The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1908-04-29

the Trinity church yard at H. 8 o'clock
Friday, the funeral services being cohq
Quoted by Bishop w. A. Query, for
merly Bishop Co-Adjutor. Animmense
crowd attended the last rites over the
body of the beloved prelate, many Wis
iting clergymen of all denominations
being present.
: Bishop Capers has been in feeble
health for some time past and had suf-
fered attacks before which caused fears
for his recovery. His death, though
not unexpected, was a great shock to
many thousands of people who knew
and loved him. The church mourns him
and the State has lost a valuable citi-
zen.
Below is given a sketch of the Bish-
ops life:
Brigadier General Ellison Capers, a
descendant of an English family which
settled in South Carolina among the
earliest colonies, was born in Charles
ton, October Id, 1897. His father
grandfather and several generations Of
the name belonged to the parishes of
~ ~ allu bSIitiIS, III SItTlSSIO1l
county, in the territory originally called
Berkeley county. His mother was of
Irish extraction, her father, William
McGill, having settled in Kershaw
county upon coming from Ireland.
William Capers, the grandfather of
Ellison, was a soldier of the revolution,
a lieutenant in the Second South Caro-
lima regiment, and after the fall of
Charleston in 1880 one Of Marion's cap
tains in his famous partisan brigade, in
which his only brother, G.. Sinclair
Capers, held the same rank. Several
thrilling incidents in the career of these
two gallant partisan captains are re-
lated by Judge Jones, of South Caro-
lima, in his life of Marion. They were
both planters.
William Capers, father of Ellison,
was born on his fathers plantation,
"Bullhead," in st. Thomas parish,
about twenty miles north of Charles
ton, January rs, 1870. He was grad
uated at the South Carolina College in
Columbia, entered the Methodist minis
try in 1903 and devoted his life and
brilliant talents to his sacred calling.
He was elected and consecrated a
bishop %n the Methodist Episcopal
church, South, in 1916, and died at his
home in Anderson, S. c., January 20,
1855.
Ellison Capers, the fourth son of his
marriage with Susan McGill, was grad
uated at the South Carolina Military
Academy in November, te5Rx The next
year he was a resident, graduate and
assistant professor in mathematics and
belle lettres in his alma mater. Inl857
he married Charlotte Rebecca, fourth
daughter of John Gendron and Gathe-
rine Cotuotier Palmer, of Cherls Grove
Plantation, st. Johns, Berkeley
In the fall of this year LAwas 49,
essistant PpFtt5fessor of mathe-
MATES in the South Carolina Military
Academy at Charleston, which ranks as
second lieutenant.
The active state of affairs in Charles
ton during the summer and fall of 1860
reused the military spirit of the people,
and the first regiment of rifles was or
ganized in Charleston, of which Lieut..
Capers was unanimously elected major.
He served with his regiment at Castle
Pinckney and on Morris, Sullivan, James
and Johns islands. His regiment also
constituted a part of the army under
Beauregard during the attack on Fort
Sumter. He continued to serve in the
vicinity of Charleston until November,
when he resigned the rank of lieutenant
colonel, to which he had been promoted,
in order that he might enter the Con-
federate service.
Satisfied that a terrible struggle was
before his people he resigned his pro-
fessorship at the military academy and
united with Col. Element H. Stephens,
of Charleston, in enlisting a regiment
for the war. The regiment was mus
tered into the Confederate service as
the Twenty-fourth South Carolina vol
unteer infantry, April l, 1862. with
Clement H. Stephens as colonel, Ellison
Capers, lieutenant colonel, and II. j.
Hammond, major. On the 4th of April
was ordered to Coles Island, and on the
25th of May was transferred to James
island. On June 3 Companies A, B, d
and e, and the Charleston battalion un-
der command of Lieut.. Col. Capers,
opened the James island campaign.
In this engagement Colonel Capers
led the attack, and for his
and skillful management of this affair
he was commended in general orders.
At the battle of S~ecessionville the
twenty-fourth was again engaged, and
Col. Capers was praised in orders. He
was next detailed to command a bat
terry of siege guns at Clarks' House.
Except at Pocataligo the regiment was
on James island until December Is,
1862, when it was ordered to North
Carolina to the relief of Wilmington,
stationed at the railroad crossing of
Northeast river m Island Ford road.
On February 13it was returned to South
Carolina and placed on duty in the third
military district wv. S. Walker's).
Lieut.. Col. Capers, with part of his
regiment and other commands, was de-.
tached to command the district between