The Dallas Journal, Volume 48, 2002 Page: 8
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Dr. Samuel B. Pryor, Early Prominent Dallas County Resident
staff was frequently actually elected from rank and file of the regiment.
Dr. Pryor might very well have been a "member" of this company in its
pre-organization state (that is, before its actual moment of acceptance into
confederate service), but by virtue of such election have become regimental
surgeon as of the date of official organization. ...57
In the same collection is a newspaper article about the dedication ceremony with a new marble
headstone being planned for Samuel B. Pryor's final resting location. The dedication service was held
on 23 March 1958 at Pioneer Cemetery on Akard and Masonic Streets. (The cemetery was also known
as the Odd Fellows and the Masonic Cemetery.) The members of the United Daughters of the
Confederacy were in charge of the service. Tannahill Masonic Lodge, of which Dr. Pryor was a
member in the 1860s, also participated in the program. According to this article, Mrs. George Carlyle,
chairman of the cemetery committee of James Butler Bonham Chapter, Daughters of the Republic of
Texas, found through research that Dr. Pryor occupied an unmarked grave in the cemetery which was
soon located. A reference to his participation in the war was briefly detailed.
His enlistment record as Lieutenant in the 13th Dallas Light
Artillery was verified by correspondence between United Daughters of the Confederacy here and
the War Memorials Commission in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Pryor reportedly ended the war as regimental surgeon of the
19th Texas Cavalry.58
My next step was to check the military microfilms. The index to compiled service records of
Confederate soldiers revealed that both Charles R. and Samuel B. Pryor had records. Charles R. was
listed as a surgeon with the 14th Texas Cavalry, Johnson's Regiment Mounted Volunteers (1st Regiment
Johnson's Brigade).59 Another card showed him listed as a surgeon among the "General and Staff
Officers, Corps, Division and Brigade Staffs, Non-Com. Staffs and Bands, Enlisted Men, Staff
Departments, C. S. A." in the Cavalry.60 A card showed Samuel B. Pryor with Capt. Good's Co. Texas
Artillery (State Troops), also known as Dallas Light Artillery, as 1st Lieutenant. A notation on this card
read "some of the members of this co. subsequently served in Douglas' Co. TX Artillery."61
The Texas 14th Cavalry Regiment was organized in the summer of 1861 and mustered into service at
Dallas in September 1861. The organization was "dismounted" at Little Rock, Arkansas in the spring of
1862 then reorganized in May 1862. They surrendered at Citronelle, Alabama on 4 May 1865. The first
commander was Colonel Middleton T. Johnson.62 Middleton Tate Johnson, a South Carolina native,
was in Texas by 1840 and involved in politics. He served during the Mexican War and received a land
grant in Tarrant County. His home was known as "Johnson's Station." He contributed a great deal to
the organization and development of Tarrant County. After the war he was a member of the state
legislature. Johnson County in north central Texas was named in his honor.63
The Texas Dallas Artillery Battery was organized in Smith and Dallas counties on 2 July 1861 with
Captain John J. Good as the first commander and James P. Douglas as the captain. They surrendered at
Citronelle, Alabama on 4 May 1865.64 The organization was better known as "Good-Douglas Battery"
after its commanders. John Jay Good, a native of Mississippi, was in Dallas by 1851 and was the
commander of the local militia during the "Hedgcoxe War." After the war he became a judge and
lawyer. He was later a mayor of Dallas in 1880.65 Lester N. Fitzhugh compiled Good's war letters into
a book, Cannon Smoke: The Letters of Captain John J. Good, Good-Douglas Texas Battery, CSA. The
letters mentioned "Sam Pryor" once and "Dick Pryor" a few times during 1861.66 The book's appendix
mentioned that the Dallas Light Artillery was organized on 12 March 1859 under the command of Capt.John J. Good with Samuel B. Pryor as 1st Lieutenant. Charles R. Pryor was listed as one of the
8 The Dallas Journal 2002
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Dallas Genealogical Society. The Dallas Journal, Volume 48, 2002, periodical, June 2002; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth186861/m1/12/?rotate=270: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Genealogical Society.