John Gregg ( CSA ) John Gregg ( September 28 , 1828 – October 7 , 1864 ) was an American judge , politician , and general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . He was killed in action during the Siege of Petersburg . Early life and career . Gregg was born in Lawrenceville , Alabama , to Nathan Gregg and Sarah Pearsall Camp . He graduated from LaGrange College ( now the University of North Alabama ) in 1847 , where he was subsequently employed as a professor of mathematics . He later studied law in Tuscumbia , Alabama . Gregg relocated to Freestone County , Texas , in 1852 and settled in the town of Fairfield , Texas . He was elected as a district judge and served in that position from 1855 until 1860 . In 1858 , Gregg married Mary Francis Garth from Alabama , daughter of Jesse Winston Garth , a Unionist who was willing to give up his hundreds of slaves if it meant saving the Union . Gregg was one of the founders of the " Freestone County Pioneer " , the first newspaper in Freestone County . He used his paper and political clout to call for a secession convention following the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860 . Gregg served as a delegate to the Texas Secession Convention in Austin , in January 1861 . The delegation issued the Ordinance of Secession on February 1 , 1861 . Gregg was one of six members of the convention that were elected to represent Texas in the Provisional Confederate Congress in Montgomery , Alabama , and later in Richmond , Virginia . 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 . Death . Gregg was struck in the neck for a second time and killed along the Charles City Road , near Richmond , Virginia . He was shot while leading a counterattack at the Battle of Darbytown and New Market Roads . Gregg was interred at the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Aberdeen , Mississippi ; his widow , Mary Garth Gregg , traveled through the lines to retrieve his body . In Memory . Gregg County , Texas , was named for John Gregg when it was formed in 1873 .