This is the home of an ardent New York Confederate. His name was Roger Pryor and he served as a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army. Prior to the war, he served as a diplomat to Greece in 1854 and later founded a newspaper called The South in which he advocated an ardently pro-secession position.
When the war came, he was elected to the Confederate Congress but left politics to serve as colonel in the 3rd Virginia Infantry. He earned a promotion to brigadier general and fought in the Peninsula Campaign and at Second Manassas. During Antietam, he took command of Anderson's Division inside Longstreet's Corps when Major General Richard Anderson suffered a wound.
In an action duplicated by several Confederate generals, he quarreled with Jefferson Davis over his wish for higher command. He resigned his commission and his brigade was dismantled. In August 1863, he rejoined the army as a private in General Fitzhugh Lee's Virginia cavalry regiment. Union forces captured him on November 28, 1864. Lincoln released him on parole and he came back to Virginia.
In 1865, poverty compelled him to move himself and his family to New York City. Using his prior law degree, he established a prosperous law firm with the hated "Beast" Benjamin Butler. Becoming a respected member of the bar, he was appointed as a judge of the New York Court of Common Pleas from 1890 to 1894 and then later served as a justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1894 to 1899.
The picture above is on 157 Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights. A quick subway trip across the East River will get you there. Pryor's home looked like the brownstones across the street. The apartment complex you see above is of more recent construction but come and see the home of New York City's Confederate. Pryor was a symbol of how some people truly reconciled with their enemies after the war.
No comments:
Post a Comment