Francis W. Capers

Francis Withers Capers (8 August 1819 – 12 January 1892) was an American Confederate soldier and educator who served as Brigadier General of the Confederate States Army. He is mostly known as the third superintendent of the South Carolina Military Academy (now called The Citadel).

Biography

Early life and education Francis Withers Capers was born on 8 August 1819 in Savannah, Georgia, to Methodist bishop William Capers and his second wife, Susan McGill. He is the second child out of 11 siblings by William's second wife, although some state he is the eldest son due to the death of the first son at a young age. His brother was Ellison Capers, a Confederate Army General and Bishop of South Carolina.

He entered Randolph–Macon College in Virginia and subsequently graduated from South Carolina College in Charleston, graduating at 19 years old with the highest honors in 1839.

Family In 1848, Capers married Hannah Hawk Bascom, daughter of Bishop Henry Bidleman Bascom of Kentucky, who died in 1862. They had six children: William Bascom Capers (1849–1917), Francis Withers Capers II (1852–1909), Alpheus Bordeaux Capers (1854–unknown),

Capers remarried in 1865 to Susan Rutledge, daughter of John Rutledge Jr. and granddaughter of John Rutledge.