Pliny Bryan, the man who placed the mines in the St Johns River that sank the MAPLE LEAF, was 34 years old at the time, but he had already accomplished a great deal. He had been a planter, state legislator, spy, and army officer, a man much admired by his associates. The Bryan plantation was located in Prince George County, Maryland close to the southern boundary of Washington D. C. and the Potomac River.¹  E. (Edward) Pliny Bryan was elected to the Maryland State Legislature in the fall of 1859 at the age of 29 as a Democrat The PLANTERS ADVOCATE described Bryan at the time:

Bryan was a strong supporter of secession. In the Special Session of the General Assembly in April 1861, he presented a memorial of the voters of Prince George County asking for a vote on secession and he later protested the Assembly's lack of action.²

In July 1861, shortly after participating in the Battle of Bull Run, Bryan made himself known to Capt. (later Brig. General) E. Porter Alexander, CSA. Alexander recorded his personal recollections of the war for his family which were eventually published in 1989 as FIGHTING for the CONFEDERACY.³ At the time they met, Alexander says that he was in general charge of the Signal Corps but also into a good deal of secret service work. Bryan, whom he described as " a splendid fellow, whom I grew very fond of .." was made one of his civilian agents "going in and out of the enemy lines constantly".

Alexander wrote a letter to President Jefferson Davis on October 11, 1861, describing the intelligence gathering activities in the Washington area including a report on Bryan's activities and concluding ". .he is bold and intelligent and well worthy of any recognition or reward you may deem suitable".⁴

On January 28, 1862, Alexander wrote a letter to General S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General, CSA outlining a plan to get an agent into the abandoned Fort Pulaski, near Savannah, to operate a signal station there. He said he planned to send two or three men on this dangerous mission so at least one will get through. He wrote "Mr. E. Pliny Bryan of Maryland, who has been doing us the most valuable and dangerous service for over six months, has already volunteered to undertake it... ".⁵

Alexander wrote in his memoirs that Bryan was made a captain in the Signal Corps as the result of his letter to President Davis and that the espionage was successful all winter (1861-1862) but that in the spring the enemy got wind of it and arrested six individuals, including Bryan, and the notorious spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow and that they were all shut up in the Old Capital prison. He wrote that by July, 1862, they were all released or exchanged and they all got back to Richmond safely.⁶

General Robert E. Lee wrote two letters dated February 14 and March 29, 1863 to James A. Seddon, Secretary of War.⁷ He stated in both letters that there was a lack of dependable intelligence on troop movements and river traffic in the Washington area. He attributed the breakdown in intelligence reports to the fact that some of his best scouts were missing, one killed, two captured, and one "Capt E. P. Bryan, of the signal corps, whom I had sent into Maryland to watch over the river from that side, was, without my knowledge... ... .ordered to report to General Beauregard in Charleston."

General Alexander describes Bryan's final actions and death in his memoir:

     Pliny Bryan was sent down to Florida to worry the enemy's transportation on the St Johns River & was very successful blowing up two boats, I believe, with torpedoes made of demijohns of powder. Then Beauregard had him up at Charleston for some rush work on the enemy's ironclads, but the poor fellow sickened of yellow fever & died He was a good man, & not afraid to take any risk which offered any chance of accomplishing results for our side. He and I will find each other across the river I am sure.⁸

ENDNOTES

1. The location of the Bryan homestead is shown on Plate 7 as "Mrs. Bryan's" in THE OFFICIAL MILITARY ATLAS OF THE CIVIL WAR reprinted in
    1983 by Fairfax Press, N. Y. The property at present appears to be part of the Washington Executive Hyde Field airport.

2. Based on a summary report on Pliny Bryan prepared for the Clay County Archives by the Maryland        State Archives [MSA SCM 3602]

3. Alexander, Edward Porter, FIGHTING for the CONFEDERACY, The Personal Recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander, Edited by Gary W. Gallagher, 1989, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill/London. "Alexander"

4. Alexander Pg. 67. Also in OR Series 1, v 51, Pt. 2, Pg. 340

5. OR Series 1, v 53, Pg.215

6. Alexander pg. 69. My review of the OR correspondence of the Greenhow et al arrests did not turn up any reference to Bryan.

7. OR Series 1, v 25, Pt 2, Pg. 622 and 691.

8. Alexander pg. 70, his death is also noted on pg. 425 and on pg. 566 (note 17) which states Edward Pliny Bryan died in service in Sept. 1864 as a captain in the Signal Corps.

James W. Towart
April 16,2001
Research by Claude W. Bass III, Clay County Archivist