John Milton Brannan

John Milton Brannan (July 1, 1819 – December 16, 1892) was an American military officer who served with distinction in the Mexican–American War as a United States Army artillery officer and as a Union Army brigadier general of United States Volunteers in the American Civil War. Brannan held command of the Department of Key West at Fort Zachary Taylor, Florida, part of the Union effort to hold federal installations within Confederate territories early in the war. Later, and most notably, he served as a division commander of the Union XIV Corps at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863.

Brannan was scandalized by the highly publicized disappearance of his first wife, Eliza Crane Brannan, daughter of Colonel Ichabod B. Crane, in 1858; she mysteriously disappeared after taking a ferry from Staten Island to Lower Manhattan and was initially presumed to have committed suicide or been murdered, but it was later discovered that she had secretly fled to Europe and married another United States Army artillery officer, First Lieutenant Powell T. Wyman.

Early life and education Brannan was born in Washington, D.C., to John and Sarah Brannan, née Myers. Following the death of his father in 1828, the family remained in Washington, D.C., where his mother was remarried in 1833.

As a young man, Brannan served for about five years as a messenger in the United States House of Representatives. In 1837, he secured an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. His application was sponsored by Congressman Ratliff Boon, the United States representative from Indiana, with the support of numerous other representatives Brannan would have known from his work in the House chamber.

Four years later, Brannan graduated from West Point, ranked 23rd of 52 cadets in the Class of 1841, and was commissioned as a brevet second lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Artillery.

Military career Shortly after graduation from the military academy, Brannan joined his artillery company at Plattsburgh, New York, where he was present during the border dispute with Canada during that time. The regiment mostly remained in posts throughout the Northeastern United States until the time of the Mexican–American War.

After the war, Brannan was appointed a staff officer, serving in the capacity of regimental adjutant of the 1st U.S. Artillery between April 1847 and November 1854. On November 4, 1854, Brannan was promoted to captain, assuming command of Battery B, 1st U.S. Artillery. He remained in the Southeastern United States at various forts and posts from 1856 until 1861.

Brannan was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and transferred to the 4th U.S. Artillery on January 10, 1877, but returned shortly thereafter to the 1st U.S. Artillery.

He was promoted again to lead the 4th U.S. Artillery with the rank of colonel on March 15, 1881, and retired from the U.S. Army on April 19, 1882. They had one daughter named Alida.

While Brannan was posted in Key West, Florida, from 1856, Eliza and their daughter lived in Staten Island, New York, with her mother.

On July 20, 1858, Eliza Brannan disappeared while she was out shopping in New York City. After days of searching, it was believed by officials that she was dead. John Brannan reportedly feared she had committed suicide in a moment of temporary insanity. In 1860, however, Eliza Brannan contacted her brother (Dr. Charles Crane) and notified him that she was, in fact, alive: having originally fled to Italy, she was now remarried and living in Paris, France. Dr. Crane notified Brannan of the news that his wife still lived. Brannan soon learned that the man who Eliza had remarried was Powell T. Wyman. A career artillery officer of the 1st U.S. Artillery, Wyman met Eliza Brannan through a mutual acquaintance and the two corresponded after her flight to Europe. In 1860, First Lieutenant Wyman was denied a leave of absence to visit his lover, and instead resigned his commission and traveled to Italy to join (and later marry) Eliza Brannan. At some point between 1860 and 1862, Wyman and Eliza Brannan returned to the United States, where they lived openly as a married couple.

Brannan never reconciled with his wife; he obtained a decree of divorce in 1863.