Benjamin Franklin Grigg was born on December 10, 1835, in Rutherford County, North Carolina, to Burrill and Melinda Grigg. His father was a farmer who owned $250 of real estate in 1850. Grigg grew up and attended school in Cleveland County, North Carolina, and he eventually earned a college degree. He moved to Lincolnton, North Carolina, in 1858, and by 1860, he was working as a merchant clerk.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army on April 25, 1861, and mustered into Company K of the 1^st North Carolina Infantry. The unit disbanded six months later, and he helped organize the 56^th North Carolina Infantry. He mustered in as a sergeant in Company G of the 56^th North Carolina on June 6, 1862. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 5 inches tall, with light hair and blue eyes. He was promoted to captain on August 5, 1862. He fell ill in July 1864 and spent at least a month in the hospital. Union forces captured him near Petersburg, Virginia, on March 25, 1865.

 

Grigg married Mary Jane McCoy on January 1, 1863, and they had at least five children: William, born around 1865; Walter, born around 1869; Mary, born around 1873; Kenneth, born around 1895; and Harrell, born around 1896. He returned to Lincolnton after the war and earned a living as a tailor. By 1870, he owned $1,000 of real estate and $200 of personal property, and he employed at least one Black domestic servant. In 1896, he helped organize the first bank in Lincolnton, and he eventually became president of the bank. His wife died in 1903, and he passed away of “mitral regurgitation of [the] heart” in Lincolnton on April 9, 1915.

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