William Watson Perryman was born on February 6, 1831, in Abbeville County, South Carolina, to Samuel Perryman and Sarah Watson. His father was a planter who owned at least 21 slaves in 1830. His father died around 1838, and his mother married Abbeville planter Henry H. Creswell around 1840. Perryman received his early education in Abbeville County and began practicing law around 1850. He married Susanna Partlow in Edgefield County, on February 13, 1851, and they had at least four children: James, born around 1852; Mary, born around 1856; Sarah, born around 1858; and Emma, born around 1860. In 1860, the family was living in Greenwood, South Carolina, and Perryman was working as a farmer. He owned $20,500 of real estate and $89,330 of personal property, including 29 enslaved laborers.

 

Perryman enlisted in the Confederate army on April 17, 1861, in New Market, South Carolina, and he mustered in as a captain in the 2nd South Carolina Infantry on May 23, 1861. The regiment fought at the Battle of Bull Run and the Seven Days Battles. Perryman received a leg wound in the summer of 1862 and went home to South Carolina to recover. He spent the winter of 1862-1863 “enrolling conscriptions,” and he was promoted to major on June 5, 1863. He apparently spent the rest of the war in the Confederate Enrolling Office. He moved to Liberty County, Texas, after the war. By 1870, he was working as a farmer, and he owned $1,000 of real estate and $600 of personal property. He remained in Liberty County for the rest of his life, dying there on May 14, 1891.

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