Elkanah Greer
Elkanah Brackin Greer was an antebellum planter, merchant, and then a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Born in Tennessee, Greer moved to Mississippi and later served in the Mississippi Rifles in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War. In 1848, he moved to Marshall, Texas, where he was a lawyer, planter, and merchant. In 1859, Greer became the commander of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a pro-slavery organization. After the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Greer raised what became the 3rd Texas Cavalry Regiment and received a commission as its colonel. Greer fought at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in August 1861, the Battle of Chustenahlah in December 1861, and the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862, receving an arm wound in the last. Greer resigned his commission in June 1862, but was commissioned as a brigadier general in October. Assigned to lead the conscription bureau of the Trans-Mississippi Department in June 1863, Greer continued in that role until relieved in March 1865. Resigning his Confederate commission in May 1865, Greer returned to civilian life and died at DeValls Bluff, Arkansas in 1877.
Biography
Elkanah Brackin Greer was born in October 1825, in Paris, Tennessee, to James and Rachel Greer. The historian Ezra J. Warner and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas state that Greer was born on October 11, while the Handbook of Texas Online provides a birth date of October 13. Greer later relocated to Mississippi. During the Mexican–American War, he served in Colonel Jefferson Davis's Mississippi Rifles, with the rank of private. He saw action at the Battle of Monterrey and the Battle of Buena Vista. Greer held the rank of Major General in the Mississippi state militia for a time after the war, before moving to Marshall, Texas, in 1848; he returned to Tennessee in 1851 to marry Anna Holcombe, with whom he fathered four children. Anna was sister to Lucy Holcombe.The stay in Tennessee did not last long. Greer was part of a law firm in Marshall and was the superintendent of a railroad; Warner writes that he "established himself as a planter and merchant" there. Politically, Greer was a Democrat who supported states' rights, as well as the institution of and expansion of slavery. A member of the Knights of the Golden Circle, Greer became the organization's grand commander in 1859. The Knights of the Golden Circle was an organization which sought to expand slavery as it was practiced into the United States into a wider geographic area, including Mexico, Cuba, and Central America. The organization raised military units in furtherance of its goals, with Greer organizing a cavalry regiment in 1860, the services of which were declined by the Governor of Texas, Sam Houston. Greer was a delegate to the Charleston Democratic National Convention in 1860; he was one of the delegates who left the convention in opposition to Stephen Douglas. After the election of Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States in 1860, Greer supported Texas secession.
In May and June 1861, Greer raised what became the 3rd Texas Cavalry Regiment for service in the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War; he received a commission as the colonel of the regiment in July. Greer's first combat experience in the Civil War was in August at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in Missouri, where he served under Ben McCulloch. In December, Greer and his men were present at the Battle of Chustenahlah, which was fought in the Indian Territory. Having been assigned to James M. McIntosh's cavalry brigade, Greer saw action at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas in March 1862. Greer temporarily lead a sizable portion of the Confederate force at Pea Ridge after the deaths of McCulloch and McIntosh and the capture of Louis Hébert, ordering the withdrawal of disorganized Confederate troops from part of the field on the first day of the battle. Greer's portion of the army marched overnight to rejoin the rest of the Confederate force, He suffered an arm wound during the battle, although it was not significant and he did not mention it in his post-battle report.
After the battle, Greer's regiment was dismounted and transferred across the Mississippi River. Greer resigned his commission on June 1, 1862, but received a new commission as a brigadier general on October 8. In early 1863, E. Kirby Smith reorganized the administrative structure of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department; Greer was appointed the departmental chief of conscription, having been ordered to the district in May 1863. Greer began his tenure as a conscription officer the following month, being stationed out of Marshall. Warner notes that Greer spent much of his time attempting to reconcile contradictory Confederate and Texas state laws. Greer commanded Confederate reservists in Texas, and was prepared for field service in 1864 to defend Marshall and Shreveport, Louisiana, although the two Union campaigns threatening the department at that time did not venture far enough into Confederate territory for Greer to become directly involved. Greer also was tasked with Confederate frontier defense duties in Texas, which led to disagreements with the Confederate civilian authorities. He also mustered reservists for the support of Price's Missouri Expedition in late 1864. At one point Greer was ordered to deploy Texas militia to Fulton, Arkansas, but the movement never occurred.
Francis T. Nicholls was assigned by the Confederate central government to take Greer's place as conscription chief in December 1864, but this change was rejected by Smith on the grounds of Greer's accomplishments while in the role. On March 27, 1865, Greer was relieved from his role with the conscription bureau, and he then commanded the Texas Reserve Corps. He resigned from the Confederate military in May 1865, and returned to Marshall and civilian life. While visiting his sister in DeValls Bluff, Arkansas, Greer died on March 25, 1877. The medical historian Jack D. Welsh lists Greer's cause of death as "phthisis pulmonary". He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee, next to his parents.