A Civil War Biography
John Gregg
Gregg was born 28 September 1828 in Lawrence County, Alabama. After
graduating in 1847 from La Grange College in La Grange, Georgia he
taught mathematics and languages at the school. In 1851 he started
the study of law in the office of a local judge in Tuscumbia,
Alabama. In 1852 Gregg moved to Texas and settled in Fairfield where
he practiced law and established the first newspaper in Freestone
County, the "Freestone County Pioneer". He was elected district
judge in 1855 and remained in that position until 1860. By then he
had also acquired substantial land holdings, including four slaves.
Through the Pioneer he called for a state secession convention and
when the body met he was one of six elected to go to the Confederate
Provisional Congress.
When the war erupted Gregg was in Richmond, having moved from
Montgomery, Alabama with the Confederate government. Following First
Manassas, he resigned his congressional seat and returned to Texas
to recruit troops. He organized the 7th Texas infantry regiment and
was named its colonel when the 7th finished its formal organization
on 10 November 1861. Gregg and his regiment were sent to Fort
Donelson, Tennessee where, after seeing its first action on 15
February 1862, it was surrendered the following day. Gregg was sent
to Fort Warren in Boston harbor. After he was exchanged he was
promoted to brigadier general on 29 August 1862 and sent to
Mississippi. He commanded a brigade that was part of Joseph E.
Johnston's command during the Vicksburg campaign, seeing action at
Raymond where with 3000 troops he held of four times that many
Federals and Jackson, Mississippi. Gregg commanded the brigade at
Chickamauga where he was seriously wounded. Following his recovery
he was sent to Virginia and given command of what had become famous
as John B. Hood's Texas brigade. He saw action at the Wilderness,
Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and around Richmond as the opposing
forces jockeyed for position in the fall of 1864. He was killed on 7
October 1864 while leading a counterattack along the Darbytown Road
just east of Richmond.
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