The S.C. Hall of Fame inducts Perry and Horry

By Rachel Haynie

Two men with solid Columbia ties will be inducted early next month into The South Carolina Hall of Fame.

Tribute will be paid Jan. 8 at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center to Judge Matthew J. Perry and the Revolutionary War commander Peter Horry. Perry is U.S. District Judge for the District of South Carolina. In 2004, the new U.S. Courthouse in Columbia was named in his honor. Horry is buried at Trinity Cathedral across from the State House where he also served.

The Hon. James Clyburn, U.S. House of Representatives, will make the tribute to Judge Matthew Perry. The tribute to Peter Horry will be given by Dr. Roy Talbert Jr., author and chair of the Coastal Carolina University History department.

Perry was born in Columbia in 1921. After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School, he served in the U.S. Army from 1942–1946 and then received his bachelor’s degree and law degree from S.C. State College (now S.C. State University).

Perry opened a law practice in Spartanburg, and while handling routine cases, began to devote time to civil rights work. This work soon consumed his professional time and led to his historic appointment by the S.C. NAACP as its chief counsel in 1957.

Perry strategically selected cases to attack segregation. In Cummings vs. City of Charleston, Perry successfully challenged Charleston’s public golf course segregation. Perry also prevailed in cases involving segregation of state parks, hospital waiting rooms, state colleges and universities, and public schools.

His skillful representation of civil rights marchers and protesters established important precedents in the areas of free speech and right of assembly. Perry’s representation of civil rights marchers arrested at the State House led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Edwards vs. South Carolina. This case is considered by many scholars to be one of the most important First Amendment cases in modern American history.

Perry also was very active in voting rights, and in 1976, President Gerald Ford nominated him, on the recommendation of Sen. Strom Thurmond to the U.S. Court of Military Appeals. Perry was the first black man from the Deep South to be nominated to the federal bench.

Three years later, President Jimmy Carter nominated Judge Perry as the U.S. District Judge for the District of South Carolina, where he has continued to serve with distinction for more than 25 years.

Peter Horry was born in South Carolina in 1743 or 1744. In the late 1760s, Horry became a partner of Anthony Bonneau in the Georgetown mercantile firm of Bonneau & Horry, but Horry did not pursue a mercantile career. Instead, he became a planter and owned three plantations.

Active in the military during the American Revolution, Horry was commissioned a captain in the Second Regiment and was present at the Battle of Fort Moultrie. He was in command of the Fifth Regiment by 1780, after being promoted to a major and then colonel. In 1780 after the fall of Charleston, Horry traveled to North Carolina where he joined Baron deKalb’s Continental forces.

Uniting with Francis Marion in S.C.’s Lowcountry, Horry commanded a regiment of light cavalry and was at the Battle of Quinby Bridge. Together with Marion, he later preserved an important supply route.

Years later, Horry wrote a history of Marion’s Brigade and sent the manuscript to Mason Weems for possible publication. Although Horry instructed Weems to edit only for style, Weems fictionalized the manuscript and had it published as Life of Marion. Horry disclaimed authorship of the distorted work.

Horry served in both the S.C. House of Representatives and Senate and as register of the mesne conveyances for Charleston. After the state militia was reorganized in 1792, Brigadier General Horry was given command of the Sixth Brigade (Georgetown), where he served until 1802.

Horry held other offices and memberships including commissioner for auditing public accounts for Georgetown District (1782), tax inquirer and collector for Prince Winyah (1784), justice of the peace (1790). He also was a member of the Society of Cincinnati.

In tribute to Horry’s service, Horry County was reconstructed from Georgetown District and named in his honor (1801). Peter Horry died Feb. 28, 1815, in Columbia and is buried at Trinity Episcopal Church.

Music for the 10:30 am ceremony will be provided by Carolina Master Chorale and the 282nd Army “Victory” Band. Color Guard will be provided by Horry County High School JROTC Cadets