Campaigns · Seven Days, Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg
Ambrose Ransom Wright was born on April 26, 1826, in Louisville, Georgia. He became a lawyer, and become involved in state politics. The governor of Georgia was his brother-in-law, but he was unable to get elected to the state legislature or to Congress. When Georgia seceded, Wright joined others in trying to persuade Maryland to espouse the Confederate cause. When the Civil War began, Wright was commissioned colonel of the 3d Georgia, and fought in North Carolina and Georgia.
Called "Rans" Wright, he was promoted to brigadier general and transferred to the Army of Northern Virginia. Leading troops at the Seven Days' Campaign and Second Bull Run, he was wounded at Antietam. Wright went on to lead troops at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and Petersburg. Promoted to major general, he was assigned to Georgia and remained in command there until the end of the war.
After the Civil War, Wright returned to his legal practice and obtained the Augusta "Chronicle and Sentinel" in 1866. He lost the 1871 election to the Senate, but was elected to the US House of Representatives the next year. Before he could take his seat in the House, Wright died in Augusta, Georgia, on December 21, 1872.