Street Smarts or Book Smarts? Francis Capers Had Both

Francis Withers Capers was born on August 8, 1819 in Savannah Georgia. He was the oldest son of Bishop William and Susan MeGill Capers. He is known for his distinguished careers in both academics and in the military. This unique and dynamic combination of skills allowed him to live a very successful and notable life.

Francis W Capers' education journey began with the completion of school into the college level. He attended Randolph Macon College in Ashland Virginia, but graduated from your very own College of Charleston in 1839. He was college president, completing his degree with the highest rank of honors.

Post graduation was when Capers began his impressive career as an educator. Francis taught math at the College of Charleston for some time, before becoming one of the founding professors at The South Carolina Military Academy, now known as The Citadel. He was part of the original faculty there as a professor of mathematics, and began there in 1843. However, he resigned in 1848 and moved to Kentucky where he furthered his career in education. In Kentucky he taught as a professor at Transylvania University.

Francis Capers, although from Georgia must have felt a connection with South Carolina, as he returned there from Kentucky to take the position of Superintendent of The Citadel. He held this position for 6 years, or from 1953 to 1959. Capers once again left South Carolina, embarking on another academic career path.

Francis Capers was the founding Superintendent of The Georgia Military Academy, located in Marietta. He remained the Superintendent through the start of the civil war. He provided drill instructions to the schools cadets, in hopes to train them well for the war, producing strong Confederate soldiers. He served at several Georgia training camps.

Capers was appointed Brigadier General of Georgia troops on November 11, 1861. General Capers' most significant war contribution involved him commanding a brigade guarding the coast and halting the advance of Union troops into Georgia. He also used his brains to engineer the building of defensive works. He built the defenses at Reseca and oversaw construction of many other efforts.

After the war Capers ran a private school in Augusta, Georgia until once again returning to South Carolina after he was appointed professor of mathematics and civil engineering at the College of Charleston in 1869. He was president from 1880 to 1882 and retired in 1889. His death followed shortly after on January 12, 1892.

Francis Withers Capers is buried at Bethel United Methodist Church, located in Charleston, South Carolina. His grave is no where near extravagant. In fact, it is quite bland considering how interesting and significant of a person is buried there. His grave has only a small symbol, a cross with a circle around it. This depicts perfection and eternity in the afterlife, while the cross is a general symbol for Christianity.

 I find this to be interesting, the simplicity of Francis W Capers' grave. It takes more detective work to figure out and see what kind of person is underneath that stone, and what all they had to offer in their lifetime. I am glad I had the opportunity to uncover and discover all about the great General and Professor, Francis W Capers. I hope all of you reading this blog post learned something too!