The mountain was listed by Arnold Guyot in his 1856 survey of the Smokies, although Guyot gave it the name Great Bald's Central Peak, and measured its elevation at 4,922 feet. The name Gregory Bald was given to the mountain by Cades Cove residents in honor of Russell Gregory (1795-1864), a prominent Cades Cove settler. He and two other settlers made a deal to each take 1/3 of the land to live upon. Gregory used the mountain to graze cattle during the spring and summer, when the fields in the cove were needed for growing crops. He lived atop the mountain during this part of the year in a circular stone house near the mountain's summit (the house is no longer standing). Gregory, who (like most Cades Covers) supported the Union during the American Civil War, was murdered by a Confederate soldier in 1864 while trying to protect his cattle and land. His grave bears the legend Murdered by North Carolina rebels.