Henry Gray (politician)

Henry Gray Jr. (born January 19, 1816 in Laurens County , South Carolina , † December 11, 1892 in Coushatta , Louisiana ) was an American lawyer and politician , who sat first in the Mississippi Legislature and last in the Louisiana State Legislature . During the Civil War he served as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army and served in the Confederate Congress .

Career

Henry Gray junior, son of Elvira Flanagan (1787–1847) and Henry Gray senior (1786–1831), was born in the Laurens District of South Carolina about a year after the end of the British-American War . His father served as a captain in the US Army during the British-American War and his grandfather Fredrick Gray (1759-1837) as a captain in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War . Nothing is known about Henry Gray junior's youth. Gray graduated from South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina ) in 1834 . He studied law and began practicing law in 1838 after receiving his license to practice law. His student days were overshadowed by the economic crisis of 1837 . He then moved to Mississippi , where he settled in Winston County . In 1839 he became a district attorney there - a post he held until 1845. During this time he married Eleanora Ann Howard in 1841. In 1846 he was elected to the Mississippi Legislature and served a term there. The following years were overshadowed by the Mexican-American War . Gray ran unsuccessfully as Whig for a seat in the US Congress in 1850 . In December 1850, he acquired 332  acres (1.34 km ² ) of land in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. In the presidential election of 1856 he served as an elector for the Democratic Party and campaigned with his friend Judah Philip Benjamin (1811-1884) in the state. Gray was elected to the Louisiana State Legislature in 1860, but suffered defeat to his friend Benjamin in the election for the Louisiana Senate late that year .

Before the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in January 1861 as a private in a Mississippi infantry regiment . His friend President Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) then called him back to Louisiana to set up a regiment. Between April and early May 1862 he raised the 28th Louisiana Infantry Regiment at Camp Taylor and became its Colonel . On April 14, 1863, Gray was wounded during a fight at Bayou Teche, Louisiana. The Department Commander Edmund Kirby Smith (1824-1893) ordered on April 8 at his promotion to brigadier general, but the Konföderiertenkongress refused. Gray was given command of a brigade in the division under Major General Camille Armand Jules Marie de Polignac (1832-1913) in April . In the following years he took part in the Battle of Vicksburg and in several battles in Louisiana. After Brigadier General Alfred Mouton (1829-1864) fell on April 28, 1864 during the Battle of Mansfield , he took command of its division. In a by-election in December 1864 for the Congressional constituency of northwest Louisiana, he was elected to the Second Confederate Congress to fill the vacancy created by the death of Benjamin Lewis Hodge (1824-1864) on August 12, 1864. His election took place without his knowledge and he only found out about it afterwards. He joined the camp in Camden ( Arkansas ) from the Confederate Army and traveled to Richmond ( Virginia ). On March 17, 1865 he was promoted to brigadier general, retroactive to the Battle of Mansfield. Gray took back command of his brigade in Polignac's division, which he kept until the end of the war. There is no record that he was pardoned by the US government.

After the war ended, he was a member of the Louisiana Senate. He spent the rest of his life building his fortune again. His only son died in 1864 and his wife a few years later. Gray died at the age of 76 in his daughter's home near Coushatta, Red River Parish, and was then buried in the nearby Springville Cemetery .

Brigadier General Henry Gray Branch # 218 of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars in Shreveport, Louisiana is named in his honor.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Gaspar Gray Family ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ ^{A b c} John H. Eicher and David J. Eicher: Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3 , p. 264
3. ^ Evans, Clement: Confederate Military History, Atlanta, Georgia: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899
4. ^ Henry Gray on The Political Graveyard website
5. ^ Henry Gray on the la-cemeteries.com website
6. ^ Brigadier General Henry Gray Local Chapter # 218

Web links

• Henry Gray in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Henry Gray on the members.tripod.com website