Edgar Mantlebert Gregory (January 1, 1804 – November 7, 1871) was a Union Army officer during the American Civil War, Freedmen's Bureau official, and abolitionist.

Prior to the war, he worked in lumber, banking, and railroad businesses in Cincinnati, where he also helped people escape slavery.

Planters and others, concerned about the cotton crops, continued to treat blacks as slaves with harsh, cruel treatment and forcing them to remain in Texas.

Gregory, a firm abolitionist, recommended the use of labor contracts to set the terms of employment and payment for rendered services.

He was promoted to inspector general and left his position due to whites, like David Burnet, who found him too concerned about the rights of African Americans.

He was appointed to the position of United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in May 1869 by Ulysses S. Grant and was in service when he died.

He was a fighter in battle, but in camp he used to have prayer meetings and all that sort of thing, and I am afraid that the wicked boys about division headquarters used to make ribald and sometimes blasphemous comments on "Parson Gregory", whom, despite his kindness to us, we used to call with great irreverence the "Bible-banging Brigadier!"

[11] He was brevetted brigadier general on September 30[13][5][12] or October 17, 1864[11] at the Battle of Poplar Springs Church for "gallant and distinguished service.

"[5] Gregory and his regiment were present at the Battle of Appomattox Court House and the resulting surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia.

[5][11] On June 23, 1865, during the conclusion of the American Civil War, Gregory issued a general order: "People of color .

[15] General Gordon Granger issued a proclamation in Texas that slavery had come to an end, but that the "freed are advised to remain at their present homes, and work for wages."

Other African Americans stayed in Texas on the promise of cotton plantation owners that they would be paid a share of the crop at the end of the year.

He found incidents "ranging from downright murder, savage beatings, merciless whippings, hunting men with bloodhound, through all the lesser degrees of cruelly and crime.

"[16] He was the only assistant commissioner in Texas who was a radical abolitionist and many whites were angry about his proclivities towards blacks, who Gregory saw as respectable people, with good morals, and deserved the right to live free.

[16] He was the commissioner of Maryland in 1867, the year in which illegal apprentices, where children were bonded to previous masters, were coming to an end.

[19] The Bureau provided funding for construction and repair of buildings for schools, as well as educational materials, for black children.

[19] President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Gregory to the position of United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on May 11, 1869.

[21] A private funeral was held November 13, 1871 at his home in Philadelphia and with a military escort, that also included men who served under Gregory, of his hearse to the Oxford Presbyterian Church.