Biographical Sketch of W.A. Pyle - Andrew County, Missouri >From "History of Missouri, Andrew & DeKalb County" Published 1888 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mo/mofiles.htm ************************************************ Transcribed by: Penny Harrell (Incog3678@aol.com) ********************************************************************** W. A. Pyle, a farmer living three miles south of Savannah, in Jefferson Township, Andrew County, was born in Scioto County, Ohio, in 1844. He is the son of G. W. and Susannah (Rankin) Pyle, both natives of Scioto County, OH. The former was born about 1815, and was the son of Absalom Pyle, born in Roanoke County, VA., of English parents. He removed from his native State to Ohio, where he engaged in farming. His wife, Sabina Marshall, also of English descent, and a native of Virginia, was a first cousin of Humphrey Marshall, of Kentucky. The father of our subject was a farmer also, and removed to Missouri in 1847, having purchased the homestead where W. A. now resides. He died the year of his removal to Andrew County. His wife was born in 1817, and was the daughter of William Rankin. She died in Ohio during the winter of 1846-47. W. A. was reared on his grandfather's farm in Ohio, and acquired his education in the district schools, and in a private school at Jackson. At seven- teen years of age he enlisted in the army, joining Company E, of the Thirty-third Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, as a private, Col. Sill commanding. He marched with his regiment into Eastern Kentucky, where Humphrey Marshall was driven out; from there to Louisville, and with Gen. Mitchell, through Bowling Green, KY., to Nashville, TN., and on to Huntsville, Ala. his regiment was then left as rear guard, and on Gen. Buell's retreat were shelled out of Fort McCook, when they marched to Louisville, and thence to Perryville, and in Rosseau's division part- icipated in the fight at that place, where twenty-four of the forty-five men in the company were lost. After this they went to Nashville, TN., and thence to Murfreesboro, where they engaged in the Stone River fight, and subsequently in the Tullahoma compaign, and after driving the rebels from Hoover's Gap, went into camp at Cowan, where they remained until September 1, 1863. Chickamauga was their next fight. His regiment was in the First Brigade, First Division and Fourteenth Corps. On Sunday, the last day's fighting, he was wounded and taken prisoner, and after laying on the field in Cheatham's hospital, was taken to Atlanta, and held in prison until February 17, 1864, when he was exchanged under a flag of truce. He was sent to the hospital at Nashville, was granted a furlough, and returned to Ohio. He reported at Cincinnati in May, and was placed in the hospital. In August, 1864, he was sent to Todd Barracks, Columbus, Ohio, to be mustered out on October 4, 1864, after which he returned to his home in Ohio, where he remained until 1867, when he immigrated to Andrew County, MO. He has resided here since, and engaged in farming. He was married in 1867 to Mary J. Bennett, who was born in Ohio on December 26, 1847, and is the daughter of James Bennett. They have three children in life, and one dead.