Abbeville's Confederate Colonels Traditional Cache
The Scout Master: This one seems to be a target for landscaping. I think it is time to bury the colonels for now. Thanks to all who visited.
Abbeville's Confederate Colonels
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This will be a Park and Grab for most, but, please, take the time
to stop and read the marker here and across the street.
This very easy cache is located just a few feet from a historical
marker on the grounds of the Abbeville Civic Center. Permission has
been given by Paula D. of the civic center (incidentally, the same
person who also allowed my California Redwood cache just down the
street).
Please park only in a designated spot, as cars enter here
all day long.
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Colonels During the Civil War
In American military history, the rank of Colonel was a
rare achievement, due primarily to the fact that prior to the
Civil war, the United States Army was a small force. During the
Civil war, local military units were often headed by men
known as "colonels of volunteers", as opposed to those in the
regular army. Confederate colonels were marked with three
stars on their collar.
Interestingly enough, this is the same marking used by Robert E.
Lee. Although Lee was the general of the Confederate forces, he
refused to accept the title until the South achieved its
independence, preferring to use the military rank he had achieved
prior to the war.
Five Confederate Colonels. On Abbeville’s Main
Street, just north of the town square, is a marker dedicated to
Five Confederate Colonels from Abbeville. Each of these men
lived in Abbeville at the start of the Civil War and had
families in the town during the conflict. Three were killed in the
war, one wounded, and one survived, returning to Abbeville. Three
served in Orr’s Rifles, one in the 19th SC Infantry, and one
in Moore’s Rifles. All have a unique story to tell.
Abbeville's Confederate Colonels Historical
Marker
About the marker:
Marker Style: The marker shown reflects the second
style of South Carolina Historical Markers. It was in use between
1955 and 1990. The original design was cast aluminum and crowned
with a bas relief of the state flag surrounded by an inverted
triangle. The markers were painted dark blue with silver
lettering.
Erected in 1956 by Secession Chapter, United
Daughters of the Confederacy. (Marker Number 1-4.)
Location: N 34° 10.867, W 082° 23.016.(the cache
location) The Marker is in Abbeville, South Carolina, in Abbeville
County on North Main Street, in front of the Abbeville Community
Civic Center, across the street from the Thomas Chiles Perrin House
Marker.
The Inscription:
AUGUSTUS J. LYTHGOE, 19 S.C. Inf.
Killed Murfreesboro, 1862
J. FOSTER MARSHALL, Orr's Rifles
Killed Second Manassas, 1862
GEORGE M. MILLER, Orr's Rifles
Wounded Spotsylvania, 1864
JAMES M. PERRIN, Orr's Rifles
Killed Chancellorsville, 1863
THOMAS THOMSON, Moore's Rifles
Served Oct. 22, 1861-Dec. 10,
1863
T H E C O L O N E L S
Colonel Augustus Jackson Lythgoe (1830-1862)
Augustus J. Lythgoe was born in Aiken, S.C. on February 6, 1830. He
was the son of a British immigrant, George B Lythgoe, who came from
Liverpool, England, and Nancy (Randall) Lythgoe. He was educated in
the Aiken area and at the South Carolina Military Academy. He
worked on the Blue Ridge Railroad until it was suspended. (The
remains of this failed railroad are still visible in the
Stumphouse Tunnel, north of Walhalla, and is the subect of
its own marker.) Lythgoe then moved to Abbeville and married
Margaret Isabella Wier. With his brother-in-law, John A. Wier,
Lythgoe went into the mercantile business under the name of Lythgoe
& Wier.
During the Civil War, Lythgoe joined the 19th SC Regiment,
attaining the rank of colonel by December 1861. He was killed at
the Battle of First Murfreesboro and buried at the battle site.
He also has a marker in Upper Long Cane Cemetery and was survived
by a wife, one son (George Birkenhead Lythgoe, 1857-1930),and two
daughters (Meta Ann Lythgoe, 1852-1930 and Harriet Henry Lythgoe,
1859-1878).. (Source: Old Abbeville: Scenes of
the Past of a Town Where Old Times Are Not Forgotten, by Lowry
Ware.)
He became a member of Capt. Joseph H. Cunningham's company of
infantry, which was afterward known as Company G, 19th S.C.
volunteer infantry, and was elected to a lieutenancy. At the
resignation of Captain Cunningham, Lieutenant Lythgoe was elected
captain, and at the organization of the regiment near Columbia, in
December 1861, he became lieutenant-colonel and was soon afterward
elected colonel.
