Perry Hopper, Confederate soldier

The thing that first caught my eye when I saw the obituary of Perry Hopper in the Southeast Missourian was the last name. My befuddled brain mistakenly substituted "o" for the first "p" in the name, and it came out Hooper, the surname of my Revolutionary War patriot ancestor: Churchill Hooper.

Once I read more carefully and saw that, no, Perry wasn't a long-lost relative, I took in the details presented in the obituary and found an interesting story about a Cape Girardeau man who served in a different war.

Here are a couple stories I dug up from the Missourian's morgue about the veteran, along with a terrible photograph that claims to be Perry Hopper.

Perry Hopper, undated. (Southeast Missourian archive)

Published Monday, April 30, 1923, in the Southeast Missourian:

PERRY HOPPER, CONFEDERATE VETERAN, DIES IN GIRARDEAU

Death, rapidly thinning the ranks of Civil War veterans, today sounded taps for Perry P.W. Hopper, ex-Confederate soldier and for years a familiar figure in Cape Girardeau. Fighting bravely for his life at a hospital here, he passed away at 9:30 o'clock, only a few days before he was to celebrate his 81sth birthday.

An operation to eliminate bladder trouble, submitted to by the aged ex-soldier Saturday night, proved unavailing and death came today after physicians had given up hope for his recovery. His condition Sunday was serious and death was expected at any time.

Born in Cape Girardeau County, on a farm two miles west of this city, May 13, 1842, he lived in this vicinity all his life with the exception of the time he spent in the Southern army. His parents, natives of North Carolina, came to Missouri in 1833, crossing the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau and homesteading a farm near this place. He was the youngest of a family of 10 children, only one of whom survives him.

As the Civil War came on, Hopper's sympathies were naturally with the South. Cape Girardeau was at that time almost equally divided in its sympathies with the conflicting parties, and a company of "home guards" known as the Marble City Guards was organized to protect this city. After the issue was fairly defined and residents began taking sides, the company was split up and Hopper, with a number of comrades under Sam Ward, joined the Confederate army.

Enlists in army

Hopper first enlisted in the infantry under Jeff Thompson. At the expiration of six months he reenlisted under Col. Jefferies of Dexter in the cavalry and was attached to the 8th Missouri regiment, which was later commanded by Gen. John Marmaduke. Hopper remained in that regiment until the close of the war, fighting with the well known Southern general in engagements in Missouri and Arkansas, among which was the Battle of Cape Girardeau on April 26, 1863.

Many times he recalled the Cape Girardeau battle in which Gen. Marmaduke, with 5,000 men, attempted to storm the city to draw away Federal troops which were rushing down from the north to capture him. Hopper was in the division that attacked Fort B, near the present Teachers College. He always believed that his troops could have captured the city if the attack had continued.

One of the most thrilling experiences of Hopper was during the fighting in north Missouri, when he was entrusted with dispatches to be carried from Jacksonport, where his regiment was located, to Mount Olive. To deliver the dispatches he was force to ride through territory under the control of Federal troops. He succeeded in reaching Mount Olive with the message but it was on his return trip that his experiences which he recalled many times, were had. While he was riding through woods near Mount Olive, unarmed and dressed as a civilian, he was surprised by the Federals who had seen him and commanded him to halt. He spurred his horse on, however, and the Federals opened fire. He rolled from his horse and hid in the woods for several days. Once in the dense woods he was able to elude his pursuers, but he was forced to remain in hiding, and by he time he had reached the site where his detachment had been it had moved south and he was forced to make the trip on foot. Often he went without food for several days and slept in the woods, the people refusing to feed or give him a place to sleep. He finally joined his command at Batesville, Arkansas.

Returns to Girardeau

After the war he returned to Cape Girardeau to recuperate his shattered fortunes. He settled on the old Hopper farm two miles west of Cape Girardeau and lived there until 20 years ago when he gave up active work and moved to Cape Girardeau. Since that time he has lived at 826 Broadway.

