Biography of General Ambrose Ransom Wright

"Rans" Wright was a prominent Georgia politician that rose to become a brigade commander in A.P. Hill's Third Corps.

Born in Louisville (Jefferson County), Georgia on April 26, 1826, Wright read law under the tutelage of Governor and Senator Herschel V. Johnson (who later became Wright's brother-in-law). He was admitted to the bar and began to become politically active. He ran unsuccessfully for both the Georgia legislature and for Congress; nevertheless, he was a Fillmore Elector in 1856.

A supporter of Bell and Everett in 1860, Wright also was the Georgia commissioner to Maryland in 1861. He became the colonel of the 3d Georgia Infantry on May 18, 1861.

He served in North Carolina and Georgia until the summer of 1862, when he was promoted to general on June 3 and sent to Virginia. His brigade of Georgians amassed a distinguished and gallant record with the Army of Northern Virginia from the Seven Days to the siege of Petersburg.

Wright himself was badly wounded twice at Sharpsburg and had to be carried from the field. He returned in time to fight at Fredericksburg. Although sick during the Gettysburg Campaign, he nonetheless commanded his brigade. Wright, while absent, was elected to the Georgia state senate in 1863 and served as president in absentia. He was absent sick for thirty days in July 1864, however. Ordered to Georgia, because he was unfit for field service, he took a command at Augusta. He was promoted to major general on November 26, 1864.

After the War, Wright resumed his legal practice. He purchased the Augusta paper, the Chronicle and Sentinel, in 1866. In 1871, he was defeated for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. senate. The following year, however, he served as a delegate to the state and national Democratic conventions. Elected to Congress, he died on December 21, 1872 before he could take his seat from "brain inflammation." In the special election for his seat, Alexander H. Stephens was elected. Wright was buried in the Magnolia (City) Cemetery in Augusta.