Charles Thomas Ick

Charles Thomas Ick (9 January 1827 – 27 April 1885) was Mayor of Christchurch, New Zealand, from December 1878 to December 1880. Born in Shropshire, he learned the trade of a mercer and draper. The Icks had five children when they emigrated to Otago in 1858. He worked in his learned trade in Dunedin for five years before becoming a farmer in Waikouaiti for seven years. In 1870, he came to Christchurch and set himself up as an auctioneer and later opened a drapery business.
Early life.
Ick was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England in 1827. He was the only son of Joseph Ick, whose estate was known as Lady Halton. Ick married Jane Wainwright in 1849 and their children born in England were Stella, Hubert, Kate, Emily Jane, and Eliza Anne. The family emigrated to New Zealand on the "Lord Worsley", arriving in Port Chalmers on 4 October 1858. They had further children in New Zealand.
Professional life.
Ick was in business in Dunedin as a mercer and draper, with his premises in Princes Street. In January 1862, he announced that he would no longer provide credit to his customers, but would offer cash deals only, as that would reduce prices for consumers. He leased his business premises in December 1862 and held a clearance sale during January 1863.
In 1863, he purchased a farm in Waikouaiti. Ick had a hunting accident in May 1867 where his own rifle discharged and shot him in the arm. He remained in Waikouaiti until 1870, first advertising his property for sale in April 1870. His stock and farm produce were auctioned on 26 May by Wright Stephenson.
Moving to Christchurch, he was an auctioneer from 1870 to 1882, when he retired. At first, he was in partnership with Thomas Preece, who had come out to New Zealand on the same ship as Ick. The business arrangement was terminated in August 1872. His auction rooms were in High Street opposite the City Hotel. He leased business premises from George Gould in Whately Road, and set up a drapery shop in a building he named Bradford House near the Victoria Bridge. The business opened on 1 February 1874.
Political career.
On 29 November 1862, Ick had a long advertisement in the "Otago Daily Times" about his inaugural election candidacy. He announced his political views for election to the High Ward of Dunedin's town board. The election was held on 1 December, but his name was not included amongst the candidates. In November 1863, Ick received a requisition asking him to stand in the Bell Ward for the town board. Of five candidates, Ick came fourth and was thus unsuccessful. In 1865, Ick was on the committee that secured the election of Thomas Dick as Superintendent of Otago Province.
While in Otago, Ick was chairman for five years in total of two road boards. He was on a town council, and chaired a district school committee. Ick resigned from those posts when he moved to Christchurch.
In September 1872, Ick received a numerously-signed requisition, requesting that he would stand for election to Christchurch City Council, to which he consented. Before 1916, elections for Christchurch City Council were held annually. Ick was elected onto the city council five times: in 1872, 1874, 1877, 1879 and 1880.
The mayor was for the first time elected by voters on 20 December 1876; until the previous year, the mayor was chosen from amongst the city councillors, and they usually elected the most senior councillor. The 20 December 1876 mayoral election was contested by James Gapes and Ick, with Gapes representing working class interests, whereas Ick represented the wealthier part of the population. Gapes and Ick received 680 and 515 votes, respectively, and Gapes was thus declared elected. Ick next stood for election as mayor two years later in 1878, challenging the incumbent, Henry Thomson. Ick defeated Thomson by 601 votes to 343 and was installed on 18 December of that year. Ick won the 1879 mayoral election against Aaron Ayers and Gapes. Ick did not stand again in 1880, and his successor, James Gapes, was installed on 15 December.
Death and commemoration.
He died on 27 April 1885, aged 58, at his residence in Papanui Road and is buried at Barbadoes Street Cemetery. His funeral was well-attended, with the current mayor, Charles Hulbert, and former mayors James Gapes, Henry Thomson, and George Ruddenklau as pallbearers.
Halton Street in Papanui is named after his father's estate.


Ermenonville Forest

The Ermenonville Forest () is a state-owned forest in Oise, France.
On March 3, 1974, Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashed in the forest and in the commune of Fontaine-Chaalis, killing all 346 people on board.
Today, a memorial to the victims of THY flight 981 stands in the forest.


Western Australian wine

Western Australian wine refers to wine produced in Australia's largest state, Western Australia. Although the state extends across the western third of the continent, its wine regions are almost entirely situated in the cooler climate of its south-western tip. Western Australia produces less than 5% of the country's wine output, but in quality terms it is very much near the top - winning 30 percent of the countries' medals.
History.
The Swan Valley established in 1829 by Thomas Waters is the historical centre for wine production in Western Australia. However, the state's cooler climate south-western wine regions such as Margaret River, and The Great Southern are considered to be more significant due to the Swan Valley being noted as one of the hottest viticultural regions in the world. Partly because of this, and as a reaction to the emergence of the Margaret River and Great Southern regions spanning the far south western corner of the state a large number of producers have deserted the area with the numbers of vineyards shrinking. In the year 1970, 90 percent of the state's wine was made from grapes grown in the Swan Valley; by 1980 the figure was 59 percent; by 1996 it was 15 percent and still falling.
In the late 1960s, winemaking grew in the southern regions of Western Australia with the influence of Antarctic currents and onshore westerlies offering a more temperate climate for grape production. Despite having only around 7 percent of Australia's vineyards and a mere 3 percent of grapes crushed, the winemaking regions of the South-West of the state attract a large amount of media attention.
Appellation Classes and Divisions.
Australian wine labelling appellations are classified into legal wine-producing areas under the Wine Australia Act. These appellations, called Australian Geographical Indications (AGI), are designated by the as either a zone, region, or sub-region that has a particular quality, reputation, or characteristic attributed to it; as defined by the regulatory government authority Wine Australia. To protect the reputation of each Geographical Indication, if a wine is labelled as from a specific appellation then 85% of grapes must be from that appellation. If it is a blend of grapes from two or three appellations, then 95% of grapes of the grapes must be from the appellations listed and the proportions of the blend have to be displayed as a percentage.
Western Australia has 3 zones with active wine industries, two of which are divided into nine regions and six sub-regions:
Wine regions.
Great Southern.
The Great Southern is Australia's largest wine region a rectangle 200 kilometres from east to west and over 100 kilometres from north to south. The vineyards spread throughout the area have significant variations of terroir and climate dictated in part by the distance, however, the region is the coolest of Western Australia's viticultural areas; with a similar maritime influenced Mediterranean climate to Margaret River although with slightly less rainfall. This diverse region is known for Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot noir, Shiraz, and Malbec.
Margaret River.
The Margaret River wine region to the south of Western Australia, receives its temperate climate from the cooling influence of the Indian Ocean. Predominant grape varieties cultivated include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sémillion, Sauvignon blanc, Chenin blanc and Chardonnay.
Swan District.
The Swan District, of which the Swan Valley forms part, is the hottest wine region in Australia, with the grape harvest usually beginning in January. The Swan Valley is among the largest sources of Western Australia's wine, with grape varieties such as Verdelho, Chenin blanc, and Chardonnay.


Ancon sheep

Ancon sheep (also called "Otter" sheep) were a grouping of domestic sheep with long bodies and very short legs, with the fore-legs being crooked. The term is generally applied to a line of sheep bred from a single affected lamb born in 1791 in Massachusetts, USA. The breed was artificially selected and maintained for its desirable inability to jump over fences. It was allowed to go extinct in 1876 when it was no longer required.
The name "Ancon" has also been applied to other strains of sheep arising from individuals with the same phenotype, such as a Norwegian stock bred from a single individual born in 1919, and a Texan, USA stock bred from a single individual born in 1962. These lineages were also allowed to go extinct after scientists no longer needed them for genetic research.
Excavations in Leicester, UK have also revealed metacarpals, metatarsals and phalanges characteristic of Ancon sheep that date to approximately AD 1500, thereby demonstrating that the phenotype has arisen independently at least four times.
The unique features of ancon sheep are caused by a recessive dwarf mutation, which often results in crippling. The specific effect of the mutation is to cause chondrodystrophy.
Significance to the history of biology.
Despite the Ancon's small numbers the sheep's contribution to the history of biology has been substantial. Several chapters in Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" references the Ancon as an example of his argument that offspring inherit independent characteristics from their parents. The notion is perhaps best understood by the claim it denounced: the long-held belief among naturalists and breeders that inherited traits were a "blending" of the traits of each parent. If that were true, the offspring of an Ancon and a common sheep would have a height between those of the parents. Instead, the resulting offspring were either Ancon "or" common, thus supporting Darwin's contention.
Darwin's review of the Ancon sheep helped lead to the establishment of an early consensus view of the sheep's role in understanding biology. Darwin referred to the Ancon as a "sport", or a new species or breed born suddenly from a prior species (as a form of phylogenetic variation, not to be confused with the "sporting plant" referred to in the study of botany) as opposed to a new species developing gradually over a long period of time through the natural selection of multiple traits.
Darwin believed that this was possible because the Ancon sheep was born and bred in captivity. In his 1868 work "The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication", Darwin argued that sudden mutations such as the Ancon are rare to non-existent outside of captivity. In his view, species change through the mutation and natural selection of minor traits which, when added up over time, gradually establish new species. Later scholars supporting Darwin's view also pointed out that the Ancon sheep had essentially a single trait - their short legs - which also made rapid mutation unusually likely, since other species and breeds are set apart from their progenitors by many traits.


Bodega Riglos

Bodega Riglos is an Argentine producer of premium wines from Gualtallary, Tupungato, Alto Valle de Uco, Mendoza, located at 4,000 ft (1,300 m) above sea level.
The company is headed by its founders, Darío Werthein (president) and Fabián Suffern (vice-president). They acquired 160 acres (72 hectares) in Gualtallary to set the vineyards in 2002. Rafael Calderón was inducted as CEO and partner of the firm in 2011.
Finca Las Divas.
Riglos makes its single-vineyard wines with grapes from Finca Las Divas (located at the foot of the Andes), where it works with the concept of precision viticulture. The method uses a continuing improvement program of quality for its technology, aimed at the understanding of each sector of the vineyard and the uniformity and consistency of harvested grapes. The production also contemplates the sustainability philosophy to manage the vineyard while protecting the ecosystem of Las Divas.
The finca was set up according to the following distribution of varietals:
With a production of 90,000 bottles per year, Bodega Riglos commercialises 6 types of wine:
75% of production is exported to Brazil, Canada, Colombia, United States, Denmark, England, Italy, Hong Kong and Uruguay. In Argentina it is sold the remaining 25% in top restaurants and wine shops throughout the country.
Awards.
In 2012, Gran Corte Riglos 2009 was voted as the best wine of the year for the American magazine Wine Enthusiast, thus marking a milestone in the history of company.


