William F . Perry William Flank Perry ( March 12 , 1823 – December 18 , 1901 ) was a Confederate States Army brigadier general during the American Civil War . Before the war , he was a self - taught teacher and lawyer , but never practiced law . Perry was elected Alabama ' s first superintendent of public education and was twice re - elected . He was president of East Alabama Female College at Tuskegee , Alabama between 1858 and 1862 . He joined the 44th Alabama Infantry Regiment as a private but quickly was promoted to major , then colonel . After exercising brigade command for almost nine months in 1864 and early 1865 , Perry was promoted to brigadier general near the end of the war . After returning to Alabama and working as a planter for two years , he moved to Kentucky where he resumed teaching . For many years , he was professor of English and philosophy at Ogden College , Bowling Green , Kentucky . Early life . William F . Perry was born on March 12 , 1823 in Jackson County , Georgia . Perry moved with his family to Chambers County , Alabama in 1833 . Perry had little or no formal education but he taught himself enough to become a teacher from 1848 to 1853 and a lawyer in 1854 , although he never engaged in the practice of law . Perry was elected and twice re - elected as Alabama ' s first superintendent of public education and served between 1854 and 1858 . He then resigned to become president of East Alabama Female College , at Tuskegee , the then named Tuskegee Female College , now Huntingdon College . American Civil War . On May 6 , 1862 , Perry enlisted as a private in the 44th Alabama Infantry Regiment . Ten days later , he was appointed major of the regiment . Perry ' s regiment served in the Army of Northern Virginia under the overall command of General Robert E . Lee . On September 1 , 1862 , Perry was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the regiment and later the same month , on September 17 , 1862 , after the Battle of Antietam , he was promoted to colonel . Perry was wounded by an artillery shell exploding near his head while he led the 44th Alabama Infantry in Major General John Bell Hood ' s division ' s general attack on the left flank of the Union Army line on Cemetery Hill and Little Round Top , near the area of boulders known as Devil ' s Den , on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg . Perry ' s brigade commander , Brigadier General Evander M . Law ordered his brigade , including Perry ' s 44th Alabama Infantry , to support the attack of Brigadier General Jerome B . Robertson ' s brigade by moving over Plum Rum toward Devil ' s Den . As they approached this objective , Law ordered Perry to seize four guns on the upslope behind Devil ' s Den as part of the assault . Perry ' s regiment had stalled about 50 yards short of Devil ' s Den when Perry was wounded . As Perry expressed concern about nearby artillery to Major Cary of his regiment , a shell landed near Perry ' s head , wounding him . After Georgia regiments from Brigadier General Henry Benning ' s brigade moved forward in support of the 44th Alabama Infantry and 48th Alabama Infantry , the Confederates cleared out the Fourth New York Artillery Battery under Captain James E . Smith and ultimately won control of Devil ' s Den and nearby woods . The 44th Alabama Infantry held this area while other regiments from Law ' s and Robertson ' s brigades unsuccessfully assaulted Little Round Top . Between December 19 , 1863 and April 1864 and between June 3 , 1864 and August 9 , 1865 , Perry commanded Evander M . Law ' s former brigade . During the first period , the brigade was in Lieutenant General John Bell Hood ' s Division in the Department of East Tennessee while on detached service in the western theater with Lieutenant General James Longstreet ' s corps . In the second period , following the Battle of Cold Harbor , the brigade was in Major General Charles W . Field ' s Division , I Corps , Army of Northern Virginia . Perry was wounded again when he tumbled into a hole at the Second Battle of Deep Bottom , at New Market Heights , Virginia , in August 1864 . Longstreet and other high - ranking officers several times urged that Perry be promoted , but Perry was not promoted to brigadier general until February 21 , 1865 . Perry was paroled at Appomattox Court House , Virginia , April 9 , 1865 . Aftermath . Perry became a planter in Alabama for two years after the war . Then , he moved to Kentucky where he resumed his teaching career . He was professor of English and philosophy at Ogden College at Bowling Green for many years after the college was founded in 1877 . William F . Perry died on December 18 , 1901 at Bowling Green , Kentucky . He is buried at Fairview Cemetery , Bowling Green . After his death , Perry was honored by his students , who placed the William F . Perry Monument , an oversized headstone , on his grave .