May 2, 1861 (Thursday) Unease In Richmond

PETERSBURG, May 2, 1861

Roger A. Pryor

Hon. L. P. Walker:

   Reliably reported enemy will occupy Alexandria.  Large force in Washington.  Maryland overwhelmed, and reaction there against us.  Confusion in our own councils in Richmond.  Extremely important President Davis be there.

ROGER A. PRYOR

Pryor was a member of the Confederate Congress and the Confederate Army at the start of the war.  A well known attorney and orator, he writes here to the Confederacy's first Secretary of War, L. P. Walker.  Events at the beginning of the war were not unfolding to suit Pryor.  He raises the point of Jefferson Davis and the government being in Montgomery and of the necessity of his coming to Richmond to lead the military effort from closer to the front. After the war Pryor moved to New York and was a law partner of notorious Union general Ben, "The Beast" Butler.