Capers, Ellison

CAPERS, ELLISON: Protestant Episcopal bishop of South Carolina; b. in Charleston, S. C., Oct. 14, 1837; d, at Columbia, S. C., Apr. 22, 1908. He was graduated from the South Carolina Military Academy 1857, was assistant professor there 1858–60. On the outbreak of the Civil War he entered the Confederate Army, in which he attained the rank of brigadier-general. From the close of the war until 1868 he was secretary of the South Carolina Legislature, but in the mean time studied theology, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1867. He was then rector of Christ Church, Greenville, S. C., 1867–87, except for a year (1875–76) as rector of St. Paul's, Selma, Ala., and of Trinity, Columbia, S. C., 1887–93. In 1886 he had been tendered and had declined the bishopric of Easton, but in 1893 he was consecrated bishop of South Carolina.

Bibliography: W. S. Perry, The Episcopate in America, p. 355, New York, 1895.