[3] At the age of nineteen, during the American Civil War, Brattan was arrested on a charge of carrying a Southern spy near his home.
Brattan was appointed as deputy register of wills for Somerset County.
[1][3][4] He was elected to the Maryland State Senate in 1873, serving the remainder of the term of George R. Dennis.
[1][3][5] In 1891, Brattan was considered for nomination as state comptroller at the Maryland Democratic Convention, but was unsuccessful.
[3] After his tenure in the Senate, Brattan engaged in the practice of law in Princess Anne, and was elected late to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Maryland's 1st District, in his life as a Democrat to the Fifty-third Congress.
[7] Brattan died at his home in Princess Anne on May 10, 1894, from Bright's disease.