William Prindle

William Prindle was born in 1840 in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Daniel (b. 1805) and Mary L. (b. 1805)

Connecticut natives Daniel and Mary were married, presumably in Connecicut and resided there for many years. sometime between 1847 and 1850 Daniel moved his family to Michigan and by 1860 William was working as a farm laborer, attending school with four of his younger siblings and living ont he family farm in Byron, Kent County.

He stood 5’7” with gray eyes, brown hair and a light complexion and was 21 years old and possibly residing in Grand Rapids when he enlisted in Company K on May 13, 1861. William reenlisted on December 24, 1863, at Brandy Station, Virginia, crediting Plainfield, Kent County, was presumably absent on veteran’s furlough during January of 1864, and probably returned to the Regiment on or about the first of February. He was taken prisoner on May 6, 1864 at the Wilderness, and was transferred as a prisoner-of-war to Company F, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864.

William was probably confined at Andersonville, Georgia, and then transferred to Florence, South Carolina late in the year. According to Andrew Pelton, also of Company K, Prindle was still in Andersonville by late October, and, Pelton wrote home, “when last heard from, [was] lying very low and not expected to recover, a victim of rebel meanness and cruelty, in their treatment of Union prisoners.” In fact, William died probably on November 11, 1864, while a prisoner-of-war at Florence. He was also reported as having returned to the Regiment on April 26, 1865, at Burkville, Virginia, and having died the same day in Burkville.

Prindle’s mother, who was still living in Byron in 1870, possibly widowed, received a dependent’s pension no. 31,606, drawing $8.00 in 1883.