, and published a newspaper. In 1840 he moved to Tallahassee, Florida, was also approved there in the same year as a lawyer in 1841 and fought in the 2nd Seminole War.
In 1852 he moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, opened a law practice again, went as a member of the Democratic party in politics and became president of the Raleigh & Gaston Railroad Co. As a Democrat, he was three times in a row, from 1855 to 1861, the U.S. House of Representatives selected states and appointed on December 2, 1860 to the Minister of Finance by the then U.S. President James Buchanan. Branch refused, however, and instead went in May 1861, the Confederate Army. Again, he quickly made his career, has been appointed in the same year to brigadier general and received its own brigade in the division of General Hill 's Corps of General "Stonewall" Jackson.
On September 17, 1862 Branch was killed as commander of the 4th Brigade at the Battle of Antietam.