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Roger Atkinson Pryor (July 19, 1828 – March 14, 1919) was an American jurist, politician, newspaper editor, and Confederate general during the American Civil War.
Early life and career Pryor was born near Petersburg, Virginia. He graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 1845 and from the law school of the University of Virginia in 1848. The following year, he was admitted to the bar, but abandoned law on account of ill health. He then devoted himself for a few years to journalism. Pryor served on the editorial staff of the Washington Union in 1852 and the Richmond Enquirer in 1854. He turned to politics and was appointed special U.S. Minister to Greece in 1854. Upon his return to the Virginia, he established The South in 1857. He was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives to fill the vacancy in Virginia's 4th District caused by the death of William O. Goode, serving from December 1859 until March 1861. Civil War Pryor agitated for secession in Charleston, South Carolina, and before the attack on Fort Sumter declined an opportunity from P.G.T. Beauregard to fire the first shot. Pryor was re-elected for the succeeding term, but owing to the secession of Virginia did not take his seat. He served in the provisional Confederate Congress in 1861, and also in the first regular Congress (1862) under the Confederate Constitution. He entered the Confederate States Army as Colonel of the 3rd Virginia Infantry. He was promoted to brigadier general on April 16, 1862. His brigade, consisting of regiments from Virginia, Alabama,and Florida, took part in the battles of Williamsburg, Seven Pines, and Second Manassas, where it became detached in the swirling fighting and temporarily operated under Stonewall Jackson. At Antietam on September 17, 1862, he assumed command of Anderson's Division in James Longstreet's Right Wing when Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson was severely wounded coming up to the Sunken Road with reinforcements. Due to a disagreement with Confederate President Jefferson Davis over his desire for permanent higher field command, Pryor resigned his commission in 1863 and his brigade was dismantled. He entered General Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry as a private and scout in August of that year. He was taken prisoner of war on November 28, 1864, and confined in Fort Lafayette on suspicion of being a spy. He was released on parole by order of President Abraham Lincoln and returned to Virginia. Postbellum activities In 1865, an impoverished Pryor moved his family to New York City, where he established a profitable law firm with a partner. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1876. He served as judge of the New York Court of Common Pleas from 1890–1894, and justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1894–1899. He was appointed official referee by the appellate division of the state Supreme Court on April 10, 1912, and served until his death in New York City. He was buried in Princeton Cemetery, in Princeton, New Jersey. His wife, Sara Agnes (Rice) Pryor (b. 1830), published The Mother of Washington and her Times (1903), Reminiscences of Peace and War (1904), The Birth of the Nation (1907), and My Day: Reminiscences of a Long Life (1909). | ||||||||
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