Civil War photograph of Robert E Lee dated 1864 GENERAL LEE AT COTTAGE FARM, OCTOBER 1864 photograph, in period rosewood frame titled and dated: lower margins (Missing bottom left corner 3/4" x 3/4", bottom middle 1/4" X 1/4" triangle, 3" up from bottom right side 1/4" x 1/4"; five tears and foxing) image size: H9 3/8" W11 1/2" *Provenance: Gift from Robert E Lee to Brigadier General Roger Atkinson Pryor after Pryor's wife and children had stayed at Cottage Farm during the siege of Petersburg. Cottage Farm was about three miles from the city and belonged to Sara Pryor's brother-in-law. Photo possibly taken post-war. Present owner is the great-grandson of General Pryor. *Biography: Brigadier General Roger Atkinson Pryor (1828-1919). General Pryor was born on July 19, 1828 in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. He was educated in 1845 at Hampden-Sidney College and in 1848 at the University of Virginia, graduating with a degree in law. He was admitted to the Bar in 1849. Though he had studied law, he became a journalist as a staff member of The Washington Union and in 1853 became editor of The Richmond Enquirer. In 1855, at age twenty-seven, he was sent to Greece by President Pierce as a special commissioner. On his return he established a political journal at Richmond, called The South, in which he represented the views of Virginia. He was a strong supporter of states' rights for the South. In 1859, General Pryor was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to fill a vacancy and was then reelected in 1860 to a second term, but due to the secession of Virginia from the Union, he did not fill his seat. He then served in the Provisional Confederate Congress (1861) and the First Regular Congress (1862). He played a prominent part in the proceedings of the Charleston Democratic Convention in 1860 and afterward became an ardent advocate for the formation of the Southern Confederacy. Later in 1860, Pryor went to Charleston, South Carolina, and became a member of the volunteer staff of General Beauregard. He witnessed the bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12th from a boat midway between Forts Johnson and Sumter. At Fort Johnson the order to open fire on Fort Sumter was given to Captain George S. James, a great admirer of Pryor, who offered Pryor the privilege, but Pryor responded, "I could not fire the first gun of war." Pryor entered the Confederate Army as a colonel and became a brigadier general. During the War between the States he commanded the Third Virginia Regiment at Portsmouth. He took part in the battles of Yorktown, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Second Bull Run, and Antietam. It was after Antietam that his regiment was dismantled and as a result he resigned his commission as an officer and served the Confederacy at the request of General Robert E. Lee in scouting and intelligence work. He was captured in November 1864 and held prisoner for a time at Fort Lafayette, located at the mouth of New York (City) Harbor. After the war Pryor and his wife Sara, who had previously been members of the Southern aristocracy and had relationships with people such as Stephen A. Douglas and Robert E. Lee, set about restoring their lives. They moved to New York City where Pryor entered the practice of law, being appointed to the New York Court of Common Pleas (1890), the New York State Supreme Court (1896), and the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court (1899-1919). He died on March 14, 1919. Judge Pryor and his wife Sara were considered prominent figures in the South during the Confederacy and later in New York society. There have been several books published about their lives and accomplishments, the most recent being 'Surviving the Confederacy: Rebellion, Ruin and Recovery - Roger and Sara Pryor During the Civil War', by John C. Waugh. It chronicles their lives during and after the war, telling how they survived the war and were able to live productive lives afterward. Reviews of the book say that by focusing on Roger and Sara Pryor, Waugh has found a most remarkable bridge from antebellum society to post-war reconstruction. *References and of further interest: Waugh, John C. SURVIVING THE CONFEDERACY REBELLION RUIN AND RECOVERY - ROGER AND SARA PRYOR DURING THE CIVIL WAR. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2002. Holzman, Robert S. ADAPT OR PERISH THE LIFE OF GENERAL ROGER A. PRYOR, C.S.A. Archon Books, 1976. "ROGER ATKINSON PRYOR." LoveToKnow 1911 Online Encyclopedia. © 2003, 2004 LoveToKnow. http://8.1911encyclopedia.org/P/PR/PRYOR_ROGER_ATKINSON.htm. "BRIGADIER GENERAL ROGER ATKINSON PRYOR." The Virginia Civil War Biographies Page. CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY, VOL. III, pp.654-655. Confederate Publishing Co. 1899. http://members.aol.com/jweaver300/grayson/pryor.htm.