Swinton Estate

The Swinton Estate is a large privately owned estate in North Yorkshire, England. It comprises some of countryside in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, extending west from the River Ure near Masham. The estate includes Swinton Park, the seat of the Danby family and (from 1882) of the Cunliffe-Lister family (the Earls of Swinton), an English country house in Swinton near Masham. It is set in of parkland, lakes and gardens. The house is a Grade II* listed building, and now operates as the 32-bedroom Swinton Park Hotel.
The Cunliffe-Lister family still own the house but the seat of the Earl of Swinton is now at Dykes Hill House, also located near Masham.
Beyond the parkland surrounding the house, the estate comprises farmland and large areas of grouse moor in and around the valley of the River Burn.
History.
The construction at Swinton Park was commenced in 1695 by Sir Abstrupus Danby (1655-1727). His successors built the stable block and gatehouse and, during the 1760s, planted the parkland and created the chain of five lakes.
William Danby (1752–1833) almost entirely rebuilt the house, at first by John Carr, architect of York, in 1764–67. Danby altered and extended the house, giving it the Gothic aspect it retains, in two building campaigns, to designs of the Yorkshire mason-architect John Foss of Richmond (1745–1827), who became a close personal friend. In the first, of 1791–96, the north range was added. A design for the Drawing Room, at least, was contributed by James Wyatt. In a second building campaign, of 1813–14, again under the direction of Foss, the south wing was built. The house included a handsome library.
Danby was not finished: further Gothic alterations were effected by Robert Lugar: turrets and battlements were added, so that the building took on the appearance of a castle; the richly furnished museum of minerals, which has since become a family chapel, was built, and at the same time a tower Describing a tour which he made in 1829, the poet Robert Southey remarked, "The most interesting person whom I saw during this expedition was Mr Danby of Swinton Park, a man of very large fortune, and now very old." During the early 19th century the building was substantially altered, and two-storey west and north wings were added. Danby died in 1833, but his widow continued to live at the house with her second husband, naval officer Octavius Vernon Harcourt (High Sheriff for 1849) until her own death in 1879. She devised her Yorkshire estates to George, fifth son of Sir Robert Affleck, Bt., a member of the family of William Danby's mother, who then took the name Danby.
The castle was bought in 1888 by Samuel Cunliffe-Lister, who added a third floor and enlarged the dining room. Samuel's granddaughter Molly and her husband Philip came to live at Swinton in 1924 and took the name of Cunliffe-Lister. Philip was created Viscount Swinton in 1935 and the 1st Earl of Swinton in 1955. During the Second World War Harrogate Ladies College occupied part of the premises. In 1974 Molly Cunliffe-Lister died, and the castellated house was rented out.
From 1976 to 1998, the castle was occupied by the Lindley Educational Trust. Mark Cunliffe-Lister, the great-grandson of Molly, along with his mother, brother and sister, bought back the castle in May 2000. On 17 June 2000 Mark and Felicity (styled by courtesy as Lord and Lady Masham) married. After their honeymoon, they moved to Swinton and set up the family business here. The 30 bedroom luxury castle hotel was opened in 2001, having undergone extensive refurbishment. The hotel was featured on the BBC television series "".
Gardens and park.
The earliest record of the gardens dates from 1699 when a design by George London was laid out, with fountains added a few years later. A model for a summer house by the carpenter and architect William Thornton was approved by Sir Abstrupus in 1700. This formal plan was swept away, probably by William Danby during his landscaping programme in the 1760s that resulted in the present English landscape garden. In the next years, five lakes were dug out.
The Gothick alterations were accompanied by the Quarry Gill Bridge completed in 1822, also to designs by Foss. During the 1880s a stone bridge was built at Coffin Pond.
The park and garden was listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens in 1984.
The parkland supports a herd of approximately 120 fallow deer.
The estate.
The wider estate comprises farmland, woodland and moorland, as well as properties in the town of Masham and nearby villages. The farmland is farmed by more than 50 tenants, with sheep farming predominant. There are some of mixed coniferous and broad-leaved woodland.
The estate has more than of heather moors, which are managed for grouse shooting, with pheasant shooting on the lower ground. Most of the moorland falls within the East Nidderdale Moors Site of Special Scientific Interest, and also within the North Pennine Moors Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Special Protection Area (SPA). The moors are open access land following the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.
The moors are habitat for ground nesting birds, including the hen harrier, which has generated controversy for potential conflict with grouse shoot management. In 2014 a gamekeeper on the Swinton Estate was convicted of setting an illegal pole trap. In 2019 a hen harrier was found shot on the Swinton Estate. According to the Moorland Association there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the estate, and the estate has encouraged the winter roosting and breeding of hen harriers on its land.


Moura wine

Moura is a Portuguese wine region centered on the town of Moura in the Alentejo wine region. The region was initially a separate "Indicação de Proveniencia Regulamentada" (IPR) region, but in 2003, it became one of eight subregions of the Alentejo DOC, which has the higher "Denominação de Origem Controlada" (DOC) status. Its name may still be indicated together with that of Alentejo, as Alentejo-Moura.
Vineyards in this warm climate region are planted in cool, red clay based soils that can extend the grape's ripening period and add finesse to the wines.
Grapes.
The principle grapes of the Moura region include Alfrocheiro, Antao Vaz, Fernao Pires, Moreto, Periquita, Rabo de Ovelha, Rouperio and Trincadeira.


Bygholm Castle

Bygholm Castle is a former royal castle and manor house located just south of Horsens, Denmark. It traces its history back to 1313 but the current Baroque buildings date from 1775. Owned by Horsens Municipality, the main building is now run as a hotel while the associated land is a public park and used as fair grounds.
History.
Bygholm Castle was founded in 1313 upon orders from King Eric VI Menved following a revolt among peasants in Jutland.
The castle was run by a vassal ("lensmand"). The most famous of these to reside at Bygholm was Erik Lange, who belonged to the circle around Tycho Brahe but experienced economic ruin, experimented with alchemy and left Bygholm in a state of neglect. As a result, and possibly after a fire in the beginning of the 17th century, later vassals preferred to reside at nearby Stjernholm and the name of the fee was changed accordingly.
In 1661, Frederick III ceded the estate to Peder von Ufelen from Hamburg. In 1670 he sold it to Joachim Werner Bülow, who rebuilt Bygholm and returned it to its former state of a manor.
Horsens Municipality acquired the estate in 1918.
Architecture.
The current main building was built in 1775 to a symmetrical Baroque design by Andreas Møller. It consists of a one-storey main wing with a three-bay central projection, flanked by two lower L-shaped lateral wings. It was listed by the Danish Heritage Agency in 1984.
The farm buildings are of somewhat younger origins and are not listed.
Bygholm today.
The main building is now run as a hotel (Scandic Bygholm Park). The park is open to the public and used for fairs and other events.
The farm buildings contain the Bygholm Research Centre, Department of Agricultural Technologies, part of Aarhus University.


