Prior, Roger

Early years

Pryor was born on a Montrose farm near Petersburg , Virginia . He was the second child in the family of priest Eodoric Blend Pryor and Lucy Atkinson. His older sister was called Lucy. His father was the grandson of the famous virgin politician Richard Blend, and his ancestors on the fatherly line were descended from the first virgin colonists. After the death of his wife, his father remarried.

In 1845, Pryor graduated from Hampden-Sydney College , and in 1848, he graduated from law school at the University of Virginia . The following year, he was admitted to law practice, but refused to do so because of poor health and began working as a journalist.

Civil War

At the very beginning of 1861, Pryor campaigned for the immediate secession of Virginia. In April, he went to Charleston , where he insisted on attacking Fort Sumter , believing that this would entail the secession of Virginia. On April 12, he and his wife Sarah were present in the last delegation to the fort. After that, he went to Fort Johnson, where he was offered to make the first shot, but he refused with the words: “I cannot afford to take the first shot in this war” ^[3] .

In 1861, he was re-elected to the US Congress, but due to the separation of Virginia, his powers ceased. Prior became a delegate to the Provisional Confederation Congress and the First Congress of the Confederation.

Pryor went to serve in the army of the Confederation and became a colonel in the 3rd Virginia Infantry Regiment . April 16, 1862 received the rank of brigadier general. At that time, his brigade consisted of four regiments and one temporary dowry battalion:

• 2nd Florida Infantry Regiment , Colonel Edward Perry
• 14th Alabama Infantry Regiment , Lieutenant Colonel Bane
• 3rd Virginia Infantry Regiment ,
• 14th Louisiana Infantry Regiment , Colonel Zebulon York
• Coppens 1st Louisiana Battalion (temporarily attached)

This brigade went through the entire campaign on the peninsula as part of Longstreet's division, after which the Louisianian division was withdrawn and two Florida regiments were introduced: the 5th and 8th. This team eventually received the name "Florida." In this form, she participated in the second battle of Bull Run , where she was listed in the division of Richard Anderson . This division came to the battlefield last, while Pryor could not competently manage it and did not have time to join the battle ^[4] .

On September 17, during the battle of Entity , Anderson's division also arrived at the battlefield in the middle of the day and was sent to the center of the army positions. Almost immediately, General Anderson was wounded by a shrapnel and Pryor took command of the division. He did not know what orders were given to Anderson and could not find his way in the situation, as a result of which his division was disorganized ^[5] . Brigades entered the battle on their own, without a single command, and soon mixed up into one crowd, which eventually led to the retreat and in fact the flight of some units. In the end, after the battle, General Lee removed Pryor from command of the brigade.

Family

He was married to Sarah Pryor , a writer and social activist. Their daughter Frances (Fanny) Theodora Bland Pryor was married to the artist William Dodge .

• Holzman, Robert S. Adapt or Perish; The Life of General Roger A. Pryor, CSA Hamden, Conn .: Archon Books, 1976.
• Waugh, John C .; Surviving the Confederacy: Rebellion, Ruin, and Recovery: Roger and Sara Pryor during the Civil War, Harcourt, (2002) ISBN 0-15-100389-0

• Biography on the US Congress website
• A Civil War Biography: Roger Atkinson Pryor
• Pryor's brigade