Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 7.djvu/463

436 the most critical moment, Colonel Perry had two horses killed under him in the charge which retrieved the threatened disaster to Heth and Wilcox. Again at Spottsylvania the brigade did splendid work. From the battle of Cold Harbor to the close of the war Colonel Perry led this famous brigade of Alabamians, though he did not receive his commission as brigadier-general until February, 1865. At Appomattox, so well were the discipline and morale of the brigade preserved, that it was one of the largest brigades in the army of Northern Virginia paroled after the memorable 9th of April, 1865. Returning to his Alabama home after the surrender, General Perry engaged in planting until 1867, when he removed to Glendale, Hardin county, Ky. Going back to his favorite occupation, he took charge of a military college in that town, which he conducted with great ability and success, and later was a professor at Ogden college, Bowling Green.

Brigadier-General Edmund Winston Pettus was born in Limestone county, Ala., July 6, 1821. His father was John Pettus, a planter, and his mother a daughter of Capt. Anthony Winston. By the death of his father, which occurred in his infancy, he was left to the sole care of his mother, a lady of great mental force. After a course of study at Clinton college, Tennessee, he prepared himself for the profession of law; was admitted to the bar in 1842, when he located in Gainesville. Being in the same year elected district solicitor, he held the office until 1851, when he removed to Pickens county. In 1853 Governor Collier appointed him to the same office to fill a vacancy. He was elected a judge of the circuit court in 1855, and held this position until January, 1858, when he removed to Cahaba. Upon the secession of Alabama he was sent as a commissioner to Mississippi. In the spring of 1861, he in company with Isham W. Garrott raised the Twentieth regiment of infantry, and at its organization Garrott was elected colonel and Pettus, major. On October 8th