Brigadier-General Ellison Capers, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 5, South Carolina
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

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[515] mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of James Sproull and his wife Rebecca Caldwell, the latter of whom was a cousin of John C. Calhoun, whose grandfather, and her's, was William Caldwell, one of three brothers who emigrated from the north of Ireland, first settled in Pennsylvania, and later in the Piedmont region of South Carolina. Elizabeth Cothran's father was a soldier of the Revolution; also her uncle, Capt. John Caldwell, who with his wife was murdered by the notorious outlaw, Bill Cunningham. Captain Cothran was graduated at the Georgia university in 1852, and then returning to Abbeville, he read law with Thomas C. Perrin, a distinguished lawyer, State senator and president of the Greenville & Columbia railroad. He was admitted to the bar in 1853, and in 1855 he was married to Emma C., the daughter of Mr. Perrin. In July, 1861, he entered the Confederate service as orderly-sergeant of Company B, Capt. James M. Perrin, of Orr's regiment of Rifles. Captain Perrin was subsequently promoted colonel of the regiment, and commanded it till he was killed at Chancellorsville, and Sergant Cothran became captain of the company. He served with his regiment in the army of Northern Virginia, and took a gallant part in the excellent record of the regiment in many campaigns and battles. He was wounded in the battle of Second Manassas, August 29, 1862, having his right leg broken by a ball; was shot through the right wrist at Chancellorsville, and at Jericho Ford, May, 1864, received a wound in the face. Finally he was surrendered at Appomattox, after which he resumed his law practice at Abbeville, as the partner of his former preceptor, Hon. T. C. Perrin. He effectively supported the candidacy of General Hampton in 1876, as county Democratic chairman, and was elected solicitor of the Eighth judicial circuit, and in 1880 was re-elected, but he resigned the office in the following year to accept appointment by Governor Hagood to fill a vacancy in the judgeship of the circuit. He was re-elected judge by the legislature in 1881 and again in 1885, and retired from the office in December, 1886, on account of his election to Congress. He served two terms in the national legislature with distinction, part of the time as a member of the committee on foreign affairs. In January, 1890, he became division counsel for the Richmond & Danville railroad, a position which he held until his death, December