Claim: After his first combat action at the First Battle of Manassas in Virginia on July 21, Bryan Grimes (born November 2, 1828 in Pitt County, North Carolina) was promoted to lieutenant colonel on May 1, 1862, fighting at the Battle of Seven Pines, and finally on June 19, 1862, was honorably discharged.
Evidence: He saw his first combat action at the First Battle of Manassas in Virginia on July 21. Bryan Grimes (November 2, 1828 – August 14, 1880) was a North Carolina planter and a general officer in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Bryan Grimes, Jr. was born on the ancestral family plantation, called "Grimesland Plantation," in Pitt County, North Carolina. Grimes was promoted to lieutenant colonel on May 1, 1862, and fought at the Battle of Seven Pines, during which he was wounded when his injured horse fell on top of him on May 31. On June 19, 1862, Grimes was promoted to the rank of colonel and given command of the 4th North Carolina Infantry, now part of the Army of Northern Virginia. On February 15, 1865, Grimes was promoted to major general, the last man appointed to that rank in the Army of Northern Virginia.