At Green-Wood: THE PRENTISS BROTHERS

by Kevin Walsh

Baltimore natives Clifton and William Prentiss each died for their country. In 1862, with the USA and Confederate States at war, Clifton joined the Union army and later rose to the rank of brevet (or temporary) colonel. His younger brother, William, however, sympathized with the South and joined the army of the Stars and Bars. Clifton, shocked, swore he would never again speak to his brother.

On April 2, 1865 General U.S. Grant led a final, desperate assault on Gen. Robert E. Lee’s intricate system of fortifications at Petersburg, Virginia, the culmination of a 9-month siege. The Army of the Potomac was finally able to break through; a week later, Lee surrendered at Appomattox at Wilmer McLean’s farm, the very place the first battle of the war had been fought in July 1861.

It was Clifton Prentiss who led the assault on Petersburg on that April morning. He received a bullet in the lung. As it happened, William was there on the Confederate side and he, too, received an injury: a shell fragment in his knee necessitated an amputation. Both men were taken to a field hospital where, after some intransigence on Clifton’s part, they were reunited. At length they were brought to Armory Square Hospital in Washington, where they were treated by none other than Walt Whitman, who was working as an Army nurse. The brothers’ wounds were too severe for recovery: William passed away in June, Clifton in August. The brothers are interred side by side in a Green-Wood meadow, united as they were not during their lifetimes.

Source:

Stories of the Civil War, Carved on Headstones, Glenn Collins, New York Times July 4, 2003

FNY’s Green-Wood Cemetery tour takes place October 15, 2011 at 10″30 AM.

2 comments

Kevin September 29, 2011 - 11:39 am

Tis is a sad but common occurance in the border states area such as Maryland where families were split up to different sides. The history about Appomatax is incorrect – The surrender did happen at the McLane Farm, but the first battle did not happen there in july 1861, rather McLane lived near the spot of the 1861 battle (Manassas) then relocated to the spot in Appomattax Courthouse, not counting on any more war related activity near his new property.

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Aric August 25, 2015 - 2:01 pm

Ummm… The very first battle of the Civil War did not take place at Appomattox.

The first shots of the American Civil War occurred at Ft Sumter, SC April 12th 1861…

The first Major Battle would be Manassas (First Bull Run) July 21st, 1861. Near the home of Wilmer McLean. Afterwards, McLean wanted to get his family far away from the fighting, so he settled in a small town named Appomattox Courthouse. It was here nearly 4 years later that the fighting found him again, as Grant’s forces cutoff Lee’s Army forcing the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia April 9th 1865 in the parlor of McLean’s new home.

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