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Brigadier General Maxcy Gregg, C.S.A.
(August 1, 1814 - December 15, 1862)
Image courtesy of the SC Dept. of Archives.
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Maxcy Gregg was born on Monday, August 1, 1814 in Columbia, South Carolina to the city's mayor, James Gregg (1787-1852) and his wife, Cornelia Manning Maxcy Gregg (1792-1862).
His family history tells that his maternal great-grandfather was Commodore Esek Hopkins -- the first commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy (1775-1785) during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). His maternal grandfather was Jonathan Maxcy (1768-1820), the first president of the University of South Carolina (USC). His paternal great-grandfather, John Gregg (1732-1775), was an Ulster-Scots immigrant who settled in South Carolina in 1752 and became one of the American progenitors of the Gregg family. His great-uncle, James Gregg (1752-1802) served as a Patriot captain in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War under Brigadier General Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion.
As a young man known to have a keen intellect, Maxcy Gregg attended South Carolina College (later USC) and studied astronomy, botany, ornithology, and languages among other intellectual pursuits. He graduated co-valedictorian of his class in 1836 and would study law and be admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1839. He would practice the law with his father, becoming a very well respected member of Columbia society. The scholarly scientist-lawyer also owned his own small private observatory at his home so well equipped it would have been coveted by many colleges.
Gregg's first military experience came when he was commissioned a Major in Milledge L. Bonham’s 12th U.S. Infantry Regiment in the American-Mexican War (1846-1848), however, he did not arrive in time to participate in any of the major battles of the war.
He was also a life-long bachelor and never married.
For two decades -- with only his duty in the Mexican War as an interruption -- Maxcy Gregg was extensively involved in State and regional politics. Gregg was a strong advocate of States' rights his entire life, one of the original Fire-Eaters, and a major supporter of Robert Barnwell Rhett (1800-1876), the "father of secession". He was a member of the Southern Rights Convention of 1852.
Gregg
was a major proponent of secession prior to the commencement of the
Civil War. In 1858, he issued the secessionists' manifesto in a pamphlet
entitled, "An Appeal to the State Rights Party of South Carolina." In
it, Gregg argued that Carolinians had looked unfavorably upon and
rejected incorporation into the Democratic Party since the tariff
controversy.
He served a delegate from the Richland District (Richland County) to the 1860 Secession
Convention, voting to leave the Union on Thursday, December 20, 1860 and assisted in writing the Ordinance of Secession.
Gregg helped organize the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, and served as the regiment's first colonel. This regiment was authorized for six months by the State of South Carolina and the volunteers participated in the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor on Friday, April 12, 1861. Part of this unit was under fire during the bombardment, but took no casualties.
When the State of Virginia seceded, the regiment moved north, where they spent the spring months drilling and picketing.
When their term expired on July 9th of that year, many members of the regiment returned to their homes,
missing the First Battle of Manassas on Sunday, July 21, 1861.
Gregg and other officers recruited another 1st South Carolina Infantry Regiment (also known as "Gregg's First South Carolina") that August. With the newly formed 1st South
Carolina, he was ordered to the Suffolk, Virginia, area in autumn 1861.
On Saturday, December 14, 1861 he received his commission promoting him to the rank of Brigadier
General.
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The battle flag of the 1st Regiment South Carolina Volunteers
(also known as Gregg's 1st South Carolina).
Image courtesy of the SC Confederate Relic Room & Military
Museum, Columbia, South Carolina.
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In May of 1862, General Gregg's brigade was assigned to a division of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) under the command of Major General Ambrose P. Hill. Gregg's brigade consisted of five South Carolina regiments: his own 1st South Carolina Infantry, the 12th, 13th and 14th South Carolina Infantry Regiments, and the 1st South Carolina Regiment of Rifles (also better known as "Orr's Regiment of Rifles").
During the Seven Days' Battles around Richmond, General Gregg's South Carolinians played a prominent role in General Hill's assault on the Union lines at the Battle of Gaines Mill (Friday, June 27, 1862). The advance of Gregg's five South Carolina regiments was, according to General Hill, "the handsomest charge in line I have seen during the War."
The South Carolina brigade would suffer 939 casualties -- more than any other brigade
in A.P. Hill's Light Division during the Seven Days Battles.
The 1st South Carolina lost lost 20 killed and 133 wounded -- including their lieutenant colonel who was killed. Orr's Rifles lost 81 killed and 234 wounded. The 12th South Carolina lost 17 men killed and 121 wounded -- including their colonel. The 14th South Carolina lost nearly half of the 500 men engaged in the battle, including a major and two captains who were wounded. Most of these casualties took place at Gaines Mill.
Gregg’s brigade, along with the rest of Hill's Light Division, served in Lieutenant General Thomas J. "Stonewall"
Jackson’s Corps at the Second Battle of Manassas (August 29-30, 1862).
During the first day of the battle on Friday, August 29th, Gregg walked
along the brigade's line, fearlessly exposing himself to enemy fire and encouraging
his men to hold their ground near an abandoned railroad cut. The brunt of the Federal attack fell on Gregg's brigade, which had
defended against six Union assaults over an eight hour period that day. During one of these attacks, Gregg sent a message saying: "Tell General Hill that my ammunition is exhausted, but that I will hold my position with the bayonet!"
The brigade was
nearly out of ammunition in addition to having lost most of its
officers, many of the South Carolinians resorting to throwing stones from the railroad cut at the advancing Federals. As they fell back onto the edge of a hillside to regroup, Gregg lopped
some wildflowers with his great-uncle's old Revolutionary War scimitar and remarked,
"Let us die here my men, let us die here."
