Letter by W. L. Hodge: Reminiscenses of the Civil War, Union Parish, Louisiana Submitted for the Union Parish Louisiana USGenWeb Archives by Jan Craven, 5/1999 ................................................................................. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ ================================================================================= Note by contributor: this is from the papers of Errye Pryor Hampton. Source is not stated. Paper is yellowed and worn and is type written from the original. ================================================================================== SKETCH OF A PROMINENT FAMILY An Old Schoolmaster Writes Interesting Reminiscences of Civil War =================================================================================== I have recently heard the news of the death of my good friend W. K. Pryor. I have known the Pryor family from boyhood, Mr. Stokes Pryor and my mother being first cousins. Mr. S. Pryor was also a first cousin to (the) Rev. J. W. Melton. When the Civil War began in April, 1861, there were ten children in the Pryor family-one girl and nine boys. The girl had been married several years to Charlie Heard, a first cousin to Ex-Governor Heard. He gave his life in defense of the South. Two of his daughters live at Spearsville, Louisiana- Mrs. Will Cherry and Mrs. John Cobb. The Pryor family moved from Alabama to Louisiana after the close of the Civil War, leaving the oldest son, R.Q. Pryor, in their old home. I have a letter from him giving his recollections of the Civil War, which I will quote: "When the guns fired at Fort Sumpter, South Carolina, I was 19 years old, going to school at Dalton, Georgia. The next day my friend and relative, W. L. Hodge, and myself laid down our books and took the train for home. When we reached Montgomery, Alabama, we took a stage for Selma, where we arrived at sunrise the next morning. After lunch, we joined the Selma Cadets., N.H.R. Dawson, Captain. We hired a team late in the day and started for home, overtaking my father in the road. He said, with tears trickling down his cheeks: "My son, I didn't vote for Secession; I was in favor of Mr. Lincoln taking his seat and telling him 'if you violate our Constitution, we will raise the stars and stripes and fight in the Union; but since Alabama seceded, if you die, die with your face to the foe.' We reached home after dark that day and left the next morning before light, taking my next oldest brother, John W. Pryor, with us. We left Selma for Virginia, April 16, and were under General Joseph W. Johnston at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, where my comrade, W. L. Hodge, swam across the Potomac river, 60 miles from Washington, D.C. Our first battle was fought at Manassas July 21st, 1861, where I was slightly wounded. At the second battle of Manassas, I was shot through my right side and breathed out of the wound until the blood ran and clogged up the wound. At the battle of Chicamauga, our color bearer was shot down and my brother, George A. Pryor, took up the colors. General Hood rode up and asked what regiment it was; brother told him "Fourth Alabama. General Hood asked him to give him the colors; he said, 'You can't get them; I Will carry then anywhere you say.'" "Brother George was killed near Knoxville, Tennessee. Brother John was killed in 1862 at the battle of the Wilderness. I was again shot through the body on the right side above the former wound. This wound up my service in the war. My brother, Ben Pryor, was serving in the war at the close." Those recollections make me want to give a few of my reminiscences of the Civil War. At the battle of the Wilderness, General Grant was Commander-in-Chief of the Union armies. Sherman at Chattanooga commanded a hundred thousand men. General Butler with fifty thousand was sent against Richmond. General Grant commanded one hundred and fifty thousand effective fighting soldiers. General Phil Sheridan commanded his cavalry. The Wilderness battle was but a few miles from Chancellorsville where General Hooker was defeated the year before; and where Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded. General Grant's baggage train was sixty miles long- as long as the entire distance from the Rapidan to Richmond. Lee's army, consisting of only sixty-two thousand men, crept into the tangled wilderness where Grant would have to fight him without cannon, Grant having so many more cannon than Lee. From the dawn of May 5th, 1864, till far into the night the conflict raged. Lee had pushed the blue lines back a hundred yards, captured four guns and a number of prisoners. At daylight, the morning of the sixth, they were at it again. As the Confederate right wing crumpled and rolled back, Longstreet threw his corps into the breech. Lee himself rode forward to lead the charge and restore his line. At sight of him, rose the cries: "Lee to the rear! Go back, General Lee! We'll settle this! With a yell., our army took the field. General Wardsworth, at the head of his division, was mortally wounded and fell into our hands. He was formerly Governor of New York and impressed me as being an able and polished man. I later learned he was a relative of Brother J.U.H. Warton. In two days Grant lost sixteen thousand men; Lee as many in proportion to numbers. The next fighting was at the "Bloody Angle" of Spotsylvania. For five days Grant tried in vain to break Lee's trenches. He gave it up. The devotion of Lee's men was a mania. He was unconquerable in a square hand to hand fight In the woods. The next battle was second Cold Harbor. With the first streak of dawn, four-thirty, Grant's army charged. TEN THOUSAND MEN IN BLUE FELL IN TWENTY MINUTES! Nothing like it had, to this time, happened in, the history of man. In the thirty days since Grant had met Lee in the Wilderness, the Northern army had lost sixty thousand men, among the bravest of our race. Lee's losses were as great in proportion to the number he commanded. Next the armies of Petersburg lay behind thirty-five miles of deep trenches. Grant's new plan of campaign was digging a tunnel under Lee's fortress before Petersburg. He gathered sixty-five thousand men with his Black Legions, before the tunnel. The tons of powder were stored under the fort, and the fuse set July 31st, 1864 was about four hundred yards from the fort when it was blown up. A huge hole had been torn in Lee's fortifications one hundred yards long and sixty feet wide and twenty-five feet in depth. Lee reached the field and took command. Mahone's men came to the rescue. The Black Battalion was ordered to charge. The whole Southern line dashed on the advancing Black Legions in a countercharge and the yell of white victory ran, over the field. At the bottom of the pit the heap was ten feet deep in dead men. Again Grant failed to take Petersburg. We buried a thousand of his men next day. When our Brigadier-General Sandres from Alabama formed us into line to charge the craters, he said: "Men, I don't command you to take that line, but follow me." And we did follow to the very jaws of the crater, helping to bring the dead from the pit, having to step over dead men while bringing them out Generals Lee and Beauregard witnessed the charge. I could write much more of my experiences in the but desist, for it would take the whole space of your paper to publish it. I will conclude by saying the Pryor boys were good soldiers, possessing courage of a high degree. When I found R.Q. Pryor the night of May 6, he was lying on a blanket in the woods, his wounds not dressed because the surgeon in charge thought it impossible for him to live. I told the surgeon; "Pryor says, "You think I can't live -and have not dressed my wound.' " The surgeon had him placed on the operating table, turned him on his side and cut the bullet out of his back without using an anaesthetic, Pryor not even groaning. The surgeon said: "Pryor, I'll be damned if you don't get well again. Pryor's mother was a sister of Mr. George A. Killgore. Mrs. Pryor never failed In the courage and sacrifice that gave the South its enthusiasm and endurance. When Lee's army, a small band of ten thousand, surrendered, April 19, 1865, General Grant gave us generous terms. All officers retained their swords and every horse went home for spring plowing. He merely required out paroles not to take up arms again. I have mine enclosed in a small frame. I walked most of the way home from Appomattox Court House to Perryville, Alabama. Lee's last words to us worst "My heart's too full for speech my men. I have done for you all that was in my power. You have done your duty; we leave the rest to God. Go quietly to your homes now and work to build up our ruined country. Obey the laws and be as good citizens as you have been soldiers. I'm going to try to do this; will you help me." W. L. Hodge Simsboro, Louisiana April 6, 1922 ##############################################################################