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In 1940, Wendell Berry's dad sat my
Great-uncle Samuel Morton
Pryor down and had him remember his early
days. A stenographer was in the room
and a transcript was made of Sam's remarks.
Now, Sam was 87 in 1940, and people thought his
days were numbered. They were,
but the number did not come up until 1953 when Sam
was 99 years and 11 months
old. I knew Sam slightly and so did
Wendell.
Sam was born in 1853. He remembered several
interesting things about the
beginning of the Civil War and his real cousin,
Gen. Humphrey Marshall, and his
shirt-tail cousin Owen Carroll, and Confederate
Gen. John Hunt Morgan's escape.
Also, without realizing it, Sam told why his dad,
Judge Will Pryor, had to flee
to Canada.
Wendell sent me this copy of the transcript a few
days ago. I have asked him
for permission to publish it on the Internet and
he agreed.
Thomas S. Fiske
It was a
Wednesday afternoon, that
October 9, 1940, when Wendell Berry�s dad got my
Great-uncle Samuel Morton Pryor
to sit down with him in front of a
stenographer. Sam had a farm near New Castle
that he had worked for many years. Now that he
was a lad of 87, some thought
his brain ought to be picked before his number was
up. Well, his number was not
going to be up for another thirteen years, but they
didn�t know that. Below is
a copy of the manuscript they produced that
day.
The
reader should be aware that Sam Pryor (1853-1953)
was the oldest son of Judge
William Samuel Pryor (1825-1914) of New
Castle, Henry Co., KY. Sam mentioned
Gen. Humphrey Marshall, who was a cousin of the
Pryors, and Owen Carroll, who
was probably an in-law of the Pryors (then or
later). Sam�s father was actively
trying to prevent war, but when it happened he sided
with the South.
Soon
after the War began, Judge
Pryor was apprehended and sent to prison at Camp
Chase, Ohio for some obscure
reason. Historians show that President Lincoln
imprisoned some 13,000 civilians
in neutral or Northern states for little
reason. Pryor was paroled by Lincoln
in 1862 by a letter that still exists. So when
Pryor helped General John Hunt
Morgan escape a year later, he had to flee to Canada
or go back to prison. Also
helping Morgan escape was Frank Pollard, a
great-grandfather of the
poet/novelist Wendell Berry, who owns the Sam Pryor
transcript. It is supplied
here with the kind permission of Mr. Berry.
The
spelling and punctuation of the
transcript is unchanged from the
original.
Thomas S.
Fiske
Fullerton,
CA
http://www.fiskefamily.com/fiskacetics/
INTERESTING BITS OF LOCAL HISTORY RELATED BY MR. S. M.
PRYOR, THE AFTERNOON OF
OCTOBER 9,1940.
Mr. Pryor
tells the story of a visit
by Gen. Humphrey Marshall, who then resided on the
Kentucky River in Henry
County, either at the farm known as Woodstock or the
one known as Peach Orchard,
for the express purpose of discussing the then
exciting issue of secession.
The year of this visit was about 1860, or just
before the outbreak of the war
between the states. At that time the land
where the homes of Dr. Owen Carroll
and Leslie Douglas are now located was an apple
orchard and the old stone
residence now occupied by Mrs. Louden and her son,
Cortney, was the scene of the
meeting with General Marshall of some forty or fifty
prominent citizens of
Henry, Oldham and other adjoining
counties. According to Mr. Pryor, who
was a
sizeable boy at the time, General Marshall, a
beautiful and engaging
conversationalist, sat in a large arm chair on the
lawn of the old stone
residence there for the space of the afternoon
enthralled and interested his
listeners in an able discussion of the disturbing
issue. General Marshall�s
position being that Kentucky, while preponderantly
sympathetic with the cause of
.the Confederacy, should not secede from the
Union.
The war came.
General Marshall immediately sat about the
organization of several companies of
men to fight in behalf of the Confederate cause.
Mr.