In their defense of the railroad cut, Gregg's Brigade suffered among the highest casualties -- about 613 men killed and wounded.
The 1st South Carolina Infantry lost 53 percent of the 233 men engaged. Orr's Rifles lost 116 men -- including its command officer and second in command killed. The 12th South Carolina lost 146 men out of 270 with three of its major officers wounded. The 13th South Carolina lost 26 killed and 118 wounded with its colonel wounded. The 14th South Carolina lost 8 killed and 57 wounded (among the wounded both their colonel and lieutenant colonel).
The South Carolina brigade also fought at the Battle Of Ox Hill (Monday, September 1, 1862) in pursuit of the retreating Union forces following the Confederate victory at Second Manassas. The Light Division drove back a Union assault during a driving rain.
In General Robert E. Lee's Maryland campaign, Gregg’s brigade participated in the capture of Harper’s Ferry (September 15, 1862) and then made a forced march to
Sharpsburg, Maryland, arriving in the middle of that battle to take a place in the
right center of the line, where it joined the fighting that afternoon and, along with the rest of Hill's Light Division, checked the final assault of the Union forces and saved the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia from total defeat.
It was at the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam Creek) on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 17, 1862 where General Gregg was slightly wounded in the thigh by the same Union volley that killed North Carolina born Brigadier General Lawrence O'Bryan Branch. Gregg would miraculously discover the spent minieball in his handkerchief the next morning at
breakfast. His brigade arrived in time to save the Confederate flank and would be the last Confederate brigade to recross the Potomac River following the end of the Maryland Campaign.
After two months of recuperation at camp near Winchester, Virginia, the brigade
participated in the Battle of Fredericksburg on Saturday, December 13, 1862 on Stonewall Jackson's position on the right of the Army of Northern Virginia. Gregg's Brigade held a reserve position behind the rest of the Light Division.
Unknown to General Gregg and his men, the Light Division's defenses in the thickly wooded position had a dangerous gap that was exploited by Union forces under Union Major General George G. Meade.
Gregg's Brigade was taking cover from the Union artillery and most of them still had their arms stacked when the Federals appeared. Because of the confusion and the foggy conditions in the thick underbrush, Gregg misidentified the advancing Union soldiers as retreating Confederate pickets and ordered his South Carolinians atop a ridge to hold their fire. This would be a fatal mistake as the Yankees open fire.
General Gregg attempted to rally his surprised men and try to lead them in a counterattack to close the gap in the line. Riding toward the front, Gregg was struck by a rifle ball that entered his right side from the back and severed his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Brigadier General Maxcy Gregg succumbed to his agonizing injury two days later on Monday, December 15, 1862, reportedly saying on his deathbed: "I yield my life cheerfully, fighting for the independence of South Carolina."
He was 48 years old at the time of his death.
Gregg's loss weighed especially heavy on his commanding officer, General A.P. Hill, who stated: "A more chivalrous gentleman and gallant soldier never adorned the
service which he so loved." According to the Wednesday, December 17,
1862, issue of the Richmond Daily Dispatch, his remains received a
hero's welcome in the Confederate capital.
Prior to General Stonewall Jackson’s death in May of 1863, he said of Gregg: "General
Gregg was a brave and accomplished officer, full of heroic sentiment
and chivalrous honor. He had rendered valuable service in this great
struggle for our freedom, and the country has much reason to deplore the
loss sustained by his premature death."
Regarding the untimely death of Maxcy Gregg, Robert E. Lee wrote to Governor Pickens as follows:
CAMP NEAR FREDERICKSBURG, December 18, 1862.
His Excellency FRANCIS W. PICKENS,
Governor of South Carolina:
SIR: While South Carolina is mourning the loss of the gallant and
distinguished son, General Maxcy Gregg, permit me to join in your sorrow
for his death. From my first acquaintance, when you sent, him with his
gallant regiment to the defense of our frontier in Virginia, I have
admired his disinterested patriotism and his unselfish devotion. He has
always been at the post of duty and of danger, and his services in this
army have been of inestimable value, and his loss is deeply lamented. In
its greatest triumphs and its bloodiest battles he has borne a
distinguished part. On the Chickahominy, on the plains of Manassas, at
Harper's Ferry, Sharpsburg, and Shepherdstown he led his brigade with
distinguished skill and dauntless valor. On the wooded heights of
Fredericksburg he fell, in front of his brigade, in close conflict with
the advancing foe. The death of such a man is a costly sacrifice, for
it is to men of his high integrity and commanding intellect that the
country must look to give character to her councils,
that she may be respected and honored by all nations. Among those of
his State who will proudly read the history of his deeds, may many be
found to imitate his noble example.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,
R. E. LEE,
General.
Brigadier General Maxcy Gregg is buried at historic Elmwood Cemetery in downtown Columbia, South Carolina.
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The grave of Brigadier General Maxcy Gregg at historic Elmwood Cemetery
in downtown Columbia, South Carolina.
Photo taken by the author of this blog in May, 2022.
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Sources for the historical information for this article:
Caldwell, J. F. J. The History of a Brigade of South Carolinians Known first as “Gregg’s” and Subsequently as “McGowan’s Brigade.” Philadelphia: King & Baird, 1866.
Freeman, Douglas Southall. Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command. 3 vols. New York: Scribner’s, 1942–1944.
And most of all to the good folks at the South Carolina Department of Archives, the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum, & the University of South Carolina (USC) in Columbia.
.JPG)
