SMILIE ALEXANDER GREGG

SMILIE ALEXANDER GREGG, son of J. Eli Gregg and Sarah Elizabeth Edwards Gregg, was born May 1, 1838, at Society Hill, Darlington district, South Carolina. His father was a merchant and planter, president of the Wilmington and Manchester railroad, of the Merchants bank of Cheraw, and director of several banks; he was characterized by financial ability, honesty and firmness. The earliest known ancestors of the family in America were John, Joseph, James, and Robert Gregg, who emigrated from Scotland to Ireland and thence to Marion district, South Carolina. James Gregg was a captain in the Revolutionary war. General Maxey Gregg and Bishop Alexander Gregg, of Texas, were first cousins to the father of Smilie A. Gregg.
In childhood Smilie Gregg enjoyed robust health. He was fond of hunting and reading. His early life was passed in the country. During vacations and on Saturdays he clerked in his father's store. His father took care, however, that such work should not interfere with his son's schooling.
Smilie Gregg lost his mother when he was but eight years old. Her influence, however, has affected him strongly and to his substantial benefit through life. He had no difficulties in securing an education. His special tastes were for history, both ancient and modern, and works and papers on agriculture. From 1851 to 1854 he attended Mount Zion academy, at Winnsboro, South Carolina, and, from 1854 to 1858, the South Carolina college. In 1859 he began his serious work as a planter in Darlington district.
On the outbreak of the war in 1861, Mr. Gregg was prominent in forming Company H, Eighth regiment, South Carolina troops, and was made first sergeant. He went to Charleston when the attack was made on Fort Sumter. After its fall he went to Virginia and took part in the first battle of Manassas. The next December he was appointed captain and commissary and sent to South Carolina. This position he resigned and joined Gregg's battery, Manigault's battalion of artillery, and was at the siege of Battery Wagner. In 1864 he was transferred to Pegram's battalion of artillery of the army of Northern Virginia, when he was elected first lieutenant of Gregg's battery, and was engaged in the battles of Second Cold harbor, Dover's farm, Burges' mill, Riddle's shop, and all succeeding battles up to the surrender. He was wounded and taken Prisoner at the fall of Petersburg, and was sent to the old Capitol prison at Washington, District of Columbia. In June, 1865, he was sent to Johnson's Island. On the 1st of July he was released, after which he returned to Darlington county, South Carolina.
Since the close of the war Mr. Gregg has been a prominant and influential citizen. He was director in the Piedmont Manufacturing company of Greenville, South Carolina in 1874, and of the Navassa Guano company in Wilmington in the same year. He has been a director in the Union Trust company, president of the Florence Cotton Seed Oil mill, and a director in several other corporations.
In 1888 he was a director and vice-president of the bank of Florence, but since the latter date he has devoted his attention to agriculture. He has been vice-president of the State Agricultural He has been vice-president of the State Agricultural society and president of the Darlington Agricultural society.
Mr. Gregg has not sought Political preferment, but his services have often been demanded by his party. For twenty years he was President of the Florence Democratic club, and he was sent to every state Democratic convention until Grover Cleveland was elected President, when he resigned. He was very prominent in forming the county of Florence, and he wrote the memorial to the legislature, which was the one adopted by the committee. He was the first county chairman and was made chairman of the committee to choose the site and erect public buildings of the county. From 1866 to the present date he has served as deacon in the Hopewell Presbyterian church. He is also a Mason, a member of Amity lodge No. 62.
Mr. Gregg has through life been a Democrat, and in religion is, as has been indicated, a Presbyterian. His relaxation he finds in driving and walking. To Young Americans he commends honesty, truthfulness, promptness, and diligence in business.
On July 20, 1859, he married Sarah Louise McCowan. Four children were born to them, one of whom, Smilie A. Gregg Jr., is now (1908) living. After the death of his first wife he remarried Miss Eula T. Howe, who soon died childless. Afterwards he married Miss Minnie E. Cates. They have one child, - a daughter.
His address is Florence, South Carolina.
Portrait and Signature of Smilie A. Gregg
Hemphill, J.C., ed. Men of Mark in South Carolina. Washington, D.C.: Men of Mark Publishing Company, 1908.