Sergeant Nathaniel Hale Pryor

Sergeant Pryor was born in 1772 in Amherst County. His parents were John and Nancy Floyd Pryor. Nancy was the sister of Robert Floyd, father of Charles, also a member of the expedition. Charles and Nathaniel were first cousins. When he was eleven years old in 1783, he moved to Kentucky with his parents. William Clark recruited him for the Expedition which he joined on October 20, 1803 and is another one of the “Nine young men from Kentucky.” Characterized by his leaders as “a man of character and ability,” he was one of the few married men on the expedition. Afterwards, he remained in the Army where he became a 2nd. Lieutenant in 1810 and a Captain in 1814. He served in the Battle of New Orleans and was discharged afterwards. He set up a trading post on the Arkansas River, and married a member of the Osage tribe with whom he had several children. The couple lived with the tribe until his death in 1831. He is buried in Mayes County, Oklahoma, where a historic sign has been erected in his memory.