Perrin, Brig. Gen. Abner M.
Brigadier-General Abner M. Perrin was born in Edgefield district,
in 1827..He entered the
Confederate States service as captain of a company of the
Fourteenth regiment, South Carolina
infantry, Col. James Jones, and was present at the engagement at
Port Royal Ferry, January 1,
1862. His regiment was ordered to Virginia in the spring of 1862,
and attached to the South
Carolina brigade of Gen. Maxcy Gregg, the regiment then being
commanded by Col. Samuel
McGowan. Captain Perrin shared the services of the Fourteenth in
the
battles before Richmond, at Cedar run, Second Manassas, Harper's
Ferry, Sharpsburg and
Fredericksburg, and then being promoted colonel, commanded the
regiment at Chancellorsville,
where, after the wounding of General McGowan and Colonel Edwards,
he had command of the
remnant of the brigade in the Sunday battle. He continued in charge
of this brigade, consisting of
the First, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth South Carolina regiments
and First Rifles, Pender's
division, A. P. Hill's corps, during the Gettysburg campaign. On
the afternoon of July 1, 1863,
said A. P. Hill, Perrin's brigade took position after position of
the enemy, driving him through the
town of Gettysburg. He maintained an advanced position throughout
the next two days, keeping
up a continual heavy skirmish and repelling several assaults on the
third. On the retreat he
repulsed an attack of cavalry near Falling Waters. He was promoted
to brigadier-general in
September, 1863. Previous to the campaign of May, 1864, in
Virginia, General McGowan
returned to the command of the South Carolina brigade, and General
Perrin was transferred to
the Alabama brigade lately commanded by General Wilcox, Anderson's
division. He passed
through the fiery ordeal in the Wilderness, but at Spottsylvania,
in the words of the telegram of
General Lee to President Davis, "the brave General Perrin was
killed." It was just after Hancock
had swept over the "bloody angle," early on May 12th, capturing the
larger part of Johnson's
division, and A. P. Hill was called on for reinforcements, that
Perrin came up leading his brigade
through a terribly destructive fire, and fell dead from his horse
just as he reached the works.
Pettigrew, Col. Johnston
Col. Pettigrew was commander of the
First South Carolina Rifles and served as
Aide-de-Camp to SC Governor Pickens.
REF: Confederate Military History Vol. 5, pg. 6
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