Remembering Col George W Pratt 1830 - 1862

George was the only son of Zadock Pratt and his wife Abigail Watson. When he was only 4, his mother died in childbirth. He and his sister Julia were raised by their mother's sister, Mary Elizabeth, who became their father's 4th wife.

George led a privileged early life which included private tutors and European travels in 1848-1850. Like his father and several uncles, he became a tanner.  Leather had been a very rewarding industry for members of the Pratt and Watson families. In 1853 George established a partnership in NYC with Israel Corse, who had previously been an associate of George's father and his maternal uncle John Watson.

In 1855 George married Anna Atwood Tibbits of Albany and they were soon a family of 4. Little might they have realized how their lives would change in the next few years. 
George had been active in the militia as had his father. When the Civil War started, he was first led the 20th Militia and later the NY 80th Infantry Volunteers.  It was at the Second Battle of Bull Run on August 30, 1862 where George was mortally wounded. He was able to return home to see his wife and two young children before he succumbed to his injuries on the 11th of September at the age of 32. There is a large monument to him at Gettysburg.  He was buried at the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, New York and is commemorated at the Zadock Pratt Museum in Greene County.

George was survived only briefly by his son who died at age 10, by his wife and daughter who both lived into the 1920s, as well as by his father, step-mother and sister Julia Pratt Ingersoll.