Braxton Bragg

Braxton Bragg (March 22, 1817 – September 27, 1876) was an American army officer during the Second Seminole War and Mexican–American War and Confederate army officer who served as a general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, serving in the Western Theater. His most important role was as commander of the Army of Mississippi, later renamed the Army of Tennessee, from June 1862 until December 1863.
Bragg, a native of Warrenton, North Carolina, was educated at West Point and became an artillery officer. He served in Florida and then received three brevet promotions for distinguished service in the Mexican–American War, most notably the Battle of Buena Vista. He resigned from the U.S. Army in 1856 to become a sugar plantation owner in Louisiana. At the start of the Civil War, Bragg trained soldiers in the Gulf Coast region. He was a corps commander at the Battle of Shiloh, where he launched several costly and unsuccessful frontal assaults but nonetheless was commended for his conduct and bravery.
In June 1862, Bragg was elevated to command the Army of Mississippi (later known as the Army of Tennessee). He and then Brigadier General Edmund Kirby Smith attempted an invasion of Kentucky in 1862, but Bragg retreated following the Battle of Perryville in October. In December, he fought another battle at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the Battle of Stones River, against the Army of the Cumberland under Major General William Rosecrans, which ended with his retreat. After months without significant fighting, Bragg was outmaneuvered by Rosecrans in the Tullahoma Campaign in June 1863, causing him to surrender Middle Tennessee to the Union. Bragg retreated to Chattanooga but evacuated it in September as Rosecrans's troops entered Georgia. Later that month, with the assistance of Confederate forces from the Eastern Theater under James Longstreet, Bragg was able to defeat Rosecrans at the Battle of Chickamauga, the bloodiest battle in the Western Theater, and the only major Confederate victory therein. Bragg forced Rosecrans back into Tennessee, but was criticized for not mounting an effective pursuit. In November, Bragg's army was routed by Major General Ulysses S. Grant in the Battles for Chattanooga and pushed back to Georgia. Confederate President Jefferson Davis subsequently relieved Bragg of command, recalling him to Richmond to serve as his chief military advisor. Bragg briefly returned to the field as a corps commander near the end of the war during the Campaign of the Carolinas.
Bragg is generally considered among the worst generals of the Civil War. Most of the battles in which he engaged ended in defeat. Bragg was extremely unpopular with both the men and the officers of his command, who criticized him for numerous perceived faults, including poor battlefield strategy, a quick temper, and overzealous discipline. Bragg has a generally poor reputation with historians, though some point towards the failures of Bragg's subordinates, especially Major General and former Bishop Leonidas Polk—a close ally of Jefferson Davis and known enemy of Bragg—as more significant factors in the many Confederate defeats at Bragg's command. The losses which Bragg suffered are cited as principal factors in the ultimate defeat of the Confederacy.
Early life and education.
Braxton Bragg was born in Warrenton, North Carolina, one of the six sons of Thomas and Margaret Crosland Bragg. One of his older brothers was future Confederate Attorney General Thomas Bragg. Bragg was also a cousin of Edward S. Bragg, who would become a Union general in the Civil War. He was often ridiculed as a child because of rumors about his mother's prison sentence for allegedly murdering an African American freeman, and some of those rumors stated that he was born in prison. Grady McWhiney, the principal biographer of Bragg's early life and career, states that despite these rumors, the Bragg family was law-abiding. Although considered by his neighbors to be from the lower class, Thomas Bragg was a carpenter and contractor who became wealthy enough to send Braxton to the Warrenton Male Academy, one of the best schools in the state. He was descended from Captain Christopher Newport of Jamestown, Virginia and his son-in-law Thomas Bragg (1579–1665), who was born in England and settled in the Colony of Virginia. In the thousands of letters that Bragg wrote during his lifetime, he spoke fondly of his father, but never mentioned his mother.
West Point.
When Bragg was only ten years old, his father decided on a military career for him and sought ways to obtain a nomination to the United States Military Academy. Eventually the oldest Bragg son, John, recently elected as a state legislator, obtained the support of U.S. Senator for North Carolina Willie P. Mangum. With Mangum as his sponsor, West Point admitted Braxton at the age of 16. His classmates included notable future Civil War Union generals Joseph Hooker and John Sedgwick, and future Confederate generals John C. Pemberton, Jubal Early, and William H. T. Walker. Bragg did well in academic pursuits because of his superior memory, rather than industrious study, and received fewer disciplinary demerits than most of his contemporaries. He graduated fifth of fifty cadets from the West Point Class of 1837 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Artillery.
Military service.
Early career.
Bragg served in the Second Seminole War in Florida, initially as an assistant commissary officer and regimental adjutant, seeing no actual combat. He soon began to suffer from a series of illnesses that he blamed on the tropical climate. He sought a medical transfer and was briefly assigned to recruiting duty in Philadelphia, but in October 1840 he was ordered back to Florida. He became a company commander in the 3rd Artillery and commanded Fort Marion, near St. Augustine. In this assignment, he stayed relatively healthy, but tended toward overwork, laboring administratively to improve the living conditions of his men. He launched a series of argumentative letters with senior Army officials, including the adjutant general and Army paymaster, that established his reputation as "disputatious."
Bragg had a reputation for being a strict disciplinarian and one who adhered to regulations literally. There is a famous, apocryphal story, included in Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs, about Bragg as a company commander at a frontier post where he also served as quartermaster. He submitted a requisition for supplies for his company, then as quartermaster declined to fill it. As company commander, he resubmitted the requisition, giving additional reasons for his requirements, but as the quartermaster he denied the request again. Realizing that he was at a personal impasse, he referred the matter to the post commandant, who exclaimed, "My God, Mr. Bragg, you have quarreled with every officer in the army, and now you are quarreling with yourself!" It is alleged that some of his troops attempted to assassinate him on two occasions in August and September 1847, but he was not injured either time. In the more serious of the two incidents, one of his soldiers exploded a 12-pound artillery shell underneath his cot. Although the cot was destroyed, somehow Bragg himself emerged without a scratch. Bragg had suspicions about the identity of the perpetrator, but had insufficient evidence to bring charges. Later, an Army deserter named Samuel R. Church claimed responsibility for the attack.
The 3rd Artillery relocated to Fort Moultrie, Charleston, South Carolina, in 1843. Here, Bragg was stationed with three future Union Army generals that he came to consider close friends: George H. Thomas, John F. Reynolds (both of whom were lieutenants who reported to Bragg) and William T. Sherman. Bragg continued his controversial writing, this time a series of nine articles published 1844–45 in the "Southern Literary Messenger". The series, "Notes on Our Army," published anonymously (as "A Subaltern"), included specific attacks on the policies of general in chief Winfield Scott, whom he called a "vain, petty, conniving man." There were also numerous attacks on Army administrative policies and officers. He included thoughtful recommendations on a proposed structure for the Army general staff, which were echoed in reorganizations that occurred in the early 20th century, but were ignored at the time.
Bragg's articles came to the attention of Representative James G. Clinton, a New York Democrat and political opponent of Scott's. While Bragg was on leave in Washington, D.C., in March 1844, Clinton called him to testify before his House Committee on Public Expenditures. Scott ordered him not to testify, in defiance of the Congressional subpoena. Bragg was arrested and sent to Fort Monroe, Virginia, where he was court-martialed for disobedience to orders and disrespect toward his superior officers. Bragg conducted his own defense and attempted to turn the trial into a condemnation of Scott. He was found guilty, but an official reprimand from the Secretary of War and suspension at half pay for two months were relatively mild punishments, and Bragg was not deterred from future criticisms of his superiors.
Mexican–American War.
On March 1, 1845, Bragg and his artillery company were ordered to join Gen. Zachary Taylor in the defense of Texas from Mexico. He won promotions for bravery and distinguished conduct in the Mexican–American War, including a brevet promotion to captain for the Battle of Fort Brown (May 1846), to major for the Battle of Monterrey (September 1846), and to lieutenant colonel for the Battle of Buena Vista (February 1847). Bragg was also promoted to captain within the regular army in June 1846. He became widely admired (professionally, not personally) in Taylor's army for the discipline and drill of his men and the newly tried tactics of light artillery that proved decisive in most of his engagements against the Mexican Army. But it was Buena Vista that brought him national fame. His timely placement of artillery into a gap in the line helped repulse a numerically superior Mexican attack. He fought in support of Col. Jefferson Davis and the Mississippi Rifles, which earned him the admiration of the future U.S. Secretary of War and president of the Confederacy.
An anecdote circulated about Gen. Taylor commanding, "A little more of the grape, Capt. Bragg," which caused him to redouble his efforts and save the day. The stories are probably apocryphal and, according to the diary of Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Taylor's Chief of Staff (and recent son-in-law) Maj. William Bliss confirmed that "the stories of the General in connection with Bragg are all false. He never said, 'A little more grape, Captain Bragg,' nor did he say, 'Major Bliss and I will support you.'" Nevertheless, Bragg returned to the United States as a popular hero. A northwestern outpost, Fort Bragg, California, was named in his honor. The citizens of Warrenton presented him with a ceremonial sword. Congressman David Outlaw wrote about the honor: "Col. Bragg having, no thanks to them, won for himself a brilliant reputation, is now the object of the most fulsome adulation. Those who formerly sneered at the Braggs as plebeians, as unfit associates for them, they are glad to honor. With what scorn must Col. Bragg, in his secret heart regard them." Bragg traveled to New York, Washington, Mobile, and New Orleans, and in each place he was honored.
On December 31, 1855, Bragg submitted his resignation from the Army, which became effective on January 3, 1856. He and his wife purchased a sugar plantation of north of Thibodaux, Louisiana. Never one to oppose slavery in concept—both his father and his wife were slaveowners—he used 105 enslaved Africans on his property. He continued to uphold his reputation as being a stern disciplinarian and an advocate of military efficiency. His methods resulted in almost immediate profitability, despite a large mortgage on the property. He became active in local politics and was elected to the Board of Public Works in 1860. Throughout the 1850s, Bragg had been disturbed by the accelerating sectional crisis. He opposed the concept of secession, believing that in a republic no majority could set aside a written constitution, but this belief would soon be tested.
American Civil War.
Before the start of the Civil War, Bragg was a colonel in the Louisiana Militia. On December 12, 1860, Governor Thomas O. Moore appointed him to the state military board, an organization charged with creating a 5,000-man army. He took the assignment, even though he had been opposed to secession. On January 11, 1861, Bragg led a group of 500 volunteers to Baton Rouge, where they persuaded the commander of the federal arsenal there to surrender. The state convention on secession also established a state army and Moore appointed Bragg its commander, with the rank of major general, on February 20, 1861. He commanded the forces around New Orleans until April 16, but his commission was transferred to be a brigadier general of the Confederate States Army on March 7, 1861. He commanded forces in Pensacola, Florida, Alabama, and the Department of West Florida and was promoted to major general on September 12, 1861. His tenure was successful and he trained his men to be some of the best disciplined troops in the Confederate Army, such as the 5th Georgia and the 6th Florida Regiments.
In December, President Davis asked Bragg to take command of the Trans-Mississippi Department, but Bragg declined. He was concerned for the prospects of victory west of the Mississippi River and about the poorly supplied and ill-disciplined troops there. He was also experiencing one of his periodic episodes of ill health that would plague him throughout the war. For years he had suffered from rheumatism, dyspepsia, nerves, and severe migraine headaches, ailments that undoubtedly contributed to his disagreeable personal style. The command went to Earl Van Dorn. Bragg proposed to Davis that he change his strategy of attempting to defend every square mile of Confederate territory, recommending that his troops were of less value on the Gulf Coast than they would be farther to the north, concentrated with other forces for an attack against the Union Army in Tennessee. Bragg transported about 10,000 men to Corinth, Mississippi, in February 1862 and was charged with improving the poor discipline of the Confederate troops already assembled under General Albert Sidney Johnston.
Battle of Shiloh.
Bragg commanded a corps (and was also chief of staff) under Johnston at the Battle of Shiloh, April 6–7, 1862. In the initial surprise Confederate advance, Bragg's corps was ordered to attack in a line that was almost long, but he soon began directing activities of the units that found themselves around the center of the battlefield. His men became bogged down against a Union salient called the Hornet's Nest, which he attacked for hours with piecemeal frontal assaults. After Johnston was killed in the battle, General P. G. T. Beauregard assumed command, and appointed Bragg his second in command. Bragg was dismayed when Beauregard called off a late afternoon assault against the Union's final position, which was strongly defended, calling it their last opportunity for victory. On the second day of battle, the Union army counterattacked and the Confederates retreated back to Corinth.
Bragg received public praise for his conduct in the battle and on April 12, 1862, Jefferson Davis appointed Bragg a full general, the sixth man to achieve that rank and one of only seven in the history of the Confederacy. His date of rank was April 6, 1862, coinciding with the first day at Shiloh. After the Siege of Corinth, Beauregard departed on sick leave, leaving Bragg in temporary command of the army in Tupelo, Mississippi, but Beauregard failed to inform President Davis of his departure and spent two weeks absent without leave. Davis was looking for someone to replace Beauregard because of his perceived poor performance at Corinth, and the opportunity presented itself when Beauregard left without permission. Bragg was then appointed his successor as commander of the Western Department (known formally as Department Number Two), including the Army of Mississippi, on June 17, 1862.
Battle of Perryville.
In August 1862, Confederate Maj. Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith decided to invade Kentucky from Eastern Tennessee, hoping that he could arouse supporters of the Confederate cause in the border state and draw the Union forces under Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell, beyond the Ohio River. Bragg considered various options, including an attempt to retake Corinth, or to advance against Buell's army through Middle Tennessee. He eventually heeded Kirby Smith's calls for reinforcement and decided to relocate his Army of Mississippi to join with him. He moved 30,000 infantrymen in a tortuous railroad journey from Tupelo through Mobile and Montgomery to Chattanooga, while his cavalry and artillery moved by road. Although Bragg was the senior general in the theater, President Davis had established Kirby Smith's Department of East Tennessee as an independent command, reporting directly to Richmond. This decision caused Bragg difficulty during the campaign.
Smith and Bragg met in Chattanooga on July 31, 1862, and devised a plan for the campaign: Kirby Smith's Army of Kentucky would first march into Kentucky to dispose of the Union defenders of Cumberland Gap. (Bragg's army was too exhausted from its long journey to begin immediate offensive operations.) Smith would return to join Bragg, and their combined forces would attempt to maneuver into Buell's rear and force a battle to protect his supply lines. Once the armies were combined, Bragg's seniority would apply and Smith would be under his direct command. Assuming that Buell's army could be destroyed, Bragg and Smith would march farther north into Kentucky, a movement they assumed would be welcomed by the local populace. Any remaining Federal force would be defeated in a grand battle in Kentucky, establishing the Confederate frontier at the Ohio River.
On August 9, Smith informed Bragg that he was breaking the agreement and intended to bypass Cumberland Gap, leaving a small holding force to neutralize the Union garrison, and to move north. Unable to command Smith to honor their plan, Bragg focused on a movement to Lexington instead of Nashville. He cautioned Smith that Buell could pursue and defeat his smaller army before Bragg's army could join up with them.
Bragg departed from Chattanooga on August 27, just before Smith reached Lexington. On the way, he was distracted by the capture of a Union fort at Munfordville. He had to decide whether to continue toward a fight with Buell (over Louisville) or rejoin Smith, who had gained control of the center of the state by capturing Richmond and Lexington, and threatened to move on Cincinnati. Bragg chose to rejoin Smith. He left his army and met Smith in Frankfort, where they attended the inauguration of Confederate Governor Richard Hawes on October 4. The inauguration ceremony was disrupted by the sound of approaching Union cannon fire and the organizers canceled the inaugural ball scheduled for that evening.
On October 8, the armies met unexpectedly at the Battle of Perryville; they had skirmished the previous day as they were searching for water sources in the vicinity. Bragg ordered the wing of his army under Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk to attack what he thought was an isolated portion of Buell's command, but had difficulty motivating Polk to begin the fight until Bragg arrived in person. Eventually Polk attacked the corps of Maj. Gen. Alexander M. McCook on the Union army's left flank and forced it to fall back. By the end of the day, McCook had been driven back about a mile, but reinforcements had arrived to stabilize the line, and Bragg only then began to realize that his limited tactical victory in the bloody battle had been against less than half of Buell's army and the remainder was arriving quickly.
Kirby Smith pleaded with Bragg to follow up on his success: "For God's sake, General, let us fight Buell here." Bragg replied, "I will do it, sir," but then displaying what one observer called "a perplexity and vacillation which had now become simply appalling to Smith, to Hardee, and to Polk," he ordered his army to retreat through the Cumberland Gap to Knoxville. Bragg referred to his retreat as a withdrawal, the successful culmination of a giant raid. He had multiple reasons for withdrawing. Disheartening news had arrived from northern Mississippi that Earl Van Dorn and Sterling Price had been defeated at Corinth, just as Robert E. Lee had failed in his Maryland Campaign. He saw that his army had not much to gain from a further, isolated victory, whereas a defeat might cost not only the bountiful food and supplies yet collected, but also his army. He wrote to his wife, "With the whole southwest thus in the enemy's possession, my crime would have been unpardonable had I kept my noble little army to be ice-bound in the northern clime, without tents or shoes, and obliged to forage daily for bread, etc." He was quickly called to Richmond to explain to Jefferson Davis the charges brought by his officers about how he had conducted his campaign, demanding that he be replaced as head of the army. Although Davis decided to leave the general in command, Bragg's relationship with his subordinates would be severely damaged. Upon rejoining the army, he ordered a movement to Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Battle of Stones River.
