He was born on April 11, 1809 in the Prattville district of Chelsea, Massachussets, United States, the son of Daniel and Mary (Hall) Pratt, and belonged to a humble branch of the ancient and numerous family that gave its name to his birthplace.
There is no information about his education.
But, it is said, Dartmouth College conferred on him the degree of C. O. D.
In his youth he became a carpenter's helper, but disappeared, and was not seen for twelve years. When he did return he was incurably demented. His relatives showed him more tenderness than may be expected in such cases, but he was able to take care of himself, and for a half a century he roamed the land. His wanderings extended from the backwoods of Maine and New Brunswick to remote army posts in the Dakotas. In 1874 he wrote in an autograph album that he had traveled 200, 000 miles, been in twenty-seven states and among sixteen tribes of Indians, visited Washington seventeen times, and seen five presidents inaugurated.
His fame was due to his devotion to the New England colleges, where among the students he was greatly admired as an orator. For many years he descended on his favorite institutions in spring and fall almost with the regularity of a scheduled holiday. Arriving in town, he would put up at a cheap hotel and then sally forth unannounced to greet his constituents.
The disciplinary officers of the college usually frowned upon him and sometimes used coercive tactics to accelerate his departure, but by the students he was received with an enthusiasm that quickly permeated the community and mounted to a height of ebullient demonstration scarcely distinguishable from a riot. As the climax to a reception the General would deliver an address, which was followed by a collection. Among his topics were "The Four Kingdoms", "The Harmony of the Human Mind", "The Solar System", "The Vocabulaboratory of the World's History" and his own life and troubles. His platform style was characterized by a dazzling faculty for word-creation, a complete mastery of the non-sequitur, and a lambent humor.
In his last years he endured the miseries of the homeless derelict. In his seventy-ninth year he suffered a paralytic stroke while wandering about Boston. He died a few weeks later in the City Hospital.
Daniel Pratt was a prolific and generous generator of ideas, was the most widely known as the subject of innumerable anecdotes, reminiscences, rhymes, and allusions. Pratt wrote a periodical, the Gridiron, as a tribune for his considered opinions, and also published broadsides and a book or two. His individual, well-known platform style was characterized by a dazzling faculty for word-creation, a complete mastery of the non-sequitur, and a lambent humor. Besides, he periodically challenged the intellects of his day to debates, once challenged William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips.
He styled himself the Great American Traveler and insisted on his title of General. His chief delusion was that he had been elected to the presidency and was being kept out of office by a coalition of unscrupulous rivals.
Quotations: My Parents said to me one day about 10 years ago, you cannot be a Henry Clay or a Daniel Webster, for you have not had a college education – said I, I can be a Daniel Pratt, Jr. , and that is all I want to be.
He had the formal, slightly awkward manners of a retired scholar and a dignity that only the most untoward accidents could ruffle, and he dressed appropriately in a worn frock coat and dingy stovepipe hat. Thus arrayed, his tall, spare frame, craggy, massive head, and shrewd features had a counterfeit distinction, like a battered simulacrum of William Maxwell Evarts.
There is no information about his marital status.
