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The Forty-eighth was also known as the Continental Guards
Regiment or "Perry's Saints." The former designation referred to
the multi-state composition of the unit, while the latter was in
honor of the regiment's organizer and first commander, Colonel
James H. Perry. Perry had attended West Point for three years in
the 1830's, before resigning to serve prominently in the Army of
the Republic of Texas during its War of Independence with Mexico.
Disillusioned by the bloodshed and carnage of that war, he turned
his attention to the ministry in the post-war years and became a
major figure in the Methodist Church in New York. Because of
Perry's prominence as a minister, the Forty-eighth attracted a
different kind of recruit. Included were many seminary students
and others from strongly religious backgrounds. Perry
contributed to the unusual, if not unique, composition of the
unit by discouraging the consumption of alcohol. In June 1862
the regiment was at Tybee Island, near Savannah, when a quantity
of alcohol washed ashore from a stranded ship. Many of Perry's
men consumed these spirits and became drunk. Colonel Perry died
of a heart attack the next day, but whether his attack was the
result of the activities of the previous day is unclear.
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Drawing from the