Bragg renamed his force as the Army of Tennessee on November 20, 1862. Meanwhile, on October 24, Don Carlos Buell had been replaced as commander of the Union Army of the Ohio by Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, who immediately renamed it the Army of the Cumberland. In late December, Rosecrans advanced from Nashville against Bragg's position at Murfreesboro. Before Rosecrans could attack, Bragg launched a strong surprise attack against Rosecrans's right flank on December 31, 1862, the start of the Battle of Stones River. The Confederates succeeded in driving the Union army back to a small defensive position, but could not destroy it, nor could they break its supply line to Nashville, as Bragg intended. Despite this, Bragg considered the first day of battle to be a victory and assumed that Rosecrans would soon retreat. By January 2, 1863, however, the Union troops remained in place and the battle resumed as Bragg launched an unsuccessful attack by the troops of Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge against the well-defended Union left flank. Recognizing his lack of progress, the severe winter weather, the arrival of supplies and reinforcements for Rosecrans, and heeding the recommendations of corps commanders Hardee and Polk, Bragg withdrew his army from the field to Tullahoma, Tennessee.
Bragg's generals were vocal in their dissatisfaction with his command during the Kentucky campaign and Stones River. He reacted to the rumors of criticism by circulating a letter to his corps and division commanders that asked them to confirm in writing that they had recommended withdrawing after the latter battle, stating that if he had misunderstood them and withdrawn mistakenly, he would willingly step down. Unfortunately, he wrote the letter at a time that a number of his most faithful supporters were on leave for illness or wounds. Bragg's critics, including William J. Hardee, interpreted the letter as having an implied secondary question—had Bragg lost the confidence of his senior commanders? Leonidas Polk did not reply to the implied question, but he wrote directly to his friend, Jefferson Davis, recommending that Bragg be replaced.
Davis responded to the complaints by dispatching Gen. Joseph E. Johnston to investigate the condition of the army. Davis assumed that Johnston, Bragg's superior, would find the situation wanting and take command of the army in the field, easing Bragg aside. However, Johnston arrived on the scene and found the men of the Army of Tennessee in relatively good condition. He told Bragg that he had "the best organized, armed, equipped, and disciplined army in the Confederacy." Johnston explicitly refused any suggestion that he take command, concerned that people would think he had taken advantage of the situation for his own personal gain. When Davis ordered Johnston to send Bragg to Richmond, Johnston delayed because of Elise Bragg's illness; when her health improved Johnston was unable to assume command because of lingering medical problems from his wound at the Battle of Seven Pines in 1862.
Tullahoma Campaign.
As Bragg's army fortified Tullahoma, Rosecrans spent the next six months in Murfreesboro, resupplying and retraining his army to resume its advance. Rosecrans's initial movements on June 23, 1863 took Bragg by surprise. While keeping Polk's corps occupied with small actions in the center of the Confederate line, Rosecrans sent the majority of his army around Bragg's right flank. Bragg was slow to react and his subordinates were typically uncooperative: the mistrust among the general officers of the Army of Tennessee for the past months led to little direct communication about strategy, and neither Polk nor Hardee had a firm understanding of Bragg's plans. As the Union army outmaneuvered the Confederates, Bragg was forced to abandon Tullahoma and on July 4 retreated behind the Tennessee River. Tullahoma is recognized as a "brilliant" campaign for Rosecrans, achieving with minimal losses his goal of driving Bragg from Middle Tennessee. Judith Hallock wrote that Bragg was "outfoxed" and that his ill health may have been partially to blame for his performance, but her overall assessment was that he performed credibly during the retreat from Tullahoma, keeping his army intact under difficult circumstances.
Although the Army of Tennessee had about 52,000 men at the end of July, the Confederate government merged the Department of East Tennessee, under Maj. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, into Bragg's Department of Tennessee, which added 17,800 men to Bragg's army, but also extended his command responsibilities northward to the Knoxville area. This brought a third subordinate into Bragg's command who had little or no respect for him. Buckner's attitude was colored by Bragg's unsuccessful invasion of Buckner's native Kentucky in 1862, as well as by the loss of his command through the merger. A positive aspect for Bragg was Hardee's request to be transferred to Mississippi in July, but he was replaced by Lt. Gen. D.H. Hill, a general who had not gotten along with Robert E. Lee in Virginia.
The Confederate War Department asked Bragg in early August if he could assume the offensive against Rosecrans if he were given reinforcements from Mississippi. He demurred, concerned about the daunting geographical obstacles and logistical challenges, preferring to wait for Rosecrans to solve those same problems and attack him. An opposed crossing of the Tennessee River was not feasible, so Rosecrans devised a deception to distract Bragg above Chattanooga while the army crossed downstream. Bragg was rightfully concerned about a sizable Union force under Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside that was threatening Knoxville to the northeast, and Rosecrans reinforced this concern by feinting to his left and shelling the city of Chattanooga from the heights north of the river. The bulk of the Union army crossed the Tennessee southeast of Chattanooga by September 4 and Bragg realized that his position there was no longer tenable. He evacuated the city on September 8.
Battle of Chickamauga.
After Rosecrans had consolidated his gains and secured his hold on Chattanooga, he began moving his army into northern Georgia in pursuit of Bragg. Bragg continued to suffer from the conduct of his subordinates, who were not attentive to his orders. On September 10, Maj. Gens. Thomas C. Hindman and D.H. Hill refused to attack, as ordered, an outnumbered Federal column at McLemore's Cove (the Battle of Davis's Cross Roads). On September 13, Bragg ordered Leonidas Polk to attack Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Crittenden's corps, but Polk ignored the orders and demanded more troops, insisting that it was he who was about to be attacked. Rosecrans used the time lost in these delays to concentrate his scattered forces. Finally, on September 19–20, 1863, Bragg, reinforced by two divisions from Mississippi, one division and several brigades from the Department of East Tennessee, and two divisions under Lt. Gen. James Longstreet from Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, turned on the pursuing Rosecrans in northeastern Georgia and at high cost defeated him at the Battle of Chickamauga, the greatest Confederate victory in the Western Theater during the war. It was not a complete victory, however. Bragg's objective was to cut off Rosecrans from Chattanooga and destroy his army. Instead, following a partial rout of the Union army by Longstreet's wing, a stout defense by Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas allowed Rosecrans and almost all of his army to escape.
After the battle, Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland retreated to Chattanooga, where Bragg laid siege to the city. He began to wage a battle against the subordinates he resented for failing him in the campaign—Hindman for his lack of action in McLemore's Cove, and Polk for delaying the morning attack Bragg ordered on September 20. On September 29, Bragg suspended both officers from their commands. In early October, an attempted mutiny of Bragg's subordinates resulted in D.H. Hill being relieved from his command. Longstreet was dispatched with his corps to the Knoxville Campaign against Ambrose Burnside, seriously weakening Bragg's army at Chattanooga.
Some of Bragg's subordinate generals were frustrated at what they perceived to be his lack of willingness to exploit the victory by pursuing the Union army toward Chattanooga and destroying it. Polk in particular was outraged at being relieved of command. The dissidents, including many of the division and corps commanders, met in secret and prepared a petition to President Jefferson Davis. Although the author of the petition is not known, historians suspect it was Simon Buckner, whose signature was first on the list. Lt. Gen. James Longstreet wrote to the Secretary of War with the prediction that "nothing but the hand of God can save us or help us as long as we have our present commander." With the Army of Tennessee literally on the verge of mutiny, Jefferson Davis reluctantly traveled to Chattanooga to personally assess the situation and to try to stem the tide of dissent in the army. Although Bragg offered to resign to resolve the crisis, Davis eventually decided to leave Bragg in command, denounced the other generals, and termed their complaints "shafts of malice".
Battles for Chattanooga.
While Bragg fought with his subordinates and reduced his force by dispatching Longstreet to Knoxville, the besieged Union army received a new commander—Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant—and significant reinforcements from Mississippi and Virginia. The Battles for Chattanooga marked Bragg's final days as an army commander. His weakened left flank (previously manned by Longstreet's troops) fell on November 24 during the Battle of Lookout Mountain. The following day in the Battle of Missionary Ridge, his primary defensive line successfully resisted an attack on its right flank, but the center was overwhelmed in a frontal assault by George Thomas's army. The Army of Tennessee was routed and retreated to Dalton, Georgia. Bragg offered his resignation on November 29 and was chagrined when Pres. Davis accepted it immediately. He turned over temporary command to Hardee on December 2 and was replaced with Joseph E. Johnston, who commanded the army in the 1864 Atlanta Campaign against William T. Sherman.
Advisor to the President.
In February 1864, Bragg was summoned to Richmond for consultation with Davis. The orders for his new assignment on February 24 read that he was "charged with the conduct of military operations of the Confederate States", but he was essentially Davis's military adviser or chief of staff without a direct command, a post once held by Robert E. Lee. Bragg used his organizational abilities to reduce corruption and improve the supply system. He took over responsibility for administration of the military prison system and its hospitals. He reshaped the Confederacy's conscription process by streamlining the chain of command and reducing conscripts' avenues of appeal. During his tenure in Richmond, he had numerous quarrels with significant figures, including the Secretary of War, the Commissary General, members of Congress, the press, and many of his fellow generals; the exception to the latter was Robert E. Lee, who treated Bragg politely and with deference and who had, Bragg knew, an exceptionally close relationship with the president.
In May, while Lee was occupied defending against Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in Virginia, Bragg focused on the defense of areas south and west of Richmond. He convinced Jefferson Davis to appoint P.G.T. Beauregard to an important role in the defense of Richmond and Petersburg. Meanwhile, Davis was concerned that Joseph Johnston, Bragg's successor at the Army of Tennessee, was defending too timidly against Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. He sent Bragg to Georgia on July 9, charged with investigating the tactical situation, but also evaluating the replacement of Johnston in command. Bragg harbored the hope that he might be chosen to return to command of the army, but was willing to support Davis's choice. Davis had hinted to Bragg that he thought Hardee would be an appropriate successor, but Bragg was reluctant to promote an old enemy and reported back that Hardee would provide no change in strategy from Johnston's. Bragg had extensive conversations with a more junior corps commander, Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood, and was impressed with his plans for taking offensive action, about which Hood had also been confidentially corresponding to Richmond for weeks behind Johnston's back. Davis chose Hood to replace Johnston.
Operations in North Carolina.
In October 1864, President Davis sent Bragg to assume temporary command of the defenses of Wilmington, North Carolina, and his responsibility was soon increased at the recommendation of Robert E. Lee to include all of the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia. In November, with William T. Sherman's March to the Sea under way, Davis ordered him to the defenses of Augusta, Georgia, and then to Savannah, Georgia, Charleston, South Carolina, and in January 1865, the defenses of Wilmington again. The Confederates were able to successfully repulse the first Union attempt to capture Fort Fisher, which dominated the seaborne supply line to Wilmington. However, when the Union returned in January, Bragg's performance in the Second Battle of Fort Fisher was poor. He assumed that the first failed siege meant that the fort was invulnerable, when in fact bad weather had played a large role. Thus, he did not come to the fort's assistance in a timely fashion after it was attacked the second time. The Confederates were forced to evacuate Wilmington, their last remaining seaport on the Atlantic coast.
Bragg's now-fragile military career began to crumble around him. To his disgust, Joseph E. Johnston was returned to service to command the remnants of the Army of Tennessee and other forces defending against Sherman in North Carolina. At about the same time, Bragg lost his position as military adviser to Davis when Robert E. Lee was promoted to be general in chief of all the Confederate armies in February, and John C. Breckinridge, who had hated Bragg since the debacle at Perryville, was named Secretary of War. Davis was sympathetic to Bragg's discomfort and discussed transferring him to command the Trans-Mississippi Department, replacing Edmund Kirby Smith, but the politicians from that region were strongly opposed. Bragg became in effect a corps commander (although his command was less than a division in size) under Johnston for the remainder of the Carolinas Campaign. His men were able to win a minor victory at the Second Battle of Kinston, March 7–10, and fought unsuccessfully at the Battle of Bentonville, March 19–21. After the fall of Richmond on April 2, Jefferson Davis and remnants of the Confederate government fled to the southwest. Bragg, who had been headquartered at Raleigh, North Carolina, caught up with Davis near Abbeville, South Carolina, on May 1. He attended the final cabinet meeting and was instrumental in convincing Davis that the cause was lost. Bragg and a small party of his staff rode to the west and were captured and paroled in Monticello, Georgia, on May 9.
Later life and death.
Bragg and Eliza had lost their home in late 1862 when the plantation in Thibodaux was confiscated by the Federal Army. It briefly served as a shelter, the Bragg Home Colony, for freed people under the control of the Freedmen's Bureau. The couple moved in with his brother, a plantation owner in Lowndesboro, Alabama, but they found the life of seclusion there to be intolerable. In 1867 Bragg became the superintendent of the New Orleans waterworks, but he was soon replaced by a formerly enslaved African-American man as the Reconstructionists came to power. In late 1869 Jefferson Davis offered Bragg a job as an agent for the Carolina Life Insurance Company. He worked there for four months before becoming dissatisfied with the profession and its low pay. He considered but rejected a position in the Egyptian Army. In August 1871 he was employed by the city of Mobile, Alabama, to improve the river, harbor, and bay, leaving after quarreling with a "combination of capitalists." Moving to Texas, he was appointed the chief engineer of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway in July 1874, but within a year disagreements with the board of directors over his compensation caused him to resign. He remained in Texas as inspector of railroads.
On September 27, 1876, at the age of 59, Bragg was walking down a street with a friend in Galveston, Texas, when he suddenly fell over unconscious. Dragged into a drugstore, he was dead within 10 to 15 minutes. A physician familiar with his history believed that he "died by the brain" (or of "paralysis of the brain"), suffering from the degeneration of cerebral blood vessels. An inquest ruled that his death was due to "fatal syncope" possibly induced by organic disease of the heart. He is buried in Magnolia Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama.
Personal life.
On his celebratory tour, Bragg visited Evergreen Plantation in Wallace, Louisiana, where he met 23-year-old Eliza Brooks Ellis, known to her friends as Elise, a wealthy sugar heiress. They were married on June 7, 1849, in the drawing room of Magnolia Manor, the Ellis plantation. The newlyweds relocated to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, on September 10. They were forced to leave this relatively comfortable assignment in October 1853 when they were transferred to Fort Gibson in the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Eight months later, they were transferred to Fort Washita, near the Texas border. The primitive conditions at these forts were unsuitable for the married couple, and after another six months Bragg requested leave, and the couple returned to Thibodaux. Bragg traveled to Washington to implore Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to reassign his artillery battery away from frontier duty, but was unsuccessful.
In June of 1863, Bragg received religious instruction and was baptised into the Episcopal Church in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
Historical reputation.
James M. McPherson's reference to "the bumblers like Bragg and Pemberton and Hood who lost the West" sums up the judgment of many modern historians. Bragg's shortcomings as an army commander included his unimaginative tactics, mostly his reliance on frontal assault (such as the Hornet's Nest at Shiloh, Breckinridge's assault at Stones River, and numerous instances at Chickamauga), and his lack of post-battle follow-up that turned tactical victories or draws into strategic disappointments (Perryville and Chickamauga). His sour disposition, penchant to blame others for defeat, and poor interpersonal skills undoubtedly caused him to be criticized more directly than many of his unsuccessful contemporaries. Peter Cozzens wrote about his relationship with subordinates:
Some counterarguments have emerged in recent years. Judith Lee Hallock called the blaming of Bragg for Confederate defeats in the west the "Bragg syndrome." While most agree he was not a particularly good army commander, historians such as Hallock and Steven E. Woodworth cite his skills as an organizer and argue that his defeat in several battles can also be partially blamed upon bad luck and incompetent subordinates, notably Polk. Of his troublesome subordinates, Hardee was considered to be a solid soldier even by Bragg. Polk, although personally brave and charismatic, was simply an average tactician known for piecemeal attacks and was seriously insubordinate. Unfortunately, he was a close friend of Davis, who was unwilling to relieve him. Woodworth claims that Bragg also never received the support Davis gave to Robert E. Lee and Sidney Johnston.
Historians Grady McWhiney and Woodworth have stated that, contrary to popular belief, Davis and Bragg were not friends, having bitterly quarreled during the antebellum years. Davis was impressed with Bragg's qualifications for high command early in the war, but was willing to relieve him by 1863. Judith Hallock noted that there was mutual admiration between Davis and Bragg during his assignment in Richmond, perhaps because of the respect Bragg gave to the president.
Legacy.
The following places in the United States are named for Bragg:


Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery

The Mokelumne River River Fish Hatchery is a fish hatchery in San Joaquin County, California, built in 1963 by the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD).
History.
The hatchery was built in 1963 to offset the loss of fish spawning habitat due to the construction of Camanche Dam.
From 1987 to 1992, there was a drought in the area. Low flows and a series of fish kills reduced the Mokelumne River steelhead run during the 1980s.
In response, EBMUD implemented several programs to improve water quality, flow regimes, and physical habitat in the lower Mokelumne River. The hatchery was remodeled in July 2002, enlarging the rearing space to promote fish health and fish survival rates while also making hatchery operations more efficient.
Since then, the Lower Mokelumme River Fishery Resource has thrived, as evidenced by counts of fall-run Chinook salmon escapement or returning salmon. Returning salmon increased by 3,028 from 1998 to 2003.
Access.
The hatchery is owned by EBUMD and operated by the California Department of Fish and Game and is open every day (including holidays) from 7:00 am to 3:00;pm.
It is located in northeast San Joaquin County, California at the base of the Camanche Dam and is reached by taking McIntire Road north from State Route 12.
A limited number of educational tours are provided for schools and other organized groups. The topics covered by the tour are: the biology of Chinook salmon and Steelhead trout, the purpose and operations of the hatchery, and the importance of conserving river watersheds. Casual visitors may take a self-guided tour.
The hatchery is also a popular destination for fishing, wildlife watching, and hiking.
All trails at the hatchery are paved and wheelchair accessible.


