Civil War Service
Gregg served in the Provisional Confederate Congress on February 15, 1861, from which he resigned in August 1861 to enter the Confederate Army. He returned to Texas and formed the 7th Texas Infantry, becoming its Colonel in September. Gregg and the 7th saw their first action at the Battle of Fort Donelson from February 12 to February 16, 1862, where they were captured along with most of the garrison. He was sent to Fort Warren in Boston, Massachusetts for confinement.
Gregg was exchanged on August 15, 1862 and was promoted to brigadier general on August 29. His was sent to Mississippi for service in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, and was assigned to 10th Brigade, 1st Division of the Army of Mississippi, from October 24, 1862 to March 1863. Gregg's 10th Brigade was then assigned to the 3rd District of the Department of Mississippi & Eastern Louisiana from March to May 1863.
His command, now styled Gregg's Brigade, was attached to William H. T. Walker's Division in the Department of the West on May 10, 1863. 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 XVII Corps, 10,000 strong, under the command of Union Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson. Gregg was forced to retreat back to Jackson, Mississippi after the battle, where he would be involved in the Battle of Jackson on May 14, 1863.
Gregg's Brigade formed part of the Reserve Corps of the Army of Tennessee briefly that September. During the Battle of Chickamauga he was assigned to Bushrod Johnson's Division, Third Corps in the Army of Tennessee on September 19. Gregg was severely wounded on September 20, when he was hit in the neck. After recovering from his wounds, Gregg was given command of the famous Hood's Texas Brigade in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.
Gregg and his brigade participated in the Eastern 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.
During the fighting in the Wilderness, Gregg was wounded on May 6, 1864, and then went with Lee's army to Petersburg until 1864.
Read more about this topic: John Gregg (CSA)
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