The March to Raymond:

On May 1, 1863, General John Gregg led his brigade out of Port Hudson, Louisiana. Under the direct orders of General Pemberton at Vicksburg, Gregg's men will endure an eight day, two hundred-mile journey to reach Jackson on the night of May 9.

Gregg's Brigade would arrive in Jackson on the evening of Saturday, May 9th. As the brigade enjoyed their short-lived rest on the banks of the Pearl River, General Gregg received an order from Pemberton: "Sunday, May 10th - Move your brigade promptly to Raymond, taking three days' rations, and carrying only cooking utensils and ammunition; no baggage."

 

Before sunrise on the morning of May 11, a sharp bugle blast broke the silence of the early morning hours. "At five o'clock Monday morning," wrote W.J. Davidson, 41st Tennessee, "we were ordered under arms without a moment's preparation, and had to start without cooked rations. Many of us left our clothing, thinking that we were only going to move to a more suitable camping-ground, and were not a little surprised when, after marching through Jackson in column of platoons, we turned our faces westward, and it leaked out that we were going to attack the enemy."

 

Sgt. Sumner A. Cunningham, 41st Tennessee described the march. "The surmises were cut short by the sharp bugle-blast, which sounded the assembly. In a few minutes we were ready, and a short march brought us out on the hill overlooking Jackson. Halting to form, we began the march through the city. The Forty-First Tennessee, Col. Farquharson, was followed by the Third Tennessee, Col. Walker. Then came the Tenth Tennessee (Irish), Col. McGavock; then the Thirtieth, Col. Head; the Fiftieth, Col. Sugg, and the First Tennessee Battery, Major Colms. The rear was brought up by Col. Granbury, Seventh Texas, all under command of that lamented soldier and gentleman, General John Gregg, of Texas.

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The column was headed by the band of the Third, and it fell to my lot to command the advance. As we moved down the wide road, marching to the strains of 'The Girl I Left Behind Me,' I glanced back, and could not restrain a feeling of pride in the splendid array of gallant men, nearly all of whom I knew either personally or by regiment. It was a perfect body of men Gregg led through Jackson that lovely morning, and many a fair hand on this occasion gave the lie to the story that Jackson people charged for handing water to the noble fellows as they filed by.

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The streets were lined and the windows crowded as we marched along, not knowing our destination till we passed the depot and took the Raymond road. Raymond is the county-seat, although Jackson is the State capital, and both being in the same county. We soon met straggling cavalry who stopped in their mad flight long enough to tell us of a cavalry raid up from Grand Gulf. We had been itching for a fight, and could not have been better suited than to meet the raiders. The country was green with growing grain, and presented a peaceful, happy, and contented appearance."

 

The 7th Texas at Raymond:

General Gregg was making a fateful decision for his much smaller force of 3,000 on the morning of May 12, 1863. Gregg later wrote,

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"Early next morning [May 12], I was informed by couriers from Captain Hall that the enemy were advancing rapidly by the road from Utica.

…I had moved the Seventh Texas Regiment (Colonel [H.B.] Granbury) to support the picket at the junction of the Port Gibson and Utica Roads, and had moved the Fiftieth Tennessee Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel [T.W.] Beaumont) out on the Lower Gallatin road, and ordered the Tenth and Thirtieth Tennessee Regiments, consolidated (Col. R.W. McGavock), to support it. A single field, dotted with spots of timber, separated the Lower Gallatin and Utica Roads, and the main force of the enemy was on the latter road. Finding that I would necessarily be driven into town by his artillery unless I moved up nearer, and believing from the evidence I had that his force was a single brigade, I made my dispositions to capture it. I then ordered up the Third Tennessee into the open field to the right of the Tenth and Thirtieth Tennessee, and the Seventh Texas I moved by the left flank behind some timber to the right of the Third Tennessee."

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At 10:00 A.M., the Bledsoe's artillery opened on the advancing Federals. As General Gregg had ordered, the 7th Texas Infantry Regiment attacked across Fourteenmile Creek, with Colonel Hiram Granbury anchoring his regiment's right on the Utica Road and its left on the 3rd Tennessee Infantry. The 3rd Tennessee was a 500 man regiment brought forward to the creek to assist the Texans and to further bait the "trap." In support was the 41st Tennessee, brought forward from its reserve position in the town square. The Texans' attack was to be taken up by the 3rd Tennessee in a right to left movement. Private Sam Mitchell of the 3rd Tennessee recalled,

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"General Gregg ordered Colonel Granbury to take two companies and deploy them as skirmishers, and that gallant officer was soon ready to move forward. Colonel Granbury, along with his skirmishers, soon uncovered their front and fell back and formed on the right of the brigade. The command was then given to charge! Which was done in grand style."

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Private Dwight of the 20th Ohio recalled the action:

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"When we rushed through the brook, we found the enemy upon us but we found also that the bank of the brook sloped off a bit, with a kind of beach at its further edge, which made a first rate shelter. So, we dropped on the ground right there and gave those Texans all the bullets we could cram into our Enfields until our guns were hot enough to sizzle. The gray line paused, staggering back like a ship in collision which trembles in every timber from the shock. Then, they too gave us volley after volley, always working up toward us breathing our fire until they had come within twenty or even fifteen paces. In one part of the line some of them came nearer than that and had to be poked back with the bayonets. It was the 7th Texas which had struck us, a regiment which had never been beaten in any fight. We soon found they didn't scare worth a cent. They kept trying to pass through our fire, jumping up, pushing forward a step, and then falling back into the same place--just as you may see a lot of dead leaves in a gale of wind, eddying to and fro under a bank, often rising up as if to fly away, but never able to advance a peg. It was a question of life or death with us to hold them, for we knew very well that we would go to Libby [prison], those that were left of us-- if we could not stand against the scorching fire which beat into our faces in that first hour. . ."

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During that critical first hour of the battle, as the 20th Ohio was being flanked on its right, Private Oldroyd in the beleaguered Union regiment recalled,

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"Every man of us knew it would be sure death to all to retreat--for we had behind us a bank seven feet high--made slippery by the wading and climbing back of the wounded and where the foe could be at our heels in a moment. The 7th Texas fought desperately, and no doubt they fully expected to whip us early in the fight, before we could get reinforcements. The regiment to the right of us was giving way but just as the line was wavering and about to be hopelessly broken General Logan dashed up and with the shriek of an eagle turned them back to their places which they regained and held."

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At 4:00 P.M., General Gregg ordered his depleted force to retreat back towards Jackson. The 7th Texas lost 22 killed, 73 wounded, and 63 missing.