BRAGGS — His name was Solomon Bragg, a pioneer businessman of the late 1800s, now buried in South Bethel Cemetery.
He also was a veteran of the Civil War and the Mexican War. Members of the Braggs History Project are erecting monuments to honor Bragg and other war veterans, as well as veterans who served in peace time.
The monuments will be dedicated at an Independence Day observance 7 p.m. Monday at Veterans Park. Veterans Park is across from Braggs Town Hall. Festivities will include patriotic music, a speech by Victor Williams of the American Legion and a fireworks display at dusk. Between the ceremony and fireworks display, Sand Creek and Southern Blend will provide entertainment, and the American Legion will sell sandwiches and drinks.
“We wanted to go back as far as we could to document Braggs residents who served in wars,” said Pat Hutchens Isbell of the Braggs History Project.
The new monuments join other markers honoring Braggs residents who served in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. All the monuments are funded through sales of Braggs history books, now entering its seventh volume.
With only 16 names, the monument for the early wars is considerably smaller than the 1,600-pound World War II monument, which bears 306 names.
Solomon Bragg is listed as the one veteran of the Mexican War, which was fought between 1846 and 1848. Bragg also was listed among seven Civil War veterans. The monument also lists eight veterans of the Spanish-American War of 1898.
“There weren’t that many we could locate because there is no master list of war veterans,” Isbell said. “We had to search census records to find who served in the military.”
Isbell had help from her sister, Fran Hutchens Barker, who lives in Winchester, Va. Barker said she also searched early cemetery records and Braggs history books. She said pioneer histories had information about Solomon Bragg’s service in the Mexican War and Civil War, as well as his time in Oklahoma.
She said Solomon Bragg fought with the Third Wisconsin Cavalry in the Civil War then settled near the Greenleaf area in Indian Territory in 1866. She said early histories show that he operated a grist mill near Greenleaf.
Isbell said the Braggs History Project could do a monument for veterans of the Gulf Wars as soon as dates and locations of the conflicts are confirmed.
Veterans Park also will have monuments with 135 engraved bricks bearing names of Braggs veterans who served during peace time and other conflicts, Isbell said.
Reach Cathy Spaulding at (918) 684-2928 or cspaulding@muskogeephoenix.com.
If you go
WHAT: Veterans’ marker dedication and Independence Day observance.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Monday.
WHERE: Veterans Park, Braggs.
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