He fled the United States during the American Civil War due to his ties to South Carolina and his mother's prominent family.

[3][4] Perdicaris renounced his American citizenship and tried to become a Greek citizen in an unsuccessful effort to avoid the confiscation of the Charleston Gas Light Company.

Ion briefly returned to the United States and finally lived out the rest of his life in a mansion in Chislehurst, England.

[7] Ion's mother was the granddaughter of United States Revolutionary War hero Captain William Dewitt.

Senator Josiah J. Evans and South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Henry McIver.

They resided at the Perdicaris Ashley Cottage, an elaborate twenty-room estate on the north side of Trenton, New Jersey.

According to the United States Census of 1860, the Perdicaris estate was worth roughly 6 million dollars adjusted for 2019 inflation.

He wrote an essay titled Unity of Beauty that was presented at the school's commencement ceremony in July 1855.

[14] Ion was urged by members of his family who supported the Confederate States of America to assist on their side in the American Civil War.

One year later, the confederacy confiscated 1351 shares of the Charleston Gas Light Company, worth close to one million dollars, adjusted for 2019 inflation.

[18] According to a letter Perdicaris sent to Samuel R. Gummeré, he was instructed by his parents to obtain Greek citizenship to stop the sequestration.

Records indicate Perdicaris submitted his paperwork twenty-three days before the South sequestered close to one million dollars worth of stocks.

[23] One year later he wrote another two articles for the magazine, one was called Reminiscences of a Parisian Atélier[24] and the other The Exhibition of the Royal Academy.

The next year local Trenton newspapers recorded Ion freeing a slave in Morocco with the help of the United States Government.

[34] While Ion lived in London he was searching for a location to build a summer home on the Mediterranean Sea.

Ion returned to the United States with the family to put on a play on Broadway for his daughter Eleanor Ada Varley she adopted the stage name Nard Almayne.

Around the same period, the practice of arresting debtors in Morocco was a harsh tactic allowed by local laws and customs.

Perdicaris was an advocate for the poor and destitute Moors and Arabs that could not repay certain debts and were harshly imprisoned.

[42][43] In 1886, he was briefly arrested by order of the American Consul Felix A. Mathews because Ion brought a formal investigation against the public official.

On March 18, 1887, during the arrival of his replacement, William Reed Lewis, a celebration was held at the Perdicaris estate.

In 1887, Ion advocated a special status for Tangier as a neutral free port under the great powers' joint control.

Every Wednesday Ion and his wife hosted lavish dinners and balls for the local elite community.

Ion and his stepson Cromwell Varley were kidnapped by Mulai Ahmed er Raisuni and brought to the mountains.

Due to his political background and wealth, by May 30, America sent the South Atlantic Squadron of the United States Navy to Morocco.

He indirectly overthrew two U.S. Consuls, Felix A. Mathews and William Reed Lewis because of his problem with the Protégé system.

The final major incident occurred when his close family friend and U.S. Consul Samuel Gummere surrounded the entire country of Morocco with the South Atlantic Squadron of the United States Navy.

The attention gave the educated scholar the opportunity to discuss Moroccan culture with the people of the United States.

He specialized in international diplomacy and most of his papers were about Moroccan history, culture, and sociology, capitalizing on the media craze.

His granddaughter Nellie Gianatelli Gentile married Colonel Serge de Likatscheff, the Secretary of the Russian Embassy.

[64] By 1936, the family mansion the Perdicaris Ashley Cottage located at 531 East State Street was purchased by a wealthy elite developer named Morris R.