Freedom Fighter: Hubbard Pryor

Hubbard Pryor fled slavery in Tennessee at age twenty-two and reached Union lines, enlisting in a black infantry regiment on April 7, 1864. This photograph was included in a report on black recruitment sent to the war department in Washington, DC, later in the year. “For raiders in the enemies country, these Colored Troops will prove superior,” wrote the white regimental captain; “they are good riders - have quick eyes at night . . . and know all the by-ways.” [Davis, p. 269]

The 44th U.S. Colored Infantry soon moved south to Georgia. Surrounded during a battle in Dalton, the regiment surrendered. The white officers were released by agreement but the African American soldiers were placed “under guard and lash,” forced to work rebuilding southern railroads and other facilities.

After the war Pryor stayed in Georgia his home state and married in 1870. In May 1890 he wrote the war department to learn if he had been listed as a prisoner or a deserter at war’s end. Listed as a prisoner, he was thus eligible for a pension. Before he could apply, however, he died in August 1890, in his mid forties.

Sources: National Archives & Lawrence E Walker Foundation Collection; Robert Scott Davis, Jr., “A Soldier’s Story: The Records of Hubbard Pryor, 44th U.S. Colored Troops, (National Humanities Center)