Perley Brown Dickerson was born in Athens County, Ohio, on January 7, 1832, to David and Ann Dickerson. His father was a blacksmith who owned $3,000 of real estate by 1850. The family lived in Malta, Ohio, and by 1850, he was working as an “iron moulder.” He married Ada Guthrie on October 14, 1855, and they had at least five children: Betty, born around 1857; Caroline, born around 1861; Lawrence, born around 1866; Ada, born around 1868; and Edith, born around 1872.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 11, 1862, and he mustered in as a sergeant in Company D of the 97^th Ohio Infantry on September 2. The regiment took part in the Battle of Perryville, the Battle of Stones River, and the Tullahoma campaign. In October 1863, he was promoted to 1^st lieutenant in Company H of the 13^th USCT Infantry. He was wounded in the left leg at Nashville on December 15, 1864, and surgeons amputated the leg. He spent the following months recovering, and he mustered out on January 10, 1866.

 

He settled in Pomeroy, Ohio, after the war, and he worked as a dry goods merchant. He applied for a federal pension in October 1866 and eventually received one. The family moved to Portsmouth, Ohio, in the 1870s. By 1880, he was working as an agent for a sewing company. They moved to Washington, D.C., in the early 1880s, and he earned a living as a pension agent. By November 1903, he was suffering from “hemiplegia, resulting from cerebral hemorrhage.” A doctor testified that he was “in a helpless condition, requiring the care of a nurse at all times.” He died in Washington, D.C., on April 26, 1907.

 

Image: Perley B. Dickerson (Evening Star, 17 April 1907)

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