CONFEDERATE BIOGRAPHY: P. F. BRANNAN 

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Submitted by Doris Peirce - ginlu@charter.net
1 February 2002 
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TEXANS WHO WORE THE GRAY by Sid S. Johnson 
P. F. BRANNAN

Dr. John R. Mackenzie, Weatherford, Texas, says: "The distinction 
of having been the youngest soldier in the Confederate army has 
been claimed by many, and the question seems yet to be settled.  
There lives in the little city of Weatherford, Texas, Father 
Patrick F. Brannan, an eminent Catholic priest, who can justly 
lay claim to having been at least one of the youngest soldiers 
in the army, and who, in addition, served continuously until the 
close of the war.  Father Brannan was born Nov. 08, 1847.  He 
enlisted in the 15th Alabama Infantry at Fort Mitchell, Ala., on 
the 2nd day of June, 1861, being at that time 13 years old.  Very
 soon after his enlistment his regiment was ordered to Virginia, 
where it did its quota of gallant service until the close of the 
war.  Being an orphan and without a home, the boy soldier, who 
never sought or accepted a furlough, remained steadfast to the end, 
and was one of those who composed the shattered battalion which 
surrendered at Appomattox.  Father Brannan's friends claim that 
his record, age considered is without a parallel in the history of 
the war.