During the month of March 1862, the regiment was ordered to
Corinth, Miss., where it was made a part of the brigade known
afterward as Gen. A.M. Manigault's brigade, one of the finest in
the army, and served with distinction to the end of the war with
the army of Tennessee. It was but a few weeks after the regiment
reached Corinth that it was under fire for the first time in the
battle of Farmington, and here Colonel Lythgoe distinguished
himself as a gallant soldier and capable officer. His conduct was
so much admired that when, shortly after thus battle, a
reorganization took place, this noble young Carolinian was almost
unanimously re-elected colonel of the regiment.
In the memorable Kentucky campaign of General Bragg, Colonel
Lythgoe was constantly and conspicuously present in person and with
his regiment. Murfreesboro was one of the bloodiest battles
of the war, and here again and for the last time, Colonel Lythgoe
led his regiment with great skill and valor into the thickest of
the fight and assisted the brigade in the capture of a battery of
four guns. This exploit was so daring and brilliant that the
commanding general of the army by general orders directed that the
chief officers, Colonel Lythgoe being one, should have their names
inscribed upon the several pieces In this battle Colonel Lythgoe
received a mortal wound from which he died in a few
hours.(Source: Confederate Military History: A
Library of Confederate States History, in Thirteen Volumes by
Ellison Capers, pgs 716-717.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Colonel Jehu Foster Marshall (1817-1862)
Jehu Foster Marshall was born in South Carolina on August 28, 1817.
Marshall attended and graduated from South Carolina College in
1837. A man of "acute intelligence, great tact, of affable and
cordial address," After the War, he served in the South Carolina
legislature from 1848 to 1862.
Col. Marshall was a figure of some prominence in Abbeville. He
donated the steeple that crowns the city's Trinity Episcopal
Church. He was a lawyer who represented Abbeville as a state
senator in Columbia.
In the pre-Civil War years he served as a captain in the
Mexican-American War, serving in the famed Palmetto Regiment. He is
one of only two people buried in the church's gardens (the other
being his wife).
Battery Marshall, on the west end of Sullivan's Island in
Charleston, was named for him.
In addition to his South Carolina connections, Marshall was owner
of a large sugar plantation in Florida. Located in Marion County,
near the city of Ocala, this plantation was established in 1855.
After Marshal's death, the plantation was run by his widow,
Elizabeth Anne DeBrull Marshall, until Union troops under the
command of Sergeant Major Henry James burned it on March 10, 1865.
The plantation was the last in Florida to provide sugar to the
Confederacy. The plantation is now home to the 2.5 mile Marshall
Swamp Trail. He was killed at the Battle of Second
Manassas.(Source:
http://www.flheritage.com/preservation/markers/markers.cfm?ID=marion
and
http://hiking.meetup.com/270/calendar/7237927/)
Marshall became the lieutenant colonel of the Rifles on July 20,
1861. He rose to the rank of colonel on January 29, 1862. While
leading the regiment against a "furious assault", he was mortally
wounded in the fighting at Second Manassas on the day after his
45th birthday. He survived but an hour. He had earned the "highest
regard of the brigade" and his loss was considered great. Marshall
was buried in Abbeville. (Source:
http://www.aphillcsa.com/marshall.html.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Colonel George McDuffie Miller
Very little is known about Col. Miller beyond the facts that he
served on Orr's Rifles and was wounded at Spotsylvania (the same
battle where "Stonewall" Jackson received his fatal wound.)
Based on the prominence of the other four colonels in Abbeville
society, Miller may have moved in their circles. He was wounded at
the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse.
Before the war, George McDuffie Miller was active in local
affairs.
He was one of the secretaries (along with James Edward Calhoun)of
the secession convention that met in Abbeville on Secession Hill,
November 22, 1860.
Col. Miller served in Orr's Rifles and was wounded at Spotsylvania
(the same battle where "Stonewall" Jackson received his fatal
wound). Following his injury, Miller recovered and continued to
serve in Orr's Rifles. He saw action at Petersburg (Aug 1864),
Jones Farm (Sept 1864), Pegram's Farm (Oct 1864), Gravelly Run (Mar
1865), Five Forks (April 1865), and Dinwiddie Courthouse (April
1865).(Source:
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=new_england&id=I13212.)
Before his death, Col. Miller was instrumental in the founding of
the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), a veterans organization for
former Confederate soldiers Colonel George McDuffie Miller died on
July 12, 1899. Attending his funeral were the five surviving
soldiers of Orr’s Rifles. Mr. Miller lived and died in Ninety
Six, SC and is buried at the Ninety Six Presbyterian Church
Cemetery.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Colonel James Monroe Perrin (1822-1863)
Perrin was born in 1822 in the Abbeville District on Hard Labor
Creek 16 miles below Abbeville, the son of Samuel and Eunice
Perrin. His father died when he was very young and he largely grew
up in the home of Thomas Chiles Perrin, his oldest brother.