Tipperary Station

Tipperary Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station. It is located about east of Daly River and south of Adelaide River, Northern Territory, Australia. Composed primarily of open grazing land the property occupies an area of . The two adjoining sister properties are Elizabeth Downs and Litchfield Stations, all three currently operate as a single entity often referred to as the "Tipperary Group".
Description.
Tipperary is divided into 72 paddocks with an average size of and along with neighbouring Litchfield has six permanent steel yards, one set of portable yards, 20 aluminium tanks and 15 bores. The area has a wide variety of natural watering points in the form of springs, creeks and swamps although some can dry up prior to the wet season.
The property shares a boundary with Litchfield National Park and Litchfield Station to the north, Ban Ban Springs and Douglas Stations to the east, unclaimed Crown Land to the south and the Malak Malak Aboriginal Land Trust to the west.
History.
Established in 1914, the station was taken by William James Byrne who had previously owned a business in Brocks Creek, and eventually acquired Burnside station. By 1914 he sold Burnside and established Tipperary just beyond the Burnside boundary.
Byrne settled on the property with his wife Elizabeth and they had seven sons, only four of whom lived to adulthood.
Many cattle were killed in late 1925 along the river boundary to the station. Byrne posted a £50 reward for information leading to the conviction of the "scoundrel" responsible.
When William Byrne died in 1941, the station was left under the management of his widow and three remaining sons, who were also managing neighbouring Burnside Station.
Part of Tipperary was surrendered to the Crown in 1986 along with portions of Stapleton and Camp Creek pastoral leases to form Litchfield National Park.
The station was once owned by entrepreneur Warren Anderson who bought the property in the mid-1980s. Anderson built a zoo stocked with 1800–2200 animals including a pygmy hippopotamus and a rhinoceros. Other facilities included an indoor equestrian centre, an bitumen runway suitable for a Boeing 727 to land, and resort accommodation. He had intended to stock the group with 200,000 head of cattle but struck financial problems and sold the property in 2003.
The group was then acquired by Melbourne-based barrister Allan Myers QC for $50 million along with the 80,000 cattle. Myers also acquired Elizabeth Downs, Fish River and Litchfield stations.
The Australian Agricultural Company offered 105 million to acquire Tipperary and Litchfield stations along with the 60,000 head of cattle in 2009, but its shareholders voted against the acquisition at an extraordinary general meeting held three months later.
In 2011, the Australian Agricultural Company (AAco) purchased the Tipperary group's cattle herd of 53,000 head for 26 million, and also entered a one-year agreement to use the station group for agistment purposes with options to extend.
, David Warriner, the head of the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association, was managing the group which was stocked with 70,000 cattle raised for live export to Indonesia.
In September 2014 AAco elected NOT to exercise their option to continue with the agistment agreement and decided to de-stock and exit the station by June 2015.
In March of that year, 2015, ex Australian Agricultural Company chief operating officer, David Connolly was appointed as the general manager of the Tipperary Group and took over responsibility for the overall management of the group and the AAco drawdown and exit.


Bill Cashmore (politician)

Bill Cashmore is a New Zealand local government politician, the current Deputy Mayor of Auckland, and has represented the Franklin ward on the Auckland Council since 2013.
Personal life.
Educated at Orere School and King's College, Cashmore with his father and brother on their family farm until taking over as owner and manager in 1989. He is married to Lynnette Cashmore and has two sons.
Political career.
Cashmore's political career began when he was elected as a member of the Clevedon community board in 1991. He would go on to become the Chairman between 1992 and 1994. Between 1994 and 2000 he was a member of the Auckland Regional Council Environmental Management Committee and in 2009 and 2010 he was a member of the Auckland Regional Council Rural Liaison group. In 2010 he became the Federated Farmers executive for the Auckland Province and a representative to the Animal health board.
He is a member of the New Zealand National Party.
Auckland Council.
Following the amalgamation of councils and community boards in 2010 into the Auckland Council, Cashmore ran for, and was elected as a member of, the Franklin Local Board. He then went on to become Deputy chair of the board in 2011. In 2013 he was elected as an Auckland Councillor, replacing the incumbent, Des Morrison, who had retired. He was appointed chair of the Auckland Council's rural advisory panel. In 2015 he became the chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and a member of the Political steering group for the Auckland Transport Alignment Project. He was re-elected unopposed in 2016, and re-elected unopposed again in 2019.
Deputy Mayor.
Following Phil Goff's election as Mayor of Auckland in 2016, Cashmore was picked as Deputy Mayor. As a result of his appointment, Cashmore was appointed to the Appointments and Performance Review, Civil Defence & Emergency Management, Community Development and Safety, Regulatory, and Auckland Domain Committees, as an ex-officio member.


Datus Ensing Coon

Datus Ensing Coon (1831 - 1893) was a newspaper publisher, commander of a brigade of Iowa volunteers in the Union Army, a planter and state politician in Alabama, a delegate to the 1875 Alabama Constitutional Convention, and a fraternal order of veterans president in San Diego, California. He served as a state legislator during the Reconstruction era in Alabama. representing Dallas County, Alabama in the Alabama House of Representatives. He served on investigating committee evaluating corruption allegations against U.S. Senator George E. Spencer.
He was born in New York. He worked on a farm in Iowa with his father before starting a newspaper. He served as a colonel during the American Civil War (2nd brigade C.C.M.D.M.).
In 1872 he was documented as an inspector in the 2nd District of Alabama. A specimen of gypsiferous marl from him in Selma, Alabama was documented in an agricultural report in 1872.
He served as U.S. Commercial Agent in Baracoa, Cuba.
He moved to San Diego in 1878 to serve as a "Chinese Inspector" (Chinese Exclusion Act). He was a leading member of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) in San Diego and was accidentally shot in 1893. The organization named one of its posts for him.
He is buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery in San Diego.


List of forests of South Africa

List of forests of South Africa, among other terms used it usually means "an area with a high density of trees" are wood, woodland, wold, weald and holt. Unlike forest, these are all derived from Old English and were not borrowed from another language.


Hawkesbury Agricultural College

Hawkesbury Agricultural College was the first agricultural college in New South Wales, Australia, based in Richmond. It operated from 1891 to 1989.
It was established on 10 March 1891, and formally opened by Minister for Mines and Agriculture Sydney Smith on 16 March.
The college initially operated out of two historic residences in Richmond, "Toxana" and "Andrew Towns House", with construction of the campus buildings beginning from 1895. Two central campus precincts, the Quadrangle (the initial teaching area) and Stable Square (the initial base for student practical work), both date from this initial 1890s phase of construction. Stable Square, now the main student recreation and support facilities, was designed by Walter Liberty Vernon; it was completed in 1895, burned down in April 1896, and was then rebuilt.
The college was operated by the state Department of Agriculture. Initially offering a two-year full-time residential course in general agriculture, it expanded to three years in 1910, after which time the course became known as the Hawkesbury Diploma in Agriculture. A dairying diploma was also introduced in 1910.
The first female students were admitted in 1971, at which time the college began relaxing requirements that students reside on campus. It became a College of Advanced Education from 1 January 1972. It continued to be operated by the Department of Agriculture until 1976, after which time it became autonomous with its own governing council.
It operated a separate residential campus at Scheyville, using the former Officer Training Unit, Scheyville buildings, from 1977 to 1983. It was solely residential, with all teaching remaining at the Richmond campus, and the college opted to consolidate all operations there at the conclusion of its five-year lease.
Notable faculty included George Lowe Sutton, while notable students included Walter Lawry Waterhouse.
In 1985, Premier Neville Wran initiated a Higher Education Board inquiry into higher education in Western Sydney, headed by Ron Parry. The report recommended the amalgamation of the Hawkesbury Agricultural College and the Nepean College of Advanced Education to form a new university. The state government gave effect to the report's recommendations in the "University of Western Sydney Act 1988", and the college formally amalgamated into the new University of Western Sydney from 1 January 1989. It thereafter became the university's Hawkesbury campus.


