- Roger Atkinson Pryor
Roger Atkinson Pryor (
July 19 ,1828 –March 14 ,1919 ) was an Americanjurist ,politician , newspaper editor, and Confederategeneral during theAmerican Civil War .Early life and career
Pryor was born near
Petersburg, Virginia . He graduated fromHampden-Sydney College in 1845 and from the law school of theUniversity of Virginia in 1848. The following year, he was admitted to the bar, but abandoned law on account of ill health. He then devoted himself for a few years tojournalism . Pryor served on the editorial staff of the "Washington Union " in 1852 and the "Richmond Enquirer " in 1854. He turned to politics and was appointed special U.S. Minister toGreece in 1854. Upon his return to Virginia, he established "The South" in 1857. He was a fiery and eloquent advocate of slavery, states' rights, and secession.In 1859, he was elected as a Democrat to the
U.S. House of Representatives to fill the vacancy in Virginia's 4th District caused by the death of William O. Goode. He served fromDecember 7 ,1859 toMarch 3 ,1861 . In the House, Pryor became a particular enemy of RepresentativeThaddeus Stevens , a Republicanabolitionist .Civil War
In early 1861, Pryor agitated for immediate
secession in Virginia, but the state convention did not act. Frustrated,Pryor went to Charleston in April, to urge immediate attack onFort Sumter . (Pryor asserted this would cause Virginia to secede.) OnApril 12 , he accompanied the last Confederate parley to the fort before the bombardment (but stayed in the boat). Afterward, while waiting atFort Johnson , he was offered the opportunity to fire the first shot. But despite his earlier rhetoric, he declined, saying "I could not fire the first gun of the war."In 1861, Pryor was re-elected to his Congressional seat, but owing to the secession of Virginia, he of course did not sit in the U.S. Congress. (In this period, several states including Virginia elected U.S. Representatives in the early part of odd years. This was possible because Congress almost always met late in the year.) Instead he served in the provisional
Confederate Congress in 1861, and also in the first regular Congress (1862) under theConfederate Constitution . He entered theConfederate States Army asColonel of the 3rd VirginiaInfantry . He was promoted tobrigadier general onApril 16 ,1862 . His brigade, consisting ofregiment s from Virginia,Alabama , andFlorida , fought in thePeninsula Campaign , and at Second Manassas, where it became detached in the swirling fighting and temporarily operated underStonewall Jackson . At Antietam onSeptember 17 ,1862 , he assumed command of Anderson's Division in Longstreet's Corps when Maj. Gen.Anderson was wounded.Due to a disagreement with Confederate President
Jefferson Davis over his desire for permanent higher field command, Pryor resigned his commission in 1863 and his brigade was dismantled. In August of that year, he enlisted as a private and scout in a Virginiacavalry regiment under GeneralFitzhugh Lee . Pryor was captured onNovember 28 ,1864 , and confined inFort Lafayette as a suspected spy. He was released on parole by order of President Lincoln and returned to Virginia.Postbellum activities
In 1865, an impoverished Pryor moved his family to
New York City , where he established a profitable law firm with a partner. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1876. He served as judge of the New York Court of Common Pleas from 1890 to 1894, and justice of theNew York Supreme Court from 1894 to 1899. He was appointed official referee by the appellate division of the state Supreme Court on April 10, 1912, and served until his death in New York City. He was buried inPrinceton Cemetery , inPrinceton, New Jersey .His wife, Sara Agnes (Rice) Pryor (b. 1830), published "The Mother of Washington and her Times" (1903), "Reminiscences of Peace and War" (1904), "The Birth of the Nation" (1907), and "My Day: Reminiscences of a Long Life" (1909).
References
CongBio|P000558 Retrieved on
2008-02-13 External links
* [http://www.highwaymarker.org/signtext.cfm?sm=1730 Virginia State Highway Memorial Marker]
###@@@KEY@@@###USRepSuccessionBox
state=Virginia
district=4
before=William Goode
after=George Booker (1)
years=December 7 ,1859 –March 3 ,1861 succession box
title=Member of the C.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia
before="(none)"
after=Charles F. Collier
years=February 18 ,1862 –April 5 ,1862
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