His early childhood was spent in Virginia until his family joined the migration and moved near Hannibal, Missouri.

That August, President Lincoln nominated 34 men for brigadier general's commissions in the volunteer army, which had to be confirmed by the Senate to be made binding.

In fact this wasn't true because army regulations stipulated that if two officers had a commission of the same date, seniority would be determined by previous rank.

Grant recalls in his Personal Memoirs: Two or three days after my arrival at Cape Girardeau, word came that General Prentiss was approaching that place (Jackson).

He had halted his troops at Jackson for the night, and had come on himself to Cape Girardeau, leaving orders for his command to follow him in the morning.

I gave the General his orders — which stopped him at Jackson-but he was very much aggrieved at being placed under another brigadier-general, particularly as he believed himself to be the senior.

General Prentiss failed to get orders to his troops to remain at Jackson, and the next morning early they were reported as approaching Cape Girardeau.

In consequence of this occurrence he was off duty in the field when the principal campaign at the West was going on, and his juniors received promotion while he was [135] where none could be obtained.

No man in the service was more sincere in his devotion to the cause for which we were battling; none more ready to make sacrifices or risk life in it.

Prentiss was initially outraged with Peabody for sending out a patrol without his authorization, but soon realized he was facing an on oncoming attack by an entire Confederate army and rushed to prepare his men for defense.

Prentiss took full command of the position after Wallace was fatally wounded and eventually surrendered the Hornet's Nest along with 2,200 other Union soldiers.

[3] However, Grant said in his memoirs "Prentiss' command was gone as a division, many of its members having been killed, wounded or captured; but it had rendered valiant services before its final dispersal, and had contributed a good share to the defense of Shiloh".

[5] After being released as part of a prisoner exchange in October of the same year, Prentiss was promoted to major general and served on the court-martial board that convicted Fitz John Porter.

Historian Ezra J. Warner speculated that Prentiss felt that he was being shelved after having proved his abilities at Shiloh and Helena.