Hi Of course you can post it at the reunion. Anything in the Union LaGenWeb archives can be printed out and posted/distributed there. Just wish we had more to share with folks. Karen is going to add this to the archives, so it will be there if you "loose" it <g>. I am still now sure if I can make the reunion. Would someone please post the url for the reunion page again for this lazy south LA gal? I really need to get some family group sheets sent in whether I can go or not! Jan At 03:57 PM 4/30/1999 -0500, mmtrahan wrote: >Jan---thank you so much for sharing with us.....Could we have this posted at the >Reunion? mary margaret selig-trahan > >Jan Craven wrote: > >> Letter by W. L. Hodge. Reminiscenses of the Civil War. Union Parish, LA. >> Note: 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. >> Looks to me like it was published in the newspaper at some point, but what >> I have doesn't say when. Even if you don't "belong" >> to any of these folks, I think you will enjoy reading this. >> Hope so anyway..... >> Jan >> >> 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 > > >