Menengai Forest

Menengai Forest is an urban forest situated within the town of Nakuru in Kenya. The Menengai Crater is within the forest. It was gazetted as a forest in the 1930s. It is surrounded by residential areas of Milimani Estate in the South, Ngachura and Bahati in the East, Solai in the North and Olo-Rongai in the West. Various Government of Kenya facilities have been hived off from the forest; these include the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and the Nakuru G.K Prison. There is also a geothermal exploration project by the Geothermal Development Company inside the Menengai Crater floor.
Altitude.
It is situated in an elevated area which ranges from 1900–2300 metres above sea level.
Area.
The forest covers an area of about 7000 Hectares. The actual forested area is about 2000 Hectares.
Flora.
The main tree species in the forest are eucalyptus and acacia. Over 169 species of flowering plants and 17 species of grasses have been recorded in Menengai Forest. Example of flowering plants include leleshwa ("Tarchonanthus camphoratus"), "Euphorbia" species and "Acacia" species. Common grasses in the forest include geothermal grass ("Fimbristylis exilis") and Boma Rhodes grass.
Fauna.
There are mammals, birds and insects. Mammal species include the tree hyrax, rock hyrax, olive baboon, black-faced vervet monkey, mountain reedbuck, Kirk's dik-dik and slender mongoose. Birds species include the Verreaux's eagle (only found in Menengai Forest in Nakuru), Abyssinian ground hornbill, lesser spotted eagle, African marsh harrier, Horus swift, turn-tailed ravens, red-winged sterling, and others. Other animals include spiders, molluscs and butterflies.
Soils.
The forest stands on soils derived from volcanic ash. The soil texture is mainly sandy and is very easily eroded.
Management.
The forest is under the management of the Kenya Forest Service in collaboration with the Menengai Community Forest Association
Menengai Crater.
The Menengai Crater is found within the forest. The possible date of formation of the Menengai Caldera was during the third and last major faulting of the Gregory Rift valley in the middle Pleistocene epoch of the Quaternary period less than one million years ago. This major faulting resulted in very complex grid patterns, dropping the Rift valley a further approximately 300 metres (from the original drops of approximately 1200 metres and 900 metres with the first and second major faulting respectively). These latter minor faultings which both occurred during the upper Pleistocence led to the formation of new fractures and renewals on older fracture lines in Nakuru Basin and West of Lake Nakuru respectively.
The first minor faulting was accompanied by the emission of pumice showers from the Menengai Crater forming a pumice mantle, mainly on the western flank of Menengai. The pumice mantle forms a crudely stratified deposit, up to 15 metres thick. The pumice mantle was originally believed to represent the first stage in the formation of a caldera of the Krakatoan type. However, after reconsideration of the whole mechanism of caldera formation by comparing the form of Menengai with the form of the deeply eroded syenitic ring-complex west of Oslo, Norway it is now believed that cauldron subsidence and deep seated migration of magma were contributing factors. The process is envisaged as:
Near Menengai summit, a few ejected blocks of these black vitreous lava are mixed with the pumice mantle on the outer slopes. To the south-west the lavas overlie the pumice mantle. The mode of origin of the pumice lapilli eruptives is not certain, but stratification, sorting and lack of lithic inclusions suggest vulcanian showers rather than flowing avalanches, and their concentration to the west of Menengai suggest a control by wind direction.
Later volcanic flows during the recent times (up to 2000 years ago) resulted in the formation of the Upper Menengai big lavas, which fill the caldera and are represented by trachyte lava flows and scoria cones. Trachyte lavas completely cover the floor of the caldera, concealing the rocks of the older volcano. The products of these late eruptions which are believed, from the complete absence of vegetation on some of the younger flows, to have continued up to the last few hundred years, have been described by McCall, 1957, p. 66.7. They form slaggy tongue- shaped flows emanating from various points in the caldera but mainly from the vicinity of the secondary summit and their flow was restricted by the caldera walls. They are characterized by beautifully developed pressure ridge patterns resembling those of a glacier. They include blocky flows apparently entirely composed of jumbled boulders, some massive flows, and also flows composed of twisted ropes of vitreous lavas. The lavas are characteristically black in colour and are for the most part vitreous, though they grade from nearly holocystalline types to streaky obsidian. There are many conical piles of cinders of similar material within the caldera, but no well defined secondary crater. Similar cinder piles being products of their waning stage.
These upper lavas are almost entirely restricted within the caldera but have spilled out over the caldera rim on the outer slopes at two points. The most conspicuous overspill is close to a line of small craterlets South-West of nakuru and there may be some genetic connection. The massive trachyte exposed in the Amolak Sigh Quarry is believed to belong to the upper lava series, though unlike most of these late lavas it is holocrystallive. The overspill probably represents one of the very earliest of these second series eruptions. The later lava seems to continue down the caldera wall into the caldera, and this may well be a ring feeder structure similar to the famous backward flow Crater Lake, USA, a ring feeder actually cut through by the caldera fault. Similar structures are seen in Mount Suswa caldera.


Tom Newbery

Thomas Guy Newbery (23 March 1914 – 30 October 1984) was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.
Biography.
Newbery was born at Mackay, Queensland, the son of Ernest Newbery and his wife Maude (née Nicholson). He was educated at West Plane Creek, Labornum Grove, Langdons Creek and Sarina State Schools, and All Souls' School, Charters Towers. After finishing his education he became a sugarcane farmer.
On 1 March 1939, he married Jessie Lambert and together they had a son and two daughters. Newbery died in October 1984 and was accorded a state funeral, which was held at the St Luke's Anglican Church, Sarina.
Public career.
Newbery was a long-term a member of the Sarina Shire Council, serving for over 28 years. He was Deputy Chairman of the shire from 1955 until 1964, and Chairman from 1964 until 1974.
When the member for Mirani, Ernie Evans, died in 1965, Newbery won the subsequent by-election for the Country Party. He went on to represent the electorate for fifteen years, retiring at the 1980 Queensland state election.
During his time in the Queensland Parliament he held several portfolios and other positions:
Newbery was Minister for Police in 1976, at the time of the promotion of the corrupt police officer Terry Lewis to the post of Assistant Commissioner, over 122 equal or more senior officers. Upon being told that Lewis was to be appointed as his deputy, then-Police Commissioner Ray Whitrod reportedly told Newbery that the appointment was "shattering", that it was widely known that Lewis had been one of Frank Bischof's bagmen, and that "everybody in the police force knows that Lewis is corrupt", to which Newbery replied, "Well that was when he was a detective sergeant – he is now an inspector and wouldn’t do that sort of thing". Newbery claimed that the decision had been made by Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Lewis's appointment led Whitrod to resign, with Lewis being appointed Police Commissioner in his stead. Following the revelations of the 1987–1989 Fitzgerald Inquiry, Lewis resigned in disgrace and was imprisoned for corruption.


James Dickson (Swedish politician)

James Iwan Axel Dickson (18 March 1899 – 6 March 1980) was a Swedish politician, agronomist and chamberlain.
Career.
Dickson was born on 18 March 1899 in Gothenburg, Sweden, the son of Axel Dickson and his wife Nancy Bratt. He passed "studentexamen" at Lundsbergs boarding school in 1917 and gained an international flight certificate the same year. In 1920, Dickson was posted to the Swedish Army Air Force ("Arméflyget"). Three years later he graduated with a agronomist degree in Alnarp before making repeated trips to several European countries and to North America, Asia and Africa. Dickson became a "Valet de chambre" in 1928 and captain of the "Landstorm" in 1938 and he served as captain of the Finnish Army during the Winter War from 1939 to 1940. Back in Sweden, Dickson was appointed chamberlain in 1940 and he became conscript captain in 1944. He served in the "Landstorm" from 1935 to 1938 and from 1943 to 1946 and from 1951. Dickson became captain of the reserve in 1948. During World War II, Dickson was also commander of the so called "D Group" of the C-byrån, the Swedish foreign intelligence service, responsible of the provinces of Jämtland and Härjedalen.
Dickson served as chairman of the "Kommunalstämma" from 1927 to 1951, of the municipal council from 1927 to 1939 and from 1944 to 1951, of the municipal board ("Kommunalnämnd") from 1927 to 1939 and of the "Kyrkostämman" in 1940. He served as a member of a county council from 1935 to 1938, from 1943 to 1946 and from 1951 to 1966. Furthermore, Dickson was a member of the lower house of the Riksdag for The Right from 1941 to 1968 ("Allmänna beredningsutskottet", "Stadsrevisionen" in 1966 for the Right Wing Party). He also served as an expert in the Department of Municipal Affairs ("Kommundepartementet") in 1947 and in the Department of the Interior ("Inrikesdepartementet") from 1948. He was a member of the Council of Europe from 1949 to 1956, a member of the 1947 Aviation Investigation ("1947 års luftfartsutredning"), of the National Public Baths Investigation ("Statens folkbadsutredning") from 1948 to 1954 and of the "1954 års brandlagsrevision" from 1954 to 1960. Dickson also served as member of the City Council ("Stadsfullmäktige") from 1951 to 1958. Dickson also drew attention when he brought a grass snake as a pet into the Riksdag. He had taken care of the snake that his children found injured in the forest. The character "Snoke-Dicke" in the "Barna Hedenhös" book "Barna Hedenhös blir kungliga" (1954) is inspired by Dickson.
Dickson was president of Gothenburg's Rotary Club from 1939 to 1940. He was chairman of the Swedish Association of Conscript Officers ("Värnpliktiga officerares riksförbund") from 1944 to 1947, of the "Norra Älvsborgs högerförbund" ("Northern Älvsborg's Moderate Association") from 1951 to 1965 (honorary chairman in 1965) and of the Sweden-Finland Society ("Samfundet Sverige-Finland") from 1955 to 1959. Dickson was chairman of the board of the British Factory in Gothenburg from 1955 and of the AB Pripp & Lyckholm from 1956 to 1959.
Personal life.
In 1923 he married Vanja Bergh (1903–2004), the daughter of Martin Bergh and Anna Strokirk. Children: Maud (born 1924), Marianne (born 1926), Birgitta (born 1929) and Archibald (born 1933).
Dickson died on 6 March 1980 in Alingsås.
Awards and decorations.
Dickson's awards:


Rubina Nature Reserve

Rubina Nature Reserve () is a nature reserve in Viljandi County in southern Estonia.
The nature reserve is aimed at protecting the rare forested wetland landscape in the area, and the flora and fauna that thrives there. The area, rich in bogs, swamps and lakes, is an important resting place for migratory birds, but also supports a permanent population of birds such as black stork and white-tailed eagle. The wetlands in the area also support fish, such as the protected European weatherfish (Misgurnus fossilis). The flora in the nature reserve is notable for the large number of unusual orchids that can be found there.


Anheuser family

The Anheuser family is a family from the Nahe in the Rhineland-Palatinate. The American brewery family of Anheuser-Busch fame are descendants of Eberhard Anheuser who was born in Bad Kreuznach. The Anheuser family has been producing German wine in the Nahe since the 17th century and has continued producing wine for 13 generations under the name of Weingut Paul Anheuser.
History.
The earliest record of winemaking by the Anheusers dates to 1627 with an Anheuser operating a winery in Bad Kreuznach. In 1842, Eberhard Anheuser immigrated to St. Louis, Missouri while his nephew Rudolf Anheuser began purchasing more vineyards in the Nahe valley around the towns of Altenbamberg, Monzingen, Niederhausen, Norheim, Schloßböckelheim and Roxheim. In 1861, Eberhard Anheuser saw the marriage of both of his daughters to the sons of a German wine merchant from Mainz. He opened a brewery with one of his sons-in-law, Adolphus Busch.


