- Ambrose R. Wright
Ambrose Ransom Wright (April 26, 1826 – December 21, 1872) was a lawyer, Georgia politician, and a Confederate general in the
American Civil War .Wright, known by the nickname "Rans", was born in
Louisville, Georgia . He read law under the tutelage of Governor and SenatorHerschel V. Johnson , who later became his brother-in-law, and was admitted to the bar. He became prominent politically, although he ran unsuccessfully for the Georgia legislature and for theUnited States Congress . He was a presidential elector forMillard Fillmore in 1856, a supporter of Bell and Everett in 1860, and a Georgia commissioner to Maryland in 1861.At the start of the Civil War, Wright enlisted as a private in Georgia Militia, but he was commissioned colonel of the 3rd Georgia Infantry on May 18, 1861, and served in North Carolina and Georgia until the summer of 1862. He was promoted to brigadier general on June 3, 1862 and sent to Virginia. Wright's Georgians made a distinguished record in the
Army of Northern Virginia from theSeven Days Battles to theSiege of Petersburg . He was badly wounded at theBattle of Antietam in 1862 and at Chancellorsville in 1863. At theBattle of Gettysburg , Wright's brigade, part ofRichard H. Anderson 's division ofA.P. Hill 's Corps, had the distinction of penetrating the farthest into the Union defenses onCemetery Ridge on July 2, 1863. As of November 26, 1864, Wright was named major general on a temporary commission (which was not made permanent) and ordered to Georgia, where he exercised command until the end of the war.In 1863, Wright had been elected to the Georgia state senate and president of that body "in absentia". Resuming his law practice after the termination of hostilities, he purchased the "Augusta Chronicle & Sentinel" newspaper in 1866, and, in 1871, was defeated for the Democratic nomination for the
United States Senate . The following year, General Wright was a delegate to both the state and national Democratic conventions and was elected to theUnited States House of Representatives , but died atAugusta, Georgia , before taking his seat. At a special election to fill the vacancy,Alexander Stephens was elected his successor. General Wright is buried in City Cemetery, Augusta.References
* Eicher, John H., & Eicher, David J., "Civil War High Commands", Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
Persondata
NAME= Wright, Ambrose R.
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SHORT DESCRIPTION= Confederate Armygeneral
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