John Gregg (CSA)

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For the Union general, see John Irvin Gregg.

John Gregg

John Gregg (September 28, 1828 – October 7, 1864) was a judge, politician, and soldier in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

[edit] Early life and career

Gregg was born in Lawrence County, Alabama, to Nathan Gregg and Sarah Pearsall Camp. He graduated from La Grange College in Georgia in 1847, where he was subsequently employed as a professor of mathematics. He later studied law in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

Gregg relocated to Freestone County, Texas, in 1852 and settled in the town of Fairfield, Texas. He was elected as a district judge and served in that position from 1855 until 1860. In 1858, Gregg married Mary Frances Garth from Alabama, daughter of Jesse Winston Garth, a Unionist who was willing to give up his hundreds of slaves if it meant saving the Union.

Gregg was one of the founders of the Freestone County Pioneer, the first newspaper in Freestone County. He used his paper and political clout to call for a secession convention following the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860.

Gregg served as a delegate to the Texas Secession Convention in Austin, in January 1861. The delegation issued the Ordinance of Secession on February 1, 1861. Gregg was one of six members of the convention that were elected to represent Texas in the Provisional Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama, and later in Richmond, Virginia.

[edit] Civil War

Gregg served in the Provisional Confederate Congress until the First Battle of Manassas, after which he returned to Texas and formed the 7th Texas Infantry. Gregg and the 7th Texas saw their first action at the Battle of Fort Donelson (February 12 to February 16, 1862), where they were captured. He was sent to Fort Warren in Boston, Massachusetts. Exchanged later in the year, Gregg was promoted to brigadier general on August 29, 1862, and assigned to the Mississippi Theater.

Gregg's first major action in Mississippi came at the Battle of Raymond, on May 12, 1863, where his 3000-man brigade fought a tough 6-hour battle against the 10,000 man XVII Corps (ACW), under the command of Union Major General James B. McPherson. Gregg was forced to retreat back to Jackson, Mississippi, after the battle of Raymond, where he would be involved in the Battle of Jackson on May 14, 1863.

After the fall of Vicksburg, Gregg's command was transferred to Georgia, where they fought in the Battle of Chickamauga where he was severely wounded. After recovering from his wounds, Gregg was given command of the famous Hood's Texas Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia. Gregg participated in the campaigns of the spring of 1864, seeing action at the Battle of the Wilderness, the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, the Battle of Cold Harbor, and the Siege of Petersburg.

Gregg was killed during the Siege of Petersburg while leading a counterattack along the Darbytown Road on October 7, 1864. His widow, Mary Garth Gregg, travelled through the lines to retrieve his body, and he was interred in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Aberdeen, Mississippi.

Gregg County, Texas, was named for Brigadier General Gregg when it was formed in 1873.

[edit] External links

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