Lt. Pringle was the son of a planter from the Sumter, SC district and attended Furman College in Greenville, SC. In December 1860 the entire student body left to enroll in the army. Samuel joined the 2nd South Carolina Regiment where he was a sergeant and saw action at First Manassas. In 1862 several members of the 2nd joined the PLA, Samuel among them. At Sharpsburg he had his leg shot off by an enemy cannonball and died several days later from the wound.