His older brother had one of the finest houses in Abbeville, and on
the eve of the war, James M. Perrin built the fine house which was
later owned by Samuel McGowan and was adjacent to the Presbyterian
church. His brother owned 121 slaves at the time of the 1860 Census
and he owned 57 slaves. During 1860 he headed up the Abbeville
Vigilance Committee which was formed to investigate
"suspicious"vagabonds, chiefly peddlers, who were thought to be
spreading sedition among the slaves.
He was married twice. His first wife was Mary Smith of Stoney
Point, Augustus M. Smith's sister, who lived for only six more
years; his second wife was Kitty Tillman of Abbeville. His first
wife bore him three children, and his second wife had four
children, the youngest born six months after his father was killed.
One of the latter children was a boy born while his father was at
Sullivan's Island. Fort Sumter had just been fired upon, and
Captain Perrin when he received news of the birth of a son, named
him James Sumter Perrin.
Perrin was educated at the South Carolina College, studied law and
graduated from South Carolina College, and entered the Abbeville
bar.
He served as a lieutenant in the Palmetto Regiment during the
Mexican War, returning home to become a lawyer in Abbeville.
Captain of B Company ("McDuffies Guards") of the Rifles, he was
absent through 1862 serving in the state legislature. He was
promoted to colonel on November 12, 1862.
At the Battle of Chancellorsville, Perrin was mortally
wounded on May 3, 1863 while withdrawing his regiment. He died on
May 5, "universally lamented by the regiment and all who knew him."
He is buried in Upper Long Cane Cemetery.(Source:
http://www.aphillcsa.com/perrinjm.html.)and ((Source: Old
Abbeville: Scenes of the Past of a Town Where Old Times Are Not
Forgotten, by Lowry Ware, pg 94.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Colonel Thomas Thomson (1813-1881)
Thomas Thomson was born in Tarbolton, Scotland on June 5, 1813 and
went to Abbeville, S.C. in his youth. After he grew up he taught
school for a time and studied law under the Honorable Armistead
Burt. For many years he was associated with Colonel Robert A. Fair
in the practice of his profession, the name of the firm being
Thomson & Fair. At the bar he stood deservedly high, his tastes
causing him to prefer civil practice. There was no lack of
substantial recognition of his ability, and he amassed sufficient
to make him independent of the chances of the future.
In Abbeville district he had his home until the end. There he made
his reputation, and there in consequence he was best known.
He was a lawyer in Charleston, South Carolina and served in the
South Carolina Legislature. He served in all ranks from Captain to
Colonel in the 2nd South Carolina Rifles and resigned in December
of 1863 when he was elected to the S.C. Senate. He died in 1881 and
is buried in Long Cane Cemetery, Abbeville. (Source:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~scwbts/cwmen.html.)
In 1846, Judge Thomson was elected a member of the State
Legislature, distinguishing himself there by the cogency and
brevity of his uttrances. With the exception of two terms, he
served continuously as Representative and afterwards as Senator
until 1868. When the State seceded, exchanging the gown for the
sword, he went into service as captain of a company from Abbeville
in the Second Regiment of Rifles, rising step by step to the rank
of colonel. His bravery was everywhere conspicuous, and he enjoyed
the full confidence of his men. Upon his election as State Senator
in 1862, Colonel Thomson resigned his commission in the army.
Judge Thomson was married first to Miss Eliza Allen. Three children
of this marriage reached maturity. Second, to Mrs. M.M.
Hollingsworth, whose maiden name was Gomillion. Of this marriage
four children survived.
The death of Judge Thomson, which occurred at his home in Abbeville
on May 6, 1881, was wholly unexpected; there was no illness or loss
of mental vigor to prepare the public for the loss of one whose
career was marked by eminent talent in his profession, by gallant
service during the Confederate War, and in every relation of life
by steady, modest worth. Not offensive or impulsive, he was amiable
to those whom he liked and a firm friend of those whom he trusted.
(Source: South Carolina Bench and Bar by Ulysses
Robert Brooks (1908), pg 258-259.)
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Be sure to check out the historical marker for the Thomas
Chiles Perrin House just across the street from this
cache.
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to one of Abbeville,
South Carolina's historical sites.
Happy Caching!
co-FTF HONORS GO TO...resqgirl and catgirl03 and trafficmaker
together!!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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[PLEASE REHIDE WELL]
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