Barbour County AlArchives Biographies.....W. H. Pruett May 20 1841 - 
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Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
   HON. W. H. PRUETT.-The Pruetts are of Welsh descent and the pro-genitor of
the American branch of the family came to this country with General Ogelthorpe's
colony, in 1734, and settled at Savannah, Ga. The subject's grandfather, John
Pruett, the son of a Revolutionary patriot, who lost his life while fighting for
independence, immigrated to Alabama in 1819, settling at the present site of
Louisville, Barbour county. His son, James M. Pruett, with whom he subsequently
served in the Indian war, was two years old when the faimly settled in Barbour
county. James M. was married, about the year 1837, to Louisa Feagin, and lived
at Louisville, until 1840, at which time he moved to what is now the county of
Bullock, where his death occurred in 1878, at the age of sixty-three years.
James M. and Louisa Pruett were the parents of six sons, and four daughters,
namely : Martha, wife of James Turman; Mrs. Sarah Griffin, deceased; W. H..;
John E., lieutenant in company I, First Alabama volunteers, killed at Port
Hudson, La., in 1863; Samuel T., farmer, residing near the old homestead,
Bullock county; James W., also a resident of the county of Bullock; S. G.,
George W., Louisa, wife of E. H. Fitchpatrick, and O. J. W. H. Pruett was born
at Midway, Ala., May 20, 1841. After receiving a common school education, he
entered the university of Virginia, but was not permitted to finish his course
in that institution on account of the war, at the breaking out of which he
returned home and assisted in the organization of a company in the Fifteenth
Alabama regiment, of which he became orderly sergeant. Shortly after entering
the service he resigned his commission, and, raising another company, of which
he was elected captain, went with his regiment, the First Alabama, to Pensacola,
Fla., where he was mustered into the service in February, 1862; thence to Island
No. 10, where his entire companp afterward surrendered to the enemy. Shortly
after capitulating Captain Pruett and 160 comrades succeeding in effecting their
escape under the following circumstances. At the time of his capture, Capt.
Pruett was with a detail of sixty men, about one mile distant from the place of
surrender, and on his way thither, formed a daring plan of escape, which he made
known to his comrades with the request that all who felt like joining in the
movement should meet him at a certain place the night following their arrest at
the Federal camp. It so happened that the Federal camp was reached the same
evening; and shortly after dark the entire number who had been let into the
secret met at the place designated and at once proceeded to carry out their
plan, their arms not yet having been taken by their captors. At the head of the
company of 160 men, Capt. Pruett, under the cover of darkness, deliberately
marched out of camp, but had not proceeded far, when he was halted by the
interrogatory, "Who are you?" He at once replied : "The One Hundred and
Thirty-ninth Illinois." "Where are you going?" "I am going out to put a double
line of guards around those rebel prisoners, who are trying to escape," was the
reply, after which the wily captain and his brave followers were allowed to
proceed unmolested. They soon succeeded in putting a safe distance between
themselves and the enemy, and making their way across Rutfoot lake and on to
Memphis, reported to Gen. Bragg, who ordered them to Fort Pillow; thence, after
its evacuation, they went to Vicksburg. Subsequently the little company went to
Abbeville, and from there proceeded to Corinth, in the battle of which they took
part, and later at Port Hudson, La., rejoined the regiment, which in the
meantime had been exchanged. At the fall of Port Hudson in July, 1863, the
regiment again surrendered to the enemy, but, previous to that event, May 20th,
the same year, Capt. Pruett was unfortunate in being captured a second time by
the Yankees. Briefly stated, the circumstances of his second capture were as
follows: At the head of his company, Capt. Pruett was ordered to keep the levees
on the low land opposite Port Hudson lighted, so as to prevent the possibility
of the enemy's gun-boats passing the batteries undetected. While thus engaged,
the captain procured an old flat boat at the mouth of False river, about one
mile above the point where his men were stationed, and with several comrades was
preparing the same for firing and cutting adrift in case the enemy's gun-boats
attempted to run the blockade, when a squad of Federal cavalry unexpectedly put
in an appearance and captured the entire party engaged in the work. Capt. Pruett
was carried down the river and around the coast, and finally, with about 100
other officers, was put on board a vessel and started for the officers' prison
at Fort Delaware. When on the coast of Virginia the prisoners overpowered the
seventeen guards, and, turning the ship about, started back with the intention
of effecting a landing at some Confederate harbor, and making their way inward
to the Confederate lines. In this they failed, but finally landed on the beach
near Cape Henry lighthouse and after great privations and much suffering
succeeded in reaching the Confederate lines at Murfreesboro, N. C., and. then
proceeded on to the city of Richomnd. After a four months' furlough, Capt.
Pruett and several other officers reorganized the members of their old regiment,
all of whom in the meantime had been paroled, and formed a new regiment, of
which the captain became the major. This regiment was ordered to Mobile, and
after a period of service on the coast it joined Johnston's army in time to take
part in the Atlanta campaign, and was afterward with the forces of Hood in the
Tennessee raid and the battle or Franklin. Maj. Pruett surrendered with the
regiment in South Carolina in 1865, and, returning to Eufaula, engaged in the
mercantile business, which he carried on with indifferent success until 1867. In
the latter year he began farming and continued the same until 1876, at which
time he again embarked in the goods business, opening a store at Fort Browder,
which he conducted till 1880, paying considerable attention in the meantime, to
agriculture. He suffered a severe loss by fire in 1880, after which he removed
to Eufaula, where his business did not prove very prosperous; accordingly he
disposed of his stock in 1884, and. has since that date been engaged in plantng.
In 1887, Mr. Pruett was elected to the office of justice of the peace, the
duties of which he has since discharged. He was married in 1867 in Eufaula to
Anne Browder, who died in 1880, leaving three children, namely : Browder,
Willannie, and James G., Maj. Pruett's second marriage was consummated in 1881
with Annie Roberts, who bore him one child, Albert Roberts, and whose sad death
occurred in January, 1890, after ten years of happy wedded life In his political
affiliations, Mr. Pruett is a democrat; he belongs to the K. of P. order, is
prominently connected with the F. & A. M., being a royal arch Mason, and was,
for many years, master of the Blue lodge to which he belongs. In August, 1892,
after a heated campaign, he was elected probate judge of Barbour county by an
overwhelming majority, which position he now fills with credit to himself and
county.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama" p. 453-455


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