Saluda County · Marker 41-01
Pierce M. Butler
Saluda County Courthouse, 115 W. Church St. (U.S. Hwy. 378), Saluda
Front inscription
Six miles NE, in a family cemetery at Butler Church, is the grave of Colonel Pierce M. Butler, Governor of South Carolina from 1836 to 1838. During his military career, he was a Captain in the U.S. Army, a Lt. Colonel in the Seminole War, and was Commander of the Palmetto Regiment in the Mexican War, when he was killed in battle on August 20, 1847.
The Palmetto Regiment
The S.C. Volunteer Regiment in the Mexican War entered service in Dec. 1846 and was part of Winfield Scott's army. At the Battle of Churubusco, its Commander, Pierce M. Butler, was killed leading a charge in the face of devastating fire. The unit was in the vanguard of the final assault on Mexico City and first to plant its flag on the city walls.