David McMurtrie Gregg was born on April 10, 1833, in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, to Matthew Duncan Gregg and Ellen McMurtrie. His father worked in the iron industry, and he died in 1845. Gregg attended the University of Lewisburg (present-day Bucknell University) before receiving an appointment to West Point in 1851. He graduated eighth in his class in 1855, and he received an appointment as a brevet 2^nd lieutenant in the 2^nd United States Dragoons. He spent the next few years in the New Mexico Territory, California, and the Washington Territory.

 

He remained in the army during the Civil War, and he soon received a promotion to captain in the 3^rd United States Cavalry. Army officials transferred him to the 6^th United States Cavalry soon afterward. He contracted typhoid fever, and he nearly died when his hospital caught fire. He was promoted to colonel of the 8^th Pennsylvania Cavalry in January 1862, and he married Ellen Frances Sheaff that same year. The couple had at least two children: George, born around 1867; and David, born around 1869.

 

Gregg took part in the Peninsula campaign, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the siege of Petersburg. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1862. He resigned from the army in January 1865, citing the “imperative demand for my continued presence at home."

 

He settled in Marion, Missouri, after the war, and he earned a living as a farmer. By 1870, he owned $12,500 of real estate and $12,600 of personal property. President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him consul to Prague in 1874, and by 1880, he was living in Reading, Pennsylvania. He supported the Republican Party, and he served as Auditor General of Pennsylvania from 1891 until 1895. He died of myocarditis in Reading on August 7, 1916.

 

Image: David M. Gregg (courtesy Wikicommons)

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