The Texas Brigade has gone down in history as one of the truly great military units. Colonel Harold B. Simpson, noted author and historian aptly described them as Lee's Grenadier Guard, thus placing them on the level of Napoleon's Old Guard and Caesar's famous legions.

Greer W. Wood lived in Halletsville, Texas at the time of the outbreak of hostilities that came to be known to some as the American Civil War, and to others as the War for Southern Independence. Some of the men from Halletsville and the Lavaca County area had enlisted in the 4th Texas Cavalry. However in early in the war some men from Halletsville joined what would become known as Company F of the Fourth Texas Infantry Regiment. The regiment's first Colonel was John Bell Hood. He had replaced R. T. P. Allen who was despised for being an overbearing martinet. The fourth Texas would be Hood's first command during the war.

It is not known why so many of the Halletsville men found their way into Company F which was mostly men from Travis County, Possibly they may have initially thought that they would be joining their neighbors in the 4th Texas Cavalry. Texans loved their horses, and initially many were disappointed when they found themselves in dismounted cavalry units such as the 29th, or infantry units. But it was in the Infantry of the famous Texas Brigade that they would find their claim to fame and glory.

Greer joined Company F, Fourth Texas Infantry, with his father in law, Calloway Harbour, and his best friend Jacob C. Quick.

When the 4th arrived in Virginia, their first encampment was called Fort Bragg. The name of their camp was later changed to Camp Texas. Here they drilled and trained for the combats that would later come. However there came an outbreatk of Typhoid Fever that caused a number of deaths even before they had faced Yankee musket fire.

Calloway Harbour may have experienced early combat, but due to poor health he was sent back to Texas on furlough. He never made it home as he died in Monroe Louisiana according to his muster cards.

Greer caught typhoid and missed the 7 days battle near Richmond. Thomas Harwell author of "Eighty Years Under the Stars and Bars" was from Lavaca County, and he recorded that Jacob Quick was severely wounded, and that Greer got splinters in his eyes when a Yankee bullet struck some wood near his face. He recovered to fight on, but Jacob lost his right arm.

In a photo from Colonel Simpson's book "Hood's brigade in reunion and memory, Greer and Jacob are standing side by side in an 1890 Reunion. Jacob has only on arm in that photo.

In Chaplin Davis' history of the brigade, Greer is listed as one of the wounded at the battle Antietam. This incident is further clarified in "Their Last Full Measure Volume I, complied by L. L. Knight.

Greer took part in as many as 27 battles and actions during the war, The actions around Fredricksburg and Chancellorsville campaign, Gettysburg Campaign, and later the Wilderness campaign, and Petersburg.

I have Studied the Brigade's actions at Gettysburg, and have walked the route of the Texas Brigade's movements on July 1, 2 and 3 of 1863. I am grateful for the Help I had from some of the local Pensylvania historians in helping me construct what happened.

The 4the Texas infantry regiment, of the Texas Brigade of Longstreets. Corp. of Robert E Lee's Army of Northern Virginia began the day at Gettysburg on July 2 by crossing from the pike to Devils Den where they pushed the Federasl back to the heights on Little Round Top. They had been recieving fire from the fourth New York Artilley battery which they had been ordered to silence. Driving the 16th Michigan Infantry up the sloped of Little Round Top, they encountered Vincents 44th New York, The Fourth and Fifth Texas Regiments broke through on Little Round Top and it appeared for a while that the Federal Flank might be rolled up, but The Federal Brigade Commander Colonel Stephen Weed encountered the 140th New York newly arrived and instantly order them to plug up the hole that the Texans had made in the line. The fight ended in an exhausted stalemate, and the Texans spent the night almost under the guns of the New Yorkers defending the summit. The Texans remained here thru July 4th when a general retreat was ordered.

At some point in the battle for Little Round Top, Greer Wood was wounded. He was evacuated on the ambulance train that went through Cashtown. Union Cavalry General Judson Kilpatrick intercepted the Ambulance train at Cashtown and Greer became a prisoner of War. He remained in Federal hands until he was exchanged on August 23, 1863 at City Point Maryland.

Greer was Furloughed back to Texas. He could have remained there, but in a truly remarkable display of patriotic devotion that typified so many Confederate Soldiers, Greer returned to the army in late February 1864. and rejoined Longstreet's Corp. which at this time was in Tennessee.

Greer arrived back in time to see action at the Wilderness, and Orange Plank Road, Spotsylvania Courthouse, and Cold Harbour. But soon after, the Army of Northern Virginia would endure 9 months of siege warfare at Petersburg. The last record of Greer was that he had a clothing receipt on Dec 6, 1864, He was probably captured at Petersburg when the city fell. He was not found on the Appomattox surrender roll.

Greer began the long trek back to Texas, and was paroled at Columbus, Texas on the 21st of July 1865.

Greer W Wood