Pryor
relates the amusing incident that one such company not
yet fully organized was
encamped, or meeting at a point on the Owenton road
near about the top of the
Gratz hill when Col. Jessee, another old resident of
Henry County, a Confederate
sympathizer, ho was active as a gorilla, and the
organizer of a company, which
for the most part so engaged itself for the duration
of the war except for
infrequent excursions with Morgan's men in raids, came
on horseback to the brow
of the hill racing at breakneck speed and lashing his
horse with his hat
shouting "the yankees are coming", with the
effect that the prospective company
assembled by Gen. Marshall were frightened and
completely dispersed never to be
rejoined.
Gen. Morgan and Capt. Hines, upon their escape from
prison at Camp Chase, Ohio,
returned on their way to the Confederate lines, or the
Tennessee border, through
Henry County. Impersonating cattle buyers
they came to the home of Frank
Pollard on the Kentucky River, spent the night and
talked cattle. Mr. Pollard
subscribed regularly to the Cincinnati Inquirer
which was delivered to him by
steam boat on the Kentucky River, and while Morgan and
Hines were guests in the
Pollard home the issue in large headlines announcing
the escape of Morgan and
Hines was received at the Pollard home.
Seeing it Mr. Pollard pointed first to
Morgan and then to Hines and called each of them by
name. The next morning Mr.
Pollard accompanied Gen. Morgan and Captain Hines from
his home through Henry
County by way of New Castle introducing them as cattle
buyers. They stopped
at the home of Judge W. S. Pryor and purchased from
him ten head. Judge Pryor
secured the consent of Gen. Buckley (USA), who was in
charge of a company of men
then encamped at the site of the D. Minor Maddox home,
for the cattle buyers,
who were presented by assumed names, to pass through
Buckley�s line of pickets
and upon the consent of the two men departed driving
their cattle and thus
proceeded south through Kentucky almost to the
Tennessee line where they were
apprehended by yankee soldiers who shot Gen.
Morgan in the back, but who missed
their mark on Capt. Hines, who escaped and survived to
serve on the Court of
Appeals of Kentucky with Judge W. S. Pryor (who
figured in the cattle sale
referred to earlier).
The
Stamtbaugh home was originally the Brannin
place. The Brannins came here before
the civil war and in the early days of Henry County
from Louisiana where they
had been engaged as sugar planters. Dan Brannin
was the earliest one known by
Mr. Pryor and likely the original owner of the
place. His son, A. 0. Brannin,
was the father of Mattie. A. 0. and other Brannins
moved to Louisville and
became prominent in the life and business of that
city. Mattie Brannin was a
girlhood chum and desk mate from school of the Mary
Anderson who rose from
virtual poverty as a child to universal popularity and
fame as an actress.
Being without means with which to provide herself with
appropriate costume for
the occasion, she borrowed and wore at her first
appearance the jewelry and
dress of her deskmate, Mattie Brannin.
After
the
war Gen. Kirby Smith, a Brig. Gen. in the Confederate
Army came to New Castle
and acquired the Brannin property and organized the
Military Academy there.
The Academy was noted and attended by sons of the
wealthiest families from all
sections. Miss Preston, the daughter of
Gen. Wm. Preston, was a close friend
of Mrs. Kirby Smith and paid her frequent visits here.
General Wm. Preston had a
brother John Preston, who was a large land and slave
owner in Trimble County.
I have visited, the John Preston home which is now
owned by J. L. Rodgers. Col.
John Preston, not only owned extensive property in
Trimble County, but large
plantations in the Delta country. On his place
in Trimble County he produced
and cured pork which was shipped by raft down
the rivers to his plantation in
the south and there fed to his even greater number of
slaves.
Mr.
Pryor
tells the story of old Jack Crittenden, a clever and
shrewd old negro long
remembered in the community. The grand jury was
in session and was
investigating the illegal sale of intoxicating
liquor. Jack was called as a
witness, but knew nothing of the illicit
traffic. By the foreman of the grand
jury he was asked the pointed question if he had not
told a prominent white man
of sales and purchases of liquor, and to the question
shrewd old Jack replied "Dats
just street talk, Is under oath now."
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