HeroPrentiss
Cadet
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2020
Great-great grandpa was a private in the 58th Illinois and fought in the Sunken Road at Shiloh. He was captured along with Brig. Gen. Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss in Hell's Hollow and spent seven months in Confederate prisons. He was captured weighing 143 pounds and when released he weighed 76 pounds. He returned to the regiment and served throughout the war.
In 1890 James Price, Capt. of Company K, 18th Missouri applied for a pension and requested an affidavit from Jesse Abel as a witness to Price's service. The two men fought with Prentiss in the Hornets' Nest at Shiloh. It was that experience Abel wrote about in the affidavit dated July 3, 1890.
"I was a corporal in Company K, 18 Mo. Volunteer Infantry at the time of the battle of Shiloh. Jas. A. Price was the Captain of that company. Toward evening of the 6th of April 1862, the day of the battle I was with Capt. Price when hero (emphasis by me) Genl Prentiss rode by and told Capt. Price that if he ever expected to get out of his position he must get out within five minutes, as the enemy were then on both flanks and in our rear. Genl Prentiss rode on and in less than five minutes was made a prisoner. After considerable persuasion Capt. Price was induced to leave his position and attempt to escape through the rebel forces which were fast closing around us. The Captain and myself and fifteen others were all of our company together at this time. 12 of us ??? that escaped capture, and in fact nearly all of Gen. Prentiss command that escaped. No braver man ever looked into the muzzles of Rebel muskets than Capt. James A. Price. I was with him in the times that tried mens souls and I know whereof I speak."
Jesse A. Abel
After over twenty-eight years Abel remembered Prentiss riding among the men encouraging them to get out. To Jesse Abel and my great-great grandfather, Benjamin Prentiss is a hero, and they were there.
I wrote an article for the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County about Prentiss.
https://www.hsqac.org/gen-prentiss-quincy-s-slandered-hero-of-shiloh
I have visited all the battlefields where the 58th Illinois fought and have done extensive research on Benjamin Prentiss and Shiloh. I figure it is time to share some of what I have discovered.
In 1890 James Price, Capt. of Company K, 18th Missouri applied for a pension and requested an affidavit from Jesse Abel as a witness to Price's service. The two men fought with Prentiss in the Hornets' Nest at Shiloh. It was that experience Abel wrote about in the affidavit dated July 3, 1890.
"I was a corporal in Company K, 18 Mo. Volunteer Infantry at the time of the battle of Shiloh. Jas. A. Price was the Captain of that company. Toward evening of the 6th of April 1862, the day of the battle I was with Capt. Price when hero (emphasis by me) Genl Prentiss rode by and told Capt. Price that if he ever expected to get out of his position he must get out within five minutes, as the enemy were then on both flanks and in our rear. Genl Prentiss rode on and in less than five minutes was made a prisoner. After considerable persuasion Capt. Price was induced to leave his position and attempt to escape through the rebel forces which were fast closing around us. The Captain and myself and fifteen others were all of our company together at this time. 12 of us ??? that escaped capture, and in fact nearly all of Gen. Prentiss command that escaped. No braver man ever looked into the muzzles of Rebel muskets than Capt. James A. Price. I was with him in the times that tried mens souls and I know whereof I speak."
Jesse A. Abel
After over twenty-eight years Abel remembered Prentiss riding among the men encouraging them to get out. To Jesse Abel and my great-great grandfather, Benjamin Prentiss is a hero, and they were there.
I wrote an article for the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County about Prentiss.
https://www.hsqac.org/gen-prentiss-quincy-s-slandered-hero-of-shiloh
I have visited all the battlefields where the 58th Illinois fought and have done extensive research on Benjamin Prentiss and Shiloh. I figure it is time to share some of what I have discovered.
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