William Riley Bryan

In 1860 he was an 18 year old farm hand on his family's modest place at Wedowee in Randolph County, AL. He enlisted in Montgomery, AL on 26 July 1861 and mustered as a Private in Company K, 13th Alabama Infantry. He was wounded on 27 June 1862, probably at Gaines' Mill, VA, and was on furlough home from 4 July to 4 August 1862.

He was with his company in action at Turner's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September and was "wounded in the rear," probably an accidental wounding behind the lines among his own troops, at Sharpsburg on 16 September 1862.

He was admitted to a Richmond, VA hospital on 26 September and again furloughed. He was captured at Gettysburg, PA on 1 July 1863 and a prisoner at Fort Delaware. He was exchanged there on 30 October 1864 and "received by Confederate authorities" at Venus Point on the Savannah River on 15 November. He was paroled at Talladega, Al on 29 May 1865.

In 1880 he was a farmer in Wedowee, AL but by 1900 he was farming in Denton County, TX. He moved to Oklahoma soon afterward and had retired to Mountain Park/Snyder in Kiowa County, OK in 1910.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3, and the Archives.2 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860, 1880, 1900-1920. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Matilda Caroline Clifton (1847-1924) and they had 10 children between 1867 and 1888.

10/11/1842; Coweta County, GA

10/19/1926; Snyder, OK; burial in Otter Creek Cemetery, Tillman County, OK