Gregg County

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Gregg County. Born from two parents, as counties sometimes are, carved out of Rusk and Upshur counties and brought into being on April 12, 1873.

Now, creating a county and actually running one are two different things, and the folks involved didn't waste much time sorting that out. By June 28, 1873, the county was organized, name on the door, ready for business. And what a name they chose.

Gregg County honors General John Gregg, born in 1828, died in 1864. That's the whole arc of a man right there, two dates standing at attention on either side of a life that left enough of a mark that a Texas county still carries his name. General Gregg wasn't just a soldier.

Before the war came calling, he was a delegate to the Secession Convention, and he served in the Provisional Congress of the Southern Confederacy. Then he became a Confederate officer. The county seat is Longview, sitting at the heart of it all, the way a county seat does, holding things together.

Two parent counties, one April morning in 1873, a general's name, and a city called Longview. That's the foundation Gregg County was built on, and it's been standing on it ever since.

What the marker says

Formed from Rusk and Upshur counties. Created April 12, 1873; organized June 28, 1873. Named in honor of General John Gregg (1828-1864). Delegate to Secession Convention and to the Provisional Congress of the Southern Confederacy; a Confederate officer. Longview, the county seat.