Elkanah Greer

Infobox Military Person
name=Elkanah B. Greer
lived= birth date|1825|10|11 – death date and age|1877|3|25|1825|10|11
placeofbirth=Paris, Tennessee
placeofdeath=DeVall's Bluff, Arkansas


caption=
nickname=
allegiance= Confederate States of America
branch= Confederate States Army
serviceyears=1861–1865
rank= Brigadier General
commands=Greer's Brigade
unit=
battles=American Civil War:
* Wilson's Creek
* Elkhorn Tavern
* Corinth
awards=
laterwork=planter, merchant, lawyer

Elkanah Brackin (or Bracken) Greer (October 11, 1825 – March 25, 1877) was an antebellum cotton planter, merchant, and then a general in the Confederate States Army who served in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Greer was born in Paris, Tennessee. He moved to Mississippi as a young man and took part in the Mexican War as a member of the 1st Mississippi Rifles, whose colonel was future Confederate President Jefferson Davis. He participated in the battles of Monterrey and Buena Vista.

In 1848, Greer moved to Marshall, Texas, where he established himself as a planter and merchant, and for a time was a partner in a law firm. Three years later, he returned to Tennessee to marry a local girl named Anna Holcombe (whose famous sister Lucy Petway Holcombe married Francis Wilkinson Pickens, and became known during the Civil War as the "Queen of the Confederacy"). [http://www.wofford.edu/southernSeen/content.aspx?id=13262 McGehee, Larry T. "Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove," August 5, 2002, "Southern Seen", Wofford College web site] Elkanah and Anna had five children. He became the grand commander of the secretive Knights of the Golden Circle organization in 1859. [Evans, [http://www.b17.com/mosb/generals/greer.htm Greer bio] ]

With the secession of Texas, Greer enlisted in the army and was commissioned as the first colonel of the newly formed 3rd Texas Cavalry in July 1861. After training his men, he led the regiment into combat at the battles of Wilson's Creek and Elkhorn Tavern in Missouri. During the latter engagement, Greer was slightly wounded.

In October 1862, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and appointed as chief of the conscription bureau for the Trans-Mississippi region. Among his many responsiblilties was trying to reconcile the laws of the central Confederate government with those of the State of Texas.

In 1864, faced with a growing manpower shortage, the Confederacy formed a Reserve Corps department, and Greer commanded it for a time.

After the war, he resumed his civilian career as a planter and merchant. He died on a visit with his sister in DeVall’s Bluff, Arkansas, on March 25, 1877.

Greer is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee. [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10883 Find-a-grave biography of Elkanah Greer]

References

External links

* [http://www.angelfire.com/tx/RandysTexas/page110.html New texas Handbook]
* [http://www.generalsandbrevets.com/sgg/greer.htm Greer photo gallery]