General John Gregg
Longview, Gregg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1828-1864) Star and Wreath Born Alabama. Came to Texas 1854. Judge, Confederate congressman. Organized 7th Texas Infantry as colonel 1861. Captured at Fort Donelson, Tenn. 1862. Promoted brigadier general after exchange. Commanded brigade Vicksburg Campaign 1863. Severely wounded Battle of Chickamauga Oct. 1863. Returning to action 1864 led Hood's Texas Brigade in heavy fighting in Virginia. Killed in action near Richmond, Oct. 7, 1864. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy; erected by the State of Texas 1963 Texas Secession Convention This meeting, which had John Gregg as a key member, was extra-legal governing body of delegates from over Texas, held January-March 1861. Drew up secession ordinance - ratified by 3 to 1 popular vote. Selected delegates to convention of southern states in Montgomery, Ala. Declared office of Anti-secessionist governor Sam Houston vacant, putting in Lt. Governor Edward Clark. Ratified C.S.A. Constitution. Raised troops to seize U. S. property, getting $3,000,000 worth by surrender. Placed troops at outposts to protect frontier.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John Gregg came to Texas from Alabama in 1854 and rose from district judge to Confederate congressman before raising the 7th Texas Infantry in 1861. Captured at Fort Donelson and later exchanged, he was promoted to brigadier general, fought through the Vicksburg Campaign, and was badly wounded at Chickamauga. Returning to duty in 1864, he led the famed Hood's Texas Brigade in Virginia until he was killed in action near Richmond that October. The marker also recalls his role in the 1861 Secession Convention that carried Texas out of the Union.
Why it matters
Gregg's career traces the arc of a generation of Southern leaders who moved from courtroom and legislature to the battlefield, and his death commanding Texas troops in Virginia made him a lasting emblem of the state's Confederate service.
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Related people
- · John Gregg
- · Sam Houston
- · Edward Clark
Related events
- · Battle of Fort Donelson
- · Vicksburg Campaign
- · Battle of Chickamauga
- · Texas Secession Convention
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Gregg County
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Created and organized in 1873 from parts of Rusk and Upshur counties, Gregg County was named for General John Gregg, a delegate to the Secession Convention and the Provisional Confederate Congress who died as a Confederate officer in 1864. Longview serves as the county seat.
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Born in 1846, John Tyson Smith moved as a boy from Alabama to Upshur County and, after serving in the Confederate army, settled in Longview around 1872. He built a long career in public life—city tax assessor, justice of the peace, and five terms as Gregg County judge—while developing downtown real estate and running the Smith Upstairs Opera House in the early 1900s.
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