Brigadier General John Gregg
Confederate
Brigadier General John R. Gregg faced an insurmountable task. With only a single brigade, he was ordered to
patrol the approaches to Jackson, the state capital of Mississippi, and prevent
the severing of the main supply line to Vicksburg, the Confederacy’s vital
river port on the Mississippi. Major
General Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Tennessee had landed south of Vicksburg
at Bruinsburg, the starting point of Grant’s campaign to bypass Vicksburg’s
river defenses and take the city from the east.
Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, the commander of Confederate
forces in Mississippi, tried to fend off Grant at Port Gibson but was swatted
aside by superior numbers. Too make
matters worse, a successful cavalry raid, led by Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson,
diverted his attention from Grant’s landing, leaving his men widely dispersed
to guard essential rail lines and too far to gather them for an effective
defense. Lacking sufficient cavalry,
Pemberton was in the dark. Numbering
12,000, the XVII Corps of Grant’s army, under Major General James B. McPherson,
was marching toward the town of Raymond, several miles southwest of
Jackson. Based on initial reports he
received from his scouts, Gregg was mistakenly convinced the corps marching
toward him was a single smaller Union brigade.
That brigade, however, outnumbered him by almost three to one.
Born on September
28, 1828, in Lawrence County, Alabama, John Gregg was destined to command. Possessing a striking domed forehead,
piercing eyes and a rough cut beard, Gregg was the stereotypical frontier
warrior you respected on a battlefield.
As a lawyer in Freestone County, Texas, he was a leader in local
affairs, ran a successful farm, served as a district judge, and was elected to
the Texas Secession Convention. After
briefly serving in the provisional Confederate congress, he returned home to
organize an infantry regiment. The 7th
Texas consisted of 746 men from ten East Texas counties. Among his officers was a major who would
later prove to be one of the best during the war - Hiram Granbury. The 7th saw its first action at Fort Donelson
where it was forced to surrender.
Disease decimated the 7th during its time in Northern prisons. Gregg, along with the other senior officers
at Fort Donelson, was imprisoned at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. His fiercely devoted wife, Mary, stayed with
him. He was exchanged after almost a
year in captivity. Promoted to Brigadier
General, Gregg was given command of a brigade consisting of the 7th Texas, a
light Missouri artillery battery and five Tennessee regiments. Colonel Granbury now commanded the 7th. Gregg’s brigade served in Vicksburg during
the repulse of Sherman at Chickasaw Bluffs.
It was later transferred downriver to bolster the defense of Port Hudson
in Louisiana. Desperate for troops to
stop Grant, Pemberton ordered Gregg to Raymond.
To assist Gregg,
Pemberton ordered Colonel Wirt Adams’ cavalry regiment to Raymond as well. Adams regrettably
misunderstood Pemberton’s order. Instead
of providing all of his cavalry to Gregg, Adams provided only the cavalrymen he
had on hand at Raymond - a grand total of five. Teenage scouts from the state militia were
utilized but were woefully inexperienced in assessing troop strengths. Unbeknownst to Gregg, he was facing a blue
tidal wave.
Confident in his
ignorance, Gregg deployed his brigade just south of Raymond near Fourteen Mile
Creek. The 7th Texas was positioned on
either side of the Utica Road. The 3rd
Tennessee was to the left of the 7th.
Gregg’s battle plan was to hit the Union center with the 7th Texas and
3rd Tennessee. Captain Hiram Bledsoe’s
Missouri battery was positioned behind them to provide artillery support. The rest of the Tennessee regiments would
attack McPherson’s right flank from the east.
The plan was sound if Gregg was taking on a single brigade or less; he
hoped to bag the lot of them.
Fortunately,
McPherson was just as initially in the dark as Gregg. A tangled mass of woods concealed
Confederate troop numbers and made it difficult to march offroad to scout ahead. On May 12, 1863, McPherson approached Raymond
from the Utica Road. After the 23rd
Indiana Regiment crossed Fourteen Mile Creek, Bledsoe’s three-gun battery
opened fire. In full rebel yell mode,
Texans and Tennesseans crashed into them.
Rifle volleys from the 7th cut down scores of the 20th Ohio at point
blank range. One Federal soldier noticed
a Texas officer who stood more than ten yards away, calmly smoking his pipe,
and emptying his revolver into the Union line.
The gunfire was so intense, the Confederates ran out of ammo and had to
scavenge for cartridges from the dead and wounded. Hand to hand combat ensued. Lacking bayonets, the Texans used their rifle
muskets as clubs. Granbury later wrote:
“As my skirmishes
neared the woods on the brow of the hill, the enemy commenced firing from their
first line of infantry, posted near the base of the hill. I ordered my regiment to advance in
double-quick time. The men obeyed with
alacrity, and, when in view of the enemy, rushed forward with a shout. So near were the enemy and so impetuous the
charge, that my regiment could have bloodied a hundred bayonets had the men
been supplied with that weapon.”
The 23rd Indiana
and 20th Ohio fell back behind the creek.
Fortunately for them, the 8th Michigan Battery stopped the rebels in
their tracks. Gregg ordered his left
flank to advance and take out that battery.
On the Confederate left, the 50th Tennessee’s commander, Lt. Colonel
Thomas W. Beaumont, beheld a startling sight from his hilltop position, “On
reconnoitering the position,” he recalled.
“I found the battery was supported by a line of infantry, which extended
as far as I could see toward our right, their right resting in the woods which
we were standing.” In the face of such
huge numbers, Gregg was under great risk of being overwhelmed before he could
retreat. Communication to his field officers
had to be by courier, extremely difficult because of the dense, smoke-filled
woods. As a result, Gregg’s regiments
would often find themselves isolated and fighting on their own.
Unaware of the
numbers they faced, the 10th/30th Consolidated Tennessee Regiment launched a
daring infantry charge against the Union left flank, driving it back for six
hundred yards. After the flag bearer for
the 7th Missouri Regiment was shot down, the Union troops began to cave but
received timely reinforcement. The best
field officer in the XVII Corps, Major General John “Blackjack” Logan, rallied
fleeing Union troops and sent them back into action. The Tennesseans fell back to their original
position then lied down on the ground to become less of a target. During the battle, Gregg was informed through
cavalry scouts and Union prisoners of the actual size of his adversary. Outnumbered, outflanked and short of ammo,
Gregg had little choice but to order a gradual withdrawal towards Jackson,
leaving Raymond to the Yankees.
Incredibly, the 7th Texas held off an entire Union division, buying
precious minutes for Gregg’s
withdrawal. Having lost one of
its cannons after the barrel burst, Bledsoe’s battery, along with reserve
support from the 41st Tennessee, further slowed the Union advance.
After seven hours
of the most savage fighting imaginable, Gregg’s casualty figures numbered
820. Union figures were less at
450. The Texans and Tennesseans had
fought nobly against overwhelming odds.
Raymond’s courthouse and churches became hospitals for both sides. Gregg’s defensive stand had a profound effect
on Grant; he would move on Jackson instead of proceeding northeast toward
Vicksburg. By taking Mississippi’s
capital, he would remove any Confederate forces in his rear while he advanced
toward his main objective. Gregg joined
with General Joseph Johnston’s 6,000 troops in Jackson. Displaying a shocking lack of confidence and
ineptitude, Johnston ordered a disastrous withdrawal. On May 14, Jackson fell to Grant’s
troops. Vicksburg fell seven weeks
later. Destined for greater things,
Gregg later commanded the famed Texas Brigade attached to Lee’s Army of
Northern Virginia.
