Hey everyone, welcome to episode 122 of our Civil War podcast.

My name is Rich.

I'm Tracy.

Hello y'all.

Thanks for tuning into the podcast.

As y'all recall, we ended last week's show with the collapse of the Hornets Nest.

The blue-clad defenders of the Hornets Nest literally held until they were surrounded

and captured.

That happened after Sherman and McClearnand had fallen back on the Union right, and after

Stuart, MacArthur, and then Herbert had retreated on the opposite side of the Hornets Nest.

But in the Union Center, Pryness and W.H.L. Wallace didn't fall back, and so the Confederates

were able to press forward to the right and left of the Hornets Nest and surround the defenders.

As the on-rushing rebels encircled the Hornets Nest and clamped shut the trap, W.H.L.

Wallace was mortally wounded while trying to lead us men to safety, while Pryness and about

2200 men of the doomed second and sixth divisions were captured by the Confederates.

As we mentioned last week, W.H.L. Wallace died four days after being wounded trying to

lead his men out of the Hornets Nest, but Benjamin Pryness was captured and later exchanged.

He lived until 1901.

As the years passed and the Hornets Nest became a household name, the idea that Pryness

was the hero of the day at Shiloh would get more and more attention.

Pryness himself did nothing to discourage people from thinking this.

In fact, he actively promoted the idea that the defensive stand at the Hornets Nest had

...