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Diplomat farmer military Soldier
David McMurtrie Gregg was born on April 10, 1833 at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Matthew Duncan Gregg and Ellen (McMurtrie) Gregg, both of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His father, a lawyer and iron manufacturer, was a son of Andrew Gregg.
David’s early life was spent in central Pennsylvania, where he attended private schools before entering the University at Lewisburg (now Bucknell University). While a student there he was appointed, July 1851, a cadet at West Point. He graduated four years later.
Gregg began his career as a second lieutenant of cavalry and spent nearly six years fighting Indians in the Far West. The outbreak of the Civil War found him a first lieutenant, but he was immediately promoted captain and stationed with the troops defending Washington. In January 1862 he was appointed colonel of the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry, which was in March attached to the Army of the Potomac. During that year Gregg served under McClellan in the Peninsular campaign of May and June, covered the movement from Harrison’s Landing to Yorktown in August, and from September to November took part in the Maryland campaign, though he obtained leave to marry Ellen Frances Sheaff on October 6.
He received merited recognition, November 29, 1862, by being appointed brigadier-general of volunteers. Commanding a division of cavalry, he took part in Stoneman’s raid toward Richmond in April and May 1863. As Lee marched northward on his invasion of Pennsylvania, Gregg played an important part for the opposing forces by reporting accurately the movements of the Confederate army and by handicapping the cavalry on which Lee relied for information by a series of engagements paralleling the line of march.
At the battle of Gettysburg, Gregg was stationed on the extreme right wing of Meade’s army, about three miles east of the town. During the afternoon of July 3, Gen. J. E. B. Stuart with 7, 000 Confederate cavalry attempted to turn this flank and attack the Union rear while Pickett was assaulting the center of the line. To meet this attack Gregg could muster only 5, 000 men. Fighting a skilful defensive battle, he used his superior artillery with great effect on the advancing enemy, and met each charge with a counter-charge.
In the fierce “Sabre Battle” which took place, his troops held their own and at nightfall were still in their original positions. Gregg had repulsed an attack which might have done irreparable damage and had gained one of the most conspicuous cavalry victories of the war. After Gettysburg he participated actively in the pursuit of Lee’s army. During Grant’s campaign against Richmond in 1864 he commanded the 2nd Cavalry Division of the Army of the Potomac, and on August 1 was brevetted major-general of volunteers for distinguished service, particularly in reconnaissance at Charles City Road. He took part in no further important engagements before resigning his commission on Feburary 3, 1865. He then lived in Reading, Pennsylvania, until February 1874, when President Grant appointed him consul at Prague.
Finding consular work distasteful, he resigned in August and returned to Reading. He took an interest in municipal and charitable affairs, was elected auditor-general of Pennsylvania and served efficiently for three years. In 1907 he published The Second Cavalry Division of the Army of the Potomac in the Gettysburg Campaign.
Gregg died in Reading, Pennsylvania, one of the oldest survivors of the war in the state, and is buried there in Charles Evans Cemetery.
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Quotations:
"We honor our heroic and patriotic dead by being true men, as true men by faithfully fighting the battles of our day as they fought the battles of their day. "
"In every grave on earth's green sward is a tiny seed of the resurrection life of Jesus Christ, and that seed cannot perish. It will germinate when the warm south wind of Christ's return brings back the spring-tide to this cold sin-cursed earth of ours; and then they that are in their graves, and we who shall lie down in ours, will feel in our mortal bodies the power of His resurrection, and will come forth to life immortal. "
Endowed with a rare combination of modesty, geniality, and ability, he was universally liked and respected.
Gregg married Ellen F. Sheaff on October 6, 1862, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; the couple honeymooned in New York City.