A wound in the head received in a fight at Fredericktown never fully healed and often troubled him. It was in that fight that comrades were killed on both sides of him, but he escaped with the one wound.

He was married after his return from the war, but his wife preceded him in death by 42 years. He was the father of seven children, four of whom have died, leaving one daughter and two sons. Mrs. G.A. Kassel of Cape Girardeau is a daughter, and Presley Hopper of this place, and Henry A. Hopper of St. Louis, are sons. He had 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the G.A. Kassel home, 120 N. Ellis St. Interment will be in the Hopper Cemetery two miles west of Cape Girardeau.

Published Monday, Oct. 13, 1997, in the Southeast Missourian:

FAMILY FINDS CONFEDERATE SOLDIER'S GRAVE

By DAVID ANGIER

It took four years for Rose Mary Bayer to find her past.

When she did, Bayer found it buried under nearly 60 years of underbrush and fallen trees.

Bayer of Huntsville, Alabama, arranged a ceremony Sunday for Confederate Army Pvt. Perry P.W. Hopper, who died in 1923. Hopper is Bayer's great-grandfather -- something she learned within the last four years.

Bayer said her father separated himself from his siblings and told his children little about their past. On a trip through Cape Girardeau in 1994, Bayer discovered family records linking her to her lineage. A year later, she, her brother Charles Hopper of Port St. Lucie, Florida, and her sister Rita Westhafer of Bristow, Oklahoma, found the Hopper Farm and the family cemetery.

Working in the fall, when the hay fields had been cleared and a path opened to the family plots, the three siblings cleared the debris of 53 years of neglect and discovered a dozen headstones. It took two years to complete the job. Using chainsaws, they cleared fallen trees and snaring vines from the marker of John D. Hopper, their great-great-grandfather.

"We're pretty sure this is where he is buried, but his headstone was found way over there," Bayer said, indicating an uncleared area of the family plot. "He was the first we found."

John Hopper's headstone was discovered once before, in 1944, when Edward Hopper and Lee Joyce were cleaning the cemetery of debris.

Bayer said initialized footstones were still in place and headstones have been matched up that way. Perry Hopper's marker had worn down to a round stump but his young wife's headstone was found alongside.

Between Perry Hopper's and John Hopper's headstones are the graves of Mary and Nathan Collins who died more than 100 years ago and moved the family to Cape Girardeau from North Carolina in 1833. "It all started with them," Bayer said.

Bayer said her quest started from a need to understand her past. She plans to return as often as she can to the cemetery to continue clearing and discovering. She said she hopes to get permission to re-open the cemetery, if it is not full, so family members, including herself, can be buried there.

On Sunday, representatives from the Sons of Confederate Veterans, American Legion Post 63, family members and Civil War re-enactors gathered at the family cemetery to commemorate a new marker for Perry Hopper.

Hopper fought for the Confederacy from 1862 to the close of the war, and participated in the battle of Cape Girardeau on April 26, 1863. He remarked years after the war was over that he was certain his regiment would have been able to capture the city if they had been allowed to continue the fight.

Bayer said his service in the Civil War was one of the proudest events in Hopper's life. Until his death, he wore a medal he was awarded from that conflict.

Floyd Smith, an American Legion second-vice commander, said it is unusual, but appropriate, that the legion would honor a Confederate soldier. The occasion is so rare, Smith said, that the legion didn't have a ritual to follow and had to make one before the ceremony.

"The American Legion is a veteran's organization and this is a veteran," he said. "Although the nation was split at the time, both sides were fighting for what they believed in."

Smith said the legion honors both Confederate and Union soldiers. Smith said he became involved in Bayer's quest to learn about Hopper and said once he got involved he had to see it through to the end.

Charles Hopper said discovering the first headstone from beneath the clutter was "almost like when your first child is born."

He said they found the markers by using a metal pole to probe the ground. He said some of the markers were buried under 6-inches of dirt.

"We still haven't found all of them," Charles Hopper said. "It was a thrill to find your great-great-grandfather then your great-grandfather."