Reminiscences of Peace and War

This illustrated memoir contains twenty-six chapters and was published in 1907.


Mrs. Pryor remembers what Washington DC was like, both the political and the social life, before, during and after theCivil War. She shares stories about her family life, what the Capitol was like in the 1850's, political battles, Civil War stories, society life and parties in the Capitol, and her life experiences

after the war.


Her husband, Roger A. Pryor, was both an American politician and a Confederate politician serving as a Congressman on both sides. He was also a jurist, serving in the New York Supreme Court, a lawyer, and newspaper editor. Pryor is also known for being a Confederate Brigadier General during the American Civil War.


Preface:


It will be obvious to the reader that this book affects neither the "dignity of history" nor the authority of political instruction. The causes which precipitated the conflict between the sections and the momentous events which attended the struggle have been recounted by writers competent to the task. But descriptions of battles and civil convulsions do not exhibit the full condition of the South in the crisis. To complete the picture, social characteristics and incidents of private life are indispensable lineaments. It occurs to the author that a plain and unambitious narrative of her recollections of Washington society during the calm which preceded the storm, and of Virginia under the afflictions and sorrows of the fratricidal strife, will not be without interest in the retrospect of that memorable era. The present volume recalls that era in the aspect in which it appeared to a woman rather than as it appeared to a statesman or a philosopher.

ROGER A. PRYOR.