Carter Moore Braxton

Carter Moore Braxton Jr. (1836–1898) was an American civil engineer and businessman in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, and a Confederate artillery officer, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel during the American Civil War.

Early and family life Carter Moore Braxton Jr. was born in Norfolk, Virginia on September 5, 1836, the son of Virginia legislator and planter Carter Moore Braxton Sr. by his third wife, Elizabeth Teagle Mayo Braxton. Elliott Muse Braxton was his elder half brother. There Carter Moore Braxton Sr. died in 1847, when this boy was eleven. C.M. Braxton finished his education at the Hanover Academy, then moved to Fredericksburg. There he rose to become chief engineer in charge of construction for the Fredericksburg and Gordonsville Railroad by the start of the American Civil War, but only grading had begun. A Carter Braxton, either this man or a relative, owned 94 slaves in the eastern district of Hanover County in 1850.

Military career

During the American Civil War he enlisted in the forces of the Confederacy, and on May 8, 1861, was made captain of the artillery company from Fredericksburg which became known as Braxton's Battery. About a year later he was appointed chief of artillery on the staff of General A. P. Hill, in which capacity he served throughout the war.

Death Following the conflict, Braxton moved to Newport News and lived there till death. He died of Bright's disease in Newport News on May 27, 1898, in his sixty-first year. His wife and five children were with him when he died. He was buried in the local Greenlawn Cemetery.