Branch, son of long-time R-MC trustee Thomas Branch and brother of Thomas Plummer Branch and William Addison Branch, enlisted as a captain on May 11, 1861 in the Lee Life Guard of the 4th Battalion VA Infantry, also known as Captain James R. Branch's Company of the 12th VA Infantry. On July 1, 1861 this company became Co. K of the 16th VA Infantry. Branch transferred as captain with his company to the VA Light Artillery at his request on March 18, 1862. He was promoted to Major on May 14, 1863 and to Lieutenant Colonel on August 25, 1863. In March of 1865, he was retired from duty and was assigned to the Invalid Corps, not having been with his command since April 1864 due to an injury (leg broken in three places) sustained in Plymouth, NC. On March 31, 1865, he was assigned to the Ordnance Department in Richmond. This order was revoked the following day on the eve of the evacuation and fall of the city. He was paroled at Greensboro, NC on May 1, 1865.
Prior to the war, Branch had been a teacher in Lunenburg County and then a banker and merchant in Petersburg, VA with a family firm, Thomas Branch and Sons. After the war, he was in banking in Thomas Branch and Sons in Richmond, VA. He was killed in a suspension bridge collapse on the James River on July 2, 1869. He is buried in Richmond, VA in Hollywood Cemetery.
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