Bryan Grimes | |
|---|---|
 Bryan Grimes Jr. photo taken in 1864 or 1865 | |
| Born | (1828-11-02)November 2, 1828 |
| Died | August 14, 1880(1880-08-14) (aged 51) Pitt County, North Carolina |
| Place of burial | "Grimesland" plantation, North Carolina |
| Allegiance |  United States of America Confederate States of America |
| Branch |  Confederate States Army |
| Years of service | 1861–65 |
| Rank |  Major General |
| Commands | 4th North Carolina Infantry Regiment |
| Battles / wars | American Civil War |
| Other work | planter, university trustee, writer |
Bryan Grimes (November 2, 1828 – August 14, 1880) was aConfederate military officer during theAmerican Civil War. He fought in nearly all of the major battles of theEastern Theater.
Grimes was the last man in theArmy of Northern Virginia to be appointed as amajor general.[1] He also led the last attack of that army not long before its surrender toUnion forces atAppomattox Court House on the morning of April 9, 1865.
Bryan Grimes Jr. was born on the ancestral family plantation, called "Grimesland Plantation," inPitt County, North Carolina. It was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1971.[2] His father, Bryan Grimes Sr., was a prosperous planter. His mother, Nancy Grist, was the daughter of a prominent general fromGeorgia; she died when Grimes was only four months old, and his older sister for a time raised him. He attended school inNash County and an academy in Washington, North Carolina, before attending a noted private school inHillsborough. Grimes, at the age of fifteen, enrolled in theUniversity of North Carolina, where he was a member of thePhilanthropic Society. He graduated four years later in 1848. In 1849, his father gave him the Grimesland estate, along with control over its 100slaves. On April 9, 1851, he married Elizabeth Hilliard Davis, but she would die only six years later. The couple had four children, one of whom, Bryan Grimes III, died in childhood. A grief-stricken Grimes later traveled toEurope.
Upon his return to theUnited States, he was elected as a delegate to North Carolina'ssecession convention. He resigned from the commission after the passage of theOrdinance of Secession and joined the Confederate Army as themajor of the newly formed4th North Carolina Infantry on May 16, 1861. He saw his first combat action at theFirst Battle of Manassas inVirginia on July 21. Grimes was promoted tolieutenant colonel on May 1, 1862, and fought at theBattle of Seven Pines, during which he was wounded when his injured horse fell on top of him on May 31.[3] On June 19, 1862, Grimes was promoted to the rank ofcolonel and given command of the4th North Carolina Infantry, now part of the Army of Northern Virginia. Grimes led the regiment during thePeninsula Campaign, but missed theMaryland Campaign and theBattle of Sharpsburg due to a severe leg injury incurred when his horse kicked him on September 5 near Edward's Ferry inMaryland. Upon recovery Grimes returned to field duty in temporary command of an infantrybrigade within thedivision ofMaj. Gen.Daniel Harvey Hill. He fought with the rest ofStonewall Jackson'sSecond Corps at theBattle of Fredericksburg that December, where his men repelled a Union attack.[3]
Grimes returned to his regimental command before the 1863Chancellorsville Campaign, where he was wounded again, this time in a foot, on May 3.[3] During thefirst day's fighting at Gettysburg, Grimes' regiment was the first organized Confederate unit to enter the streets ofGettysburg, Pennsylvania. He was in charge of the rear guard during a part of the army's retreat into Virginia following the three-day battle. On September 15, 1863, he married Charlotte Emily Bryan, and they eventually had ten children together, includingJohn Bryan Grimes, who would become North Carolina's secretary of state. Again, another son named Bryan Grimes died in childhood.
During the 1864Overland Campaign, Grimes was promoted to the rank ofbrigadier general on May 19, and given permanent command of his brigade of North Carolinians. That autumn, he fought in theShenandoah Valley Campaign as part of the army ofLt. Gen.Jubal A. Early. When Maj. Gen.Stephen D. Ramseur was killed atCedar Creek, Grimes assumed command of his division on December 9 and led it for the rest of the war. On October 19 while at Cedar Creek he was wounded in a leg.[3]
On February 15, 1865, Grimes was promoted tomajor general,[3] the last man appointed to that rank in the Army of Northern Virginia.[4] He served in the trenches surroundingPetersburg and joined Robert E. Lee's retreat to the west that ended when the way was blocked by Federal columns near Appomattox Court House. Grimes led an attack that temporarily cleared Federals from the Lynchburg Road, briefly opening up a possible route of escape for a portion of Lee's army. However, Lee chose to surrender instead of risking useless further bloodshed.
Following theAppomattox Campaign, Grimes surrendered along with the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865, and was paroled at Appomattox Court House. He was pardoned by the U.S. government on June 26, 1866.[3]
After the war, Grimes returned to North Carolina and settled briefly inRaleigh. He subsequently moved back to Grimesland in January 1867 and resumed farming. Ten years later, he was named as atrustee of the University of North Carolina.
In 1880, Grimes was ambushed and killed in Pitt County, North Carolina, by a hired assassin named William Parker, presumably to prevent him from testifying at a criminal trial. Grimes had taken part in an attempt to deport immigrants, and was killed by their hitman.[5] Parker was later acquitted at his trial. However, a number of years later Parker returned to the area drunk and boasted of his killing Grimes but winning acquittal. He was arrested for drunk and disorderly. That night a mob entered the deserted jail house, grabbed Parker andlynched him. Nobody was ever tried for the act. Grimes was buried in the family cemetery on his plantation, Grimesland, about five miles northwest ofChocowinity, North Carolina. A monument (acenotaph) to the fallen former Confederate stands in Trinity Churchyard Cemetery located in the village of Chocowinity.
Portions of the letters written home by Grimes throughout the Civil War were published after his death in 1883, entitledExtracts of Letters of Major Gen'l Bryan Grimes, to His Wife.[3]
In April 1898, theU.S. Army established "Camp Bryan Grimes" in Raleigh and named it for the former Confederate general. It served as a mustering point for North Carolina troops in theSpanish–American War.
TheSons of Confederate Veterans local camp inGreenville, North Carolina, was designated as the Major General Bryan Grimes Camp 1988.
Friends and family erected a cenotaph atTrinity Episcopal Cemetery in Chocowinity, North Carolina, with his accomplishments and Civil War service inscribed upon it.
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