Armenian wine

Armenian wine is wine made in Armenia, in the region of South Caucasus. Armenia is one of the oldest wine producing regions of the world. In particular, the oldest known winery was found in Armenia's Areni region (see Areni-1 winery), which to this day is still known of its wine production and endemic grapes.
History.
Since ancient days Armenia has been famous for its wine-making traditions which are still kept in practice to this day. The ancient winery found in the Areni cave dates back to 4000 BC (see Areni-1 winery), and is the oldest one in the world found to this date, with the grape seeds found shown by genetic analyses to be those of the already domesticated Vitis vinifera. The written recorded history of Armenian wine can trace its roots back to 401–400 BC, when the Greek armies led by Xenophon passed through Armenian lands and were reportedly treated with wine and beer. These beverages were prepared and stored in "karases" (clay pots). Archaeological excavations carried out by academic Pyatrovski in the 19th and 20th centuries have confirmed that in the 9th century BC, what is modern-day Yerevan was a wine-making centre. Archaeologists have also found wine storehouses with 480 "karases" in the Teishebaini fortress located in Yerevan. Each karas can reportedly hold up to 37,000 daL of wine. Excavation works in both the Karmir Blur and Erebuni sites uncovered a total of 10 wine storehouses holding 200 karases. These excavations proved Armenia's ancient wine-making culture.
As part of the Soviet Union, wine production increased nine times between 1940 and 1985, while brandy production increased seventeen times, and from 1960 to 1986, the production of sparkling wines increased 10 times. In the 1980s Armenia annually processed an average of about 210 thousand tons of grapes from which it received 14–15 million decalitres of wine. Two million were used in producing brandy; the remaining part was used for wine making. During the 1980s Armenia provided 25% of brandy made in the entire Soviet Union. Three quarters of released production was exported mainly to Russia. Many people today still utilise the same methods used three millenniums ago, processing grapes and receive wine in special premises.
Nowadays most factories in Armenia use oak barrels to store wine, however many villages and smaller producers still use the traditional karases. Karases are traditionally made out of Armenian oak, thus giving the karases a pinkish color and giving wines a natural taste of vanilla, chocolate and dried fruits. Wines from local Armenian grades of grapes adjoining to the surface of the barrels from the Armenian oak, give rise to unique a bouquet. This unique combination is very difficult to the point of being almost impossible to reproduce in any other country of the world.
The fertile valleys of the South Caucasus, which Armenia finds itself in, are believed by many archaeologists to be the source of the world's first cultivated grapevines and neolithic wine production, over 6000 years ago. Although not a large player in the world of wine today, Armenian wine played an important role in the history of wine, and it has been suggested that the domestication of the Eurasian grape first occurred in
the mountainous regions of Armenia before moving to the south.
During all this time they never stopped making wine. They were one of the main wine producers in the Soviet Union and have since started exporting their wine worldwide. Armenian wine spread to Africa. During the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire during World War I, some Armenians fled to Ethiopia, where they cultivated vineyards. Many Armenian reds are very sweet and rich, and Ethiopian wine has a similar quality.
During periods of Islamic rule, Armenians were the suppliers of alcoholic beverages, such as wine, to the Muslims, who were not allowed to distill alcohol.
In 2011 archaeologists in Armenia announced the discovery of the world's oldest-known wine production facility. Located in the Areni cave complex, it consists of a shallow basin used to press grapes, a vat for storage, and fermentation jars. They also found grape seeds, remains of pressed grapes, and dozens of dried vines. The seeds were from "Vitis vinifera", a grape still used to make wine. The cave remains date to about 4000 BC – 900 years before the earliest comparable wine remains, found in Egyptian tombs. Archaeologist Gregory Areshian of UCLA says, "The site gives us a new insight into the earliest phase of horticulture—how they grew the first orchards and vineyards."
Gregory Areshian, co-director of the excavation and assistant director of the University of California Los Angeles's Cotsen Institute of Archaeology stated that "It's the oldest proven case of documented and dedicated wine production, stretching back the horizons of this important development by thousands of years,"
Wine-making in Armenia.
Wine production during the Soviet era.
During the Soviet Union, specifically during 1930 and 1970, winemaking studies were developed specifically for the sherry type. The production of sherry type wines had a significant role in the development of viticultural technologies of the Soviet Union. In the regions of the former USSR, sherry type wines were produced in Crimea, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Krasnodar, Rostov, and Armenia. Many scientific sources indicate that during the Soviet Union the production of sherry type wines was mainly focused in Armenia.
The production of sherry wine in Armenia was established by N.N. Prostoserdov and R.L. Afrikyan, two prominent Soviet oenologists. In 1931 Prostoserdov and Afrikyan discovered that non-hermetic karases (Armenian clay amphorae) produce pellicles. The reason for the formation of pellicles on the surface of the wine was found to be the Sacch.cheresiensis armeniensis yeast similar to those found in Spanish wines. This discovery thus proved that sherry yeast can be found not only in Spanish but also in wines of other countries.
Armenian sherry type wines are made from the Voskehat (Kharji) and Chilar ingenious grape varieties. Armenian sherry was considered a high quality wine and was second in volume of production after Armenian brandy production.
"Ashtarak" was the first sherry type wine produced in Soviet Armenia. It was produced by the Ashtarak Wine Factory, subdivisions of which were situated in Oshakan and village Voskevaz.
Current status.
A large number wineries and vineyards are found throughout the provinces of Armenia.
Here is a list of wineries/distilleries/producers of alcoholic drinks, classified by the provinces of Armenia:
Aragatsotn Province.
The wine produced in Aragatsotn is mainly from the vineyards located to the south of the Aragats and Arteni mountains. The village of Voskevaz has an ancient history of wine-making. Many karases were found in the nearby church of Surp Hovhannes, dating back to the 7th century.
Ararat Province.
The wine produced in Ararat is mainly from the vineyards of the Ararat plain.
Armavir Province.
The ancient city of Argishtikhinili located within the territories of Ararat province, was a major centre for wine production. Large storage areas for wine and grains were found by archaeologists within the fortifications of the ancient town dating back to the 8th century BC. The wine produced in Armavir is mainly from the vineyards of the Ararat plain.
Tavush Province.
The wine produced in Tavush is mainly from the vineyards of the Aghstev river valley. Modern viticulture in the Tavush region has been developed since the 1950s. However, the Ijevan winery is particularly famous for its pomegranate wine.
Vayots Dzor Province.
Vayots Dzor is one of the ancient regions that produce wine in the Caucasus. The wine produced from the Vayots Dzor vineyards – particularly from the region of Areni – is known as "Areni wine". Vayots Dzor is home to the annual "Areni wine festival" launched in 2009.
Yerevan.
Archaeological excavations carried out by academic "Pyatrovski" in the 19th and 20th centuries have confirmed that in the area of modern-day Yerevan was a wine making and producing region as early as the 9th century BC. In the Urartian fortress of Teishebaini near Yerevan, archaeologists found a wine storehouse with 480 "karases" (wine potteries), which hold 37,000 daL of wine. During excavations in the most ancient settlements of Erebuni/Yerevan, including the "Karmir Blur" site and the Erebuni Fortress of 782 BC, archaeologists found 10 wine storehouses in which more than 200 "karases" were kept.


Anakena (wine)

Anakena is a privately owned winery based in the Alto Cachopoal area of the Rapel Valley of Chile. It produces a variety of styles. In September 2015 Anakena was bought by Accolade Wines for $30 million.
Overview.
Vina Anakena was founded by Felipe Ibáñez and childhood friend, Jorge Gutiérrez, in 1999. Anakena currently owns over of vineyards ( in Cachapoal Valley, hectares in Leyda in the San Antonio Valley, in Cerro Ninquén in the Colchagua Valley, and in Las Cabras, near the Peumo area) producing 400,000 cases of wine per year. The wines are exported to over 40 countries around the world.
Culture.
The name Anakena signifies ‘bird cave’ in the Rapa Nui culture (based on the birdman legend).
The legend of the Tangata manu (bird-man) tells that the Easter Island seagull, or Manu tara, hid its precious egg in a secret hideaway, or Anakena. Every year the bravest islanders swam the long distance from Rapa Nui to the islet of Motu Nui in search of the egg. The one who found it and carried it safely back to Rapa Nui was given the title of birdman, or Tangata manu, and bestowed with honour and fortune.
Anakena uses ancestral engravings and pictographs on its labels to reflect its commitment to Chile’s native cultures and show the world the cultural and artistic legacy of all the precolumbian people who preceded them.
Winery.
Anakena’s winery is in size and contains 148 stainless steel tanks and 1,300 barrels, enabling the production of 3.5 million litres of wine per year. All the wines are bottled in the cellar.
There is also a wine store and visitor centre. Tours of the vineyards can be arranged in advance.
Winemaking.
Winemaking at Anakena is overseen by chief oenologist, Gonzalo Pérez. Gonzalo has been making wine for over 15 years and previously held winemaking positions at a number of Chilean wineries including Santa Rita, Viña Francisco de Aguirre, Viña Cantera and Viña Tarapacá.
Anakena Portfolio.
Varietal range:
Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot,
Carmenère,
Chardonnay,
Sauvignon Blanc,
Cabernet Sauvignon Rose
Indo range:
Merlot-Syrah,
Cabernet-Syrah,
Sauvignon Blanc,
Chardonnay,
Single Vineyard range:
Sauvignon Blanc,
Viognier,
Riesling,
Late Harvest,
Pinot Noir,
Carmenère,
Malbec,
Syrah,
Cabernet Sauvignon
ONA range:
Sauvignon Blanc,
Riesling-Viognier-Chardonnay,
Pinot Noir-Merlot-Syrah-Viognier,
Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot-Carmenère,
Syrah


Rudolf Mansfeld

Rudolf Mansfeld (17 January 1901, Berlin – 1960) was a German botanist and agricultural scientist.
For more than twenty years, he worked as a curator at the Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum in Berlin-Dahlem. Here he specialized in studies of Orchidaceae (orchids) and Euphorbiaceae (spurges). Following World War II, by way of a request from agriculturalist Hans Stubbe (1902-1989), he accepted a position as a laboratory technician at the Gatersleben Institute. In 1949 he succeeded Werner Rothmaler (1908-1962) as departmental director. During his last ten years at Gatersleben, he was in charge of the department of systematics.
Works.
As an agricultural scientist, he developed principles for the classification of cultivated plants, and also provided a scientific basis towards the establishment and preservation of large collections of cultivated plants (gene banks). He is remembered for the encyclopedia, "Verzeichnis landwirtschaftlicher und gärtnerischer Kulturpflanzen (ohne Zierpflanzen)", later translated into English and published as "Mansfeld's Encyclopedia of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops". Other noted writings by